Senior Smelter in Leeds

About Vintage.com

At Vintage.com, we’re building the most trusted platform for pre-loved items. We help people give valuable things a new life, making the experience simple, transparent and rewarding. We bring together specialist knowledge, thoughtful technology and genuine care for our customers. By helping more items stay in circulation, we create value for people and make a positive impact at the same time.

About the Team

Our Metallurgy Team is responsible for safely processing and recovering precious metals from the materials that come through Vintage.com. Working across gold and silver, the team manages specialist melting, casting and recovery processes to turn mixed materials into consistent precious-metal bars while protecting material value, maintaining accurate records and operating to high safety standards. It’s a technical environment where precision matters. The team works closely together to maintain safe, reliable operations, improve recovery and share specialist knowledge as our capabilities continue to develop.

Why This Role Matters

As a Senior Smelter, you’ll bring specialist knowledge and experience to some of our most complex precious-metal processing activity. You’ll operate and oversee melting and casting processes across gold and silver, working carefully with high-value materials to achieve consistent output, protect metal recovery and maintain accurate records throughout each melt. Alongside your own technical work, you’ll support the development of other Smelters, share knowledge and help maintain strong standards around safety, equipment care and ways of working. Working closely with the Metal Melting Director and the wider Metallurgy Team, you’ll also use your experience to identify opportunities to improve processes, reduce material loss and strengthen the reliability of our foundry operation.

What success looks like

• Complex melt cycles are completed safely, consistently and in line with agreed processing and recovery standards.
• Precious-metal recovery is carefully managed, with material loss minimised throughout melting, casting and recovery processes.
• Raw material weights, cast bar weights, assay samples and melt records are complete and accurate.
• Furnaces, crucibles, particulate collection systems and other foundry equipment are maintained to support safe and reliable operation.
• Safety procedures, PPE requirements and local exhaust ventilation controls are consistently followed and reinforced across the working environment.
• Gold and silver bars are cast consistently and move through the next stage of the process with clear and accurate records.
• Opportunities to improve yield, quality, safety or process efficiency are identified and shared with the wider team.
• Mentor junior smelters and collaborate with specialists and leaders to maintain safe and reliable foundry output.

What You’ll Do

Furnace and Melt Operations

• Prepare, load, and operate induction and gas-fired melting furnaces to process complex scrap, grain, and high-value feedstock.
• Monitor heat cycles, adjust furnace controls, and apply specialised fluxing agents to separate impurities and manage slag effectively.
• Apply appropriate fluxing processes to separate impurities, manage slag and support precious-metal recovery.
• Use your technical judgement to identify issues during processing and take appropriate action or escalate where specialist support is required.

Casting, quality and accuracy

• Skim molten metal surfaces safely and pour liquid metal into preheated molds to produce high-grade bars and ingots.
• Weigh incoming material and finished bars accurately and maintain clear records throughout the process.
• Collect assay samples correctly so material can move through testing and subsequent processing with reliable information.
• Maintain complete and accurate melt logs so material movement, weights, samples and outcomes can be understood and traced.

Recovery and equipment care

• Manage crucible cleaning, particulate collection and other recovery processes carefully to minimise precious-metal loss.
• Maintain furnaces, crucibles and associated equipment in line with agreed maintenance and operating procedures.
• Identify equipment issues early and communicate them so appropriate maintenance or corrective action can be taken.
• Maintain a clean and organised working environment that supports safe, efficient processing and material recovery.

Safety and compliance

• Follow required foundry safety procedures, including PPE and local exhaust ventilation requirements, at all times.
• Identify hazards and operational risks early and take appropriate action to protect colleagues, equipment and materials.
• Reinforce safe ways of working with other team members and challenge appropriately when standards are not being followed.
• Support equipment checks, safety reviews and improvements that strengthen the working environment.

Technical leadership and development

• Share technical knowledge and practical experience with Smelters across the team.
• Coach less experienced colleagues in furnace operation, material handling, recovery processes and safe ways of working.
• Provide hands-on support where additional technical guidance is needed during more complex processing activity.
• Work across gold and silver activity where required to maintain effective workflow and make the best use of specialist capability.

Continuous improvement

• Identify opportunities to improve metal recovery, process consistency, safety and operational efficiency.
• Use melt outcomes, observations and operational information to understand where processes could work better.
• Work with the Metal Melting Director and wider team to test and embed practical improvements.
• Share learning from technical issues, unusual materials and processing challenges so knowledge is retained across the team.

What You’ll Bring

Essential

• Strong practical experience in precious metals, foundry operations, casting or other relevant high-temperature metal-processing environments.
• Experience operating melting equipment and applying safe foundry or metal-processing practices.
• Strong attention to detail when working with weights, measurements, material records and high-value materials.
• A strong understanding of industrial safety requirements and the importance of following agreed controls and procedures.
• The ability to work safely and confidently within a high-temperature industrial environment while using required PPE and equipment.
• Sound technical judgement and the ability to identify when a processing, equipment or safety issue requires further action.
• Experience sharing technical knowledge, coaching colleagues or supporting the development of less experienced team members.
• A practical problem-solving approach and willingness to take ownership of issues through to resolution.
• Strong organisation and record keeping, with an understanding of why accurate material traceability matters.

Helpful

• Experience working specifically with gold, silver or other precious metals.
• Experience with pyrometallurgical refining, precious-metal recovery or assay sample preparation.
• Experience improving metal-processing yield, recovery or operational efficiency.
• Relevant training or qualifications in metallurgy, materials science, foundry operations or a related technical discipline.
• Experience working with induction and gas-fired melting furnaces.

Qualifications

No specific qualification is required. We care more about your practical metallurgy or foundry experience, technical judgement and ability to operate safely and accurately. Relevant metallurgy, materials science or industrial foundry qualifications are helpful but not essential.

Living Our Values

In this role, living our values means:

• Put safety first and speak up when something does not look or feel right, even when stopping work is the harder option.
• Treat high-value materials with care and take pride in accurate processing, recovery and record keeping.
• Take ownership of technical issues, equipment concerns and agreed actions, following them through rather than leaving problems for someone else.
• Work openly across the Gold and Silver teams, sharing knowledge and supporting colleagues rather than working in isolation.
• Use your experience to develop others, giving practical guidance and creating an environment where people feel comfortable asking questions.
• Stay curious about materials, melt outcomes and processes and use what you learn to find better ways of working.
• Challenge existing ways of working constructively where improvements could strengthen safety, recovery, quality or efficiency.
• Treat colleagues with respect and recognise that maintaining a safe, reliable foundry operation is a shared responsibility.