Principal Battery Design Engineer
Blue CurrentHayward, California
Full Time
Posted October 29, 2025
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Application opens on company website
Job Description
This role involves leading the design, development, and optimization of solid-state battery cells and pouches for automotive and consumer applications, transitioning from R&D to large-scale production, with a focus on safety, performance, and manufacturability.
Key Responsibilities
- Design and optimize cell pouches for energy storage applications, focusing on performance, safety, and manufacturability.
- Select and evaluate materials for cell pouch construction to ensure compatibility with application requirements.
- Develop prototypes, conduct testing, and implement improvements to validate and refine cell pouch designs.
- Lead the design, development, and qualification of next-generation solid-state pouch batteries.
- Own cell design plans, conduct experiments, analyze failures, and develop new pathways for cell product development.
- Drive product development initiatives and manage technical projects for multi amp-hour cell designs.
- Define and establish cell design specifications and test procedures for product validation.
- Collaborate with R&D and process engineering teams to select formulations and SOPs that meet performance and scalability goals.
- Coordinate system design concepts, including thermal management, cell-to-pack integration, and customer requirements.
- Work with data analytics teams to characterize and optimize battery performance.
- Partner with manufacturing engineering to ensure design scalability and cost-effectiveness.
- Manage and align bill of materials (BOM) with product requirements.
Requirements
- Ph.D. or MS in chemistry, chemical or mechanical engineering, materials science, or related field.
- At least 5 years of work experience with pouch, prismatic or VDA compliant batteries for automotive and consumer applications.
- Hands-on experience in scale-up manufacturing environments is preferred.
- Proficiency in CAD software and simulation tools.
- Strong understanding of lithium-based cells, cell components, and their interactions inside the cell.
- Demonstrated experience in cell design, characterization, and failure mode identification.
- Experience assembling battery cells and developing new electrode and electrolyte formulations.
- Experience working with high-speed battery manufacturing systems.
- Track record of driving cell development roadmaps and customer-facing deliverables.
- Ability to design and optimize cell pouches for energy storage applications, considering performance, safety, and manufacturability.
- Ability to select and evaluate materials for cell pouch construction, ensuring compatibility with application requirements.
- Experience developing and designing prototypes and conducting testing to validate the design, making improvements as necessary.
- Experience leading the cell engineering design, development, and qualification for next-generation solid-state pouch batteries.
- Ownership of cell design plans, design-of-experiments, failure analysis, and new development pathways toward building cell products for consumer devices and EV applications.
- Ability to define and own cell design specifications and test procedures for product validation.
- Experience partnering with materials R&D and process engineering to select formulations and SOPs to meet performance and scalability goals.
- Ability to drive quarterly cadence of updates and stage gate transitions.
- Ability to internalize system design concepts including thermals, cell-to-pack integration, and customer compliance requirements.
- Experience working with data analytics teams to characterize and optimize performance.
- Partnering with manufacturing process engineering to ensure economics and scalability of design.
- Ownership and alignment on bill of materials (BOM) with product requirements.
- Strong communication skills and experience sharing results with team members and leadership.
- Appreciation for and adherence to lab and work safety policies.
- Positive, can-do attitude and experience coaching and inspiring teams to overcome technical challenges.
Benefits & Perks
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