Senior Cell Engineer

Vertical Aerospace; Bristol; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 85,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

26 days holiday

Company pension

Performance bonus

Share option scheme

Breakfast provided

Health & wellbeing program

Job summary

Vertical Aerospace is seeking a Senior Cell Engineer to qualify commercial lithium‑ion cells for our next‑generation eVTOL platforms. You will generate evidence to support safe, high‑performance battery systems, working with engineers, suppliers and research partners in a fast‑paced environment.

You will design qualification methods, plan tests, analyse results and develop data analysis tools to support safety, performance and lifecycle goals across aerospace applications.

Qualifications

• Degree in Electrochemistry, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, or related field.
• Strong understanding of lithium‑ion cell electrochemistry and degradation mechanisms.
• Experience designing and analysing lithium‑ion electrical test programmes, including DoE.
• Proven ability to analyse lithium‑ion cell data and extract insights.
• Ability to collaborate across multidisciplinary engineering teams.

Responsibilities

• Develop qualification methods for commercial lithium‑ion cells, covering electrochemistry, electrical testing and data analysis.
• Design test plans and communicate requirements to engineers and technicians; analyse and report results.
• Develop data analysis tools for electrical, safety and materials test data.
• Plan and deliver cell testing with partners, manage cell requirements and verification activities.
• Support system‑level verification and contribute to cell sourcing strategy.

Skills

Electrochemistry

Lithium‑ion cells

Data analysis

DoE

Education

Electrochemistry/Materials science degree

Job description

Our Mission

At Vertical Aerospace, we are pioneering the way for electric aviation. The Valo, our eVTOL (electric, vertical, take‑off and landing), “zero emissions” aircraft will set a new safety standard for how we will navigate the sky.

We won't realise our mission following the same legacy processes and traditions our predecessors followed, instead, we want to “redefine” aerospace best practices. We are growing quickly from a prototype business to a scaling SME, and the next few years will be critical to our success and delivering on our ambitious goals. Valo is targeting airliner‑level safety certification in 2028 ahead of entering service with our airline and operator customers.

What To Expect

As an Senior Cell Engineer, you'll play a key role in qualifying commercial lithium‑ion cells for use in our next‑generation electric aircraft. Working closely with engineers, technicians, suppliers and research partners, you'll generate the evidence needed to support safe, high‑performance battery systems.

What You'll Do

• Develop qualification methods for commercial lithium‑ion cells, covering electrochemistry, electrical testing and data analysis.
• Design test plans, communicate test requirements to engineers and technicians, and analyse and report results.
• Develop and optimise data analysis tools for electrical, safety and materials test data, including statistical analysis.
• Work with industrial and academic partners to plan and deliver cell testing and analysis activities.
• Generate and manage cell requirements and support associated verification and validation activities through testing, modelling and analysis.
• Support system‑level requirement verification across the battery programme.
• Support management of cell suppliers and contribute to our cell sourcing strategy.
• Contribute across the wider electrochemistry team, supporting performance, lifetime, safety, quality and future cell technology evaluation.

What you'll bring

Essential

• Degree, MSc or PhD (or equivalent experience) in Electrochemistry, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science or a related discipline.
• Strong understanding of lithium‑ion cell electrochemistry, cell performance, degradation mechanisms and design trade‑offs.
• 1-2 years’ experience working with commercial lithium‑ion cells.
• Experience designing and analysing lithium‑ion electrical test programmes, including Design of Experiments (DoE).
• Strong experience analysing lithium‑ion cell data.
• Good understanding of how lithium‑ion cells integrate into larger battery systems.
• Ability to work independently while collaborating effectively across multidisciplinary engineering teams.
• Comfortable working in a fast‑paced, evolving environment with changing priorities.
• Strong analytical and problem‑solving skills with a proactive, hands‑on approach.

Desirable

• Experience with requirements management or systems engineering (e.g. FMEA, FTA).
• Familiarity with equivalent circuit models (ECM), thermal equivalent circuit models (TECM) or empirical lifetime modelling.
• Experience qualifying lithium‑ion cells for industrial applications such as electric vehicles or aerospace.
• Experience handling large datasets and developing data analysis pipelines.
• Hands‑on experience with electrical cell testing, materials characterisation or cell forensic analysis.
• Experience working with large‑scale cell suppliers.
• Aerospace industry experience.

What can you expect from us?

We're on a mission. Where others see limits, we see opportunity, and we work at pace. Working at Vertical isn't your average role but for those seeking a challenge, a flexible, supportive organisation and an incredible team; working here is an opportunity to do the best work of your career.

Our approach promotes ingenuity and courage, while our environment builds success through diligence in safety and being open in the way we work. The only way we're going to assure the next chapter of aviation history is by working as a team, relentlessly, towards our goal.

Our Benefits

• 26 days holiday, plus bank holiday
• 5 extra days per year to buy (or sell)
• 5 extra days holiday when you get married or enter a civil partnership
• Additional 4% of your salary to spend on extra benefits
• Award‑winning digital health and wellbeing service (Help@Hand)
• Company performance based bonus – rewarding company and individual performance
• Company Share Scheme – open to every Vertical employee
• Company Pension Scheme – 5% and we match it
• Breakfast on us, every day

Disclaimer Statement

We encourage you to apply even if you may not have all the experience listed in the advert. We recognise that talent comes in various forms and we are committed to providing opportunities that create an environment of growth, diversity, and inclusion for everyone. As part of our desire to review and make our processes fair, we may ask you questions related to these aspects during the application process. For more information on how we will use your data, see our Legal section.