Principal Battery Design Engineer
Blue CurrentHayward, California
Full Time
Posted October 29, 2025
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Job Description
This position involves leading the design, development, and optimization of solid-state battery cells and pouches for automotive and consumer applications, overseeing the transition from R&D to large-scale production, and ensuring 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 designs.
- Lead cell engineering design, development, and qualification for next-generation solid-state pouch batteries.
- Own cell design plans, design-of-experiments, failure analysis, and development pathways for battery products.
- Drive product development initiatives and lead technical projects for multi amp-hour cell designs.
- Define and own cell design specifications and test procedures for product validation.
- Collaborate with materials R&D and process engineering to select formulations and SOPs for performance and scalability.
- Coordinate system design concepts, including thermal management, cell-to-pack integration, and customer requirements.
- Work with data analytics to characterize and optimize battery performance.
- Partner with manufacturing process engineering to ensure design scalability and cost-effectiveness.
- Manage and align on bill of materials (BOM) with product requirements.
Requirements
- Ph.D. or MS in chemistry, chemical or mechanical engineering, materials science, or a related field.
- 5 years work experience with pouch, prismatic or VDA compliant batteries for automotive and consumer applications.
- Hands-on experience in scale-up manufacturing environments preferred.
- Proficiency in CAD software and simulation tools.
- Strong understanding of lithium-based cells, cell components, and their interactions inside the cell.
- Demonstrated experience on cell design, characterization, and failure mode identifications.
- 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.
- Ability to own the cell design plans, design-of-experiments, failure analysis, and new development pathways toward building cell products for consumer devices and EV applications.
- Experience defining and owning cell design specifications and test procedures for product validation.
- Ability to partner with materials R&D and process engineering to select best formulations and SOPs to meet performance and scalability goals.
- Experience driving quarterly cadence of updates and stage gate transitions.
- Ability to internalize system design concepts including thermals, cell to pack, and compliance requirements from customers.
- Experience working with data analytics teams to characterize and optimize performance.
- Ability to partner with manufacturing process engineering to ensure economics and scalability of design.
- Ability to own and ensure alignment on bill of materials with product requirements (BOM).
- Strong understanding of safety policies and adherence to lab and work safety policies.
- Positive, can-do attitude and experience coaching and inspiring team members to overcome technical challenges.
- Strong communication skills and experience sharing results with team members and leadership.
Benefits & Perks
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