Graduate Engineer Trainee

Newtrace; Bengaluru; On-site; INR 350,000 - 600,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Accident insurance

Holidays and leave policies

Maternity & paternity leave

Stocked pantry

Team celebrations

Job summary

Newtrace in Bengaluru is seeking a Graduate Engineer Trainee to join the R&D team working on anion exchange membrane water electrolysis. You will assist in catalyst development, MEA assembly, and electrochemical testing across the full development cycle.

The role provides hands-on training with HER/OER catalysts, membranes, and ionomers, and involves close collaboration with engineers and scientists in a startup environment.

Qualifications

• Must have hands-on lab skills and interest in electrochemistry.

Responsibilities

• Synthesize and characterize catalysts for AEM electrodes.
• Formulate catalyst inks and fabricate electrodes via spray coating and electrodeposition.
• Assemble MEAs and test single cells with PTLs and gaskets.
• Run electrochemical tests including polarization curves and EIS.
• Analyze data and report results to the team.

Job description

About Us

Newtrace is a climate-tech startup crafting next-gen electrolyzers for the wide-scale adoption of affordable green hydrogen. The vision we swear by is simple - to decarbonise our planet, leaving a greener, more sustainable future for generations to come.

At Newtrace, we believe that great ideas flourish when nurtured in an atmosphere that promotes work-life balance, encourages personal well-being, and fosters collaboration. Join us and be part of a remarkable journey where you can make a difference while enjoying the benefits of a supportive and invigorating workplace. Together, let's create a better future, one innovative idea at a time.

We are backed by marquee investors like Sequoia Capital, Aavishkaar Capital, Speciale Invest and Micelio Fund in our mission.

For more information, visit: www.newtrace.io.

About The Job

Job Title: Graduate Engineer Trainee

Location: Bengaluru, IN

Type: On-site Full time

Salary: Matching industry standards

Role

You will work on anion exchange membrane (AEM) water electrolysis, from catalyst and electrode development through to cell and stack testing. AEM electrolyzers pair the low-cost, platinum-group-metal (PGM)-free catalysts used in alkaline electrolysis with the thin polymer membrane and membrane electrode assembly (MEA) design of proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysis. Your work will focus on making these MEAs perform better and last longer. You will work with our engineers and scientists on hydrogen and oxygen evolution reaction (HER, OER) catalysts, membranes and ionomers, electrode fabrication, MEA assembly and electrochemical testing. The role gives a fresh graduate hands‑on training across the full AEM development cycle.

Responsibilities

• Synthesize and characterize PGM-free HER and OER for AEM electrodes.
• Formulate catalyst inks, tune ionomer content, and fabricate electrodes by spray coating, electrodeposition and related methods, as both catalyst‑coated substrates (CCS) and catalyst‑coated membranes (CCM).
• Work with partners to characterize anion exchange membranes and ionomers.
• Assemble MEAs and single cells with porous transport layers (PTLs), gaskets and bipolar plates.
• Run single‑cell and short‑stack with dilute KOH feeds running electrochemical tests such as polarization curves, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), constant current density durability tests and accelerated stress tests (ASTs).
• Break down cell voltage losses into ohmic, activation and mass‑transport contributions, and track how membranes, ionomers and catalyst layers degrade over time.
• Carry out post‑mortem analysis of tested MEAs (SEM/EDS, XRD) to identify failure modes such as catalyst layer delamination, membrane thinning and ionomer degradation.
• Analyse data, present findings to the team, and document methods, procedures and results so others can reproduce them.
• Keep up with AEM electrolysis research and bring relevant results back to the team.

Must Have

• B.E./B.Tech, M.E./M.Tech or M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, Metallurgy, Chemistry or a related field.
• 1-2 years of academic or industrial experience fabricating or testing at least one of: ion exchange membranes, electrocatalysts, electrodes, porous transport layers, bipolar plates, MEAs or stacks.
• A sound grasp of electrochemistry fundamentals: HER and OER kinetics, the sources of voltage loss in an electrolysis cell, and how to read a polarization curve.

Should Have

• Hands‑on experience with a potentiostat: linear sweep and cyclic voltammetry, EIS and chronopotentiometry.
• Experience with membrane or ionomer characterization, or with catalyst ink and coating work (spray coating, electrodeposition, doctor blading).
• Exposure to materials characterization techniques such as SEM/EDS, XRD, XPS and BET surface area analysis.
• Data analysis in Python, MATLAB or Origin.
• Experience with wet chemistry and the associated safety procedures (MSDS), including handling KOH and other corrosive chemicals.
• An unquenchable thirst for knowledge and the ability to quickly adapt to new situations. Enthusiasm and curiosity for all things green hydrogen!

Nice To Have

• A thesis or project on AEM, PEM or alkaline water electrolysis, or on AEM or PEM fuel cells.
• Experience operating a single-cell or stack test station, including pumps, mass flow controllers, gas‑liquid separators and gas purity measurement.
• Familiarity with design of experiments (DoE) and basic statistical analysis.
• Basic CAD skills for cell hardware and test fixtures (SolidWorks, Fusion 360 or similar).
• Excited to join a startup and put in the hustle required to get things done!

If you don’t meet every requirement but think you are up to the challenge, get in touch and tell us why you are a good fit for Newtrace. We look forward to hearing from you!

What We Offer

• Salary: Matching industry standards.
• Holidays: 12 days of customary national/state holidays, 18 days of paid vacation accrued monthly and 12 days of sick leave.
• Flexible timings with a 5-day, 45 hours/work week including breaks.
• Health insurance for employee, spouse and child(ren).
• Accident insurance for employees.
• Maternity & paternity leave policies.
• Stocked pantry, company goodies & team celebrations.