Cell Engineer

Zeta Energy Corp.; Houston (TX); On-site; USD 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Zeta Energy Corp. is seeking a hands-on Cell Engineer to own pouch cell assembly and testing equipment on the production floor in Houston, TX.

You will set up machines, tune testers, and optimize processes for new cell formats and chemistries, partnering with R&D to turn designs into actionable assembly routes. You have at least 2 years of hands-on experience in battery cell development or testing, plus strong documentation discipline and scripting skills.

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience with battery cell development and testing.
• Knowledge of formation protocols and cycling.
• Ability to set up and tune equipment beyond standard ranges.

Responsibilities

• Own pouch cell assembly processes from electrode handling to degassing.
• Set up, commission, and modify assembly equipment and testers for new formats.
• Build and configure testing infrastructure, incl. cyclers and climate chambers.
• Diagnose and repair equipment and tester issues directly.
• Support scale-up from lab to pilot production with repeatable steps.
• Collaborate with R&D to translate designs into practical assembly routes.
• Develop setup procedures, calibration routines, and train technicians.
• Maintain meticulous documentation of processes and results.
• Analyze test data to identify failure modes and implement changes.
• Report progress and outcomes to engineering and leadership.

Skills

Hands-on battery cell experience

Pouch cell assembly

Cycler software

Data acquisition

Python / Excel scripting

Documentation discipline

Root-cause analysis

Electrochemistry knowledge

Education

Bachelor's degree in chemical, mechanical, electrical, or materials engineering

Tools

Automation / PLCs

Machining / fixture design

Job description

Zeta Energy is building next generation lithium sulfur battery technology, and we are looking for

a hands on Cell Engineer to own our pouch cell assembly and testing equipment from end to

end. This is not a desk role. You will be on the floor, setting up machines, wiring testers, tuning

parameters, and solving problems with your hands as much as your head. If you have ever taken

a piece of standard equipment and made it work for a cell design that did not exist before, you

already know what this job is about.

What you will do

• 1. Own pouch cell assembly processes, from electrode handling and stacking through tab welding, sealing, electrolyte filling, formation, and degassing.
• 2. Set up, commission, and modify assembly equipment and testers, including tuning machine parameters beyond standard operating ranges to accommodate new, never before tested cell formats and chemistries.
• 3. Build and configure cell testing infrastructure, including cyclers, climate chambers, test fixtures, sensors, and data acquisition systems, and keep them running reliably.
• 4. Diagnose and repair equipment and tester issues directly, whether that means adjusting control settings, rewiring a fixture, machining a custom part, or rewriting a test script.
• 5. Support the scale up of cell assembly and testing from lab scale to pilot scale, translating manual or semi manual processes into repeatable pilot production steps and helping qualify the equipment that gets you there.
• 6. Partner with R&D to translate new cell designs into practical assembly routes and validation test plans, and feed real floor data back into design decisions.
• 7. Develop and document equipment setup procedures, calibration routines, and safe operating procedures, and train technicians on them.
• 8. Maintain meticulous documentation of processes, equipment configurations, test plans, and results, so that nothing we learn on the floor is lost and every step is traceable.
• 9. Analyze test data to identify failure modes, then act on the findings by changing the process, the hardware, or the equipment as needed.
• 10. Track progress, issues, and outcomes systematically, and report clearly to both engineering and leadership, because at scale up, visibility across the team is what keeps a program on

Who you are

• 1. You have at least 2 years of hands on experience in battery cell development, cell assembly, or cell testing.
• 2. You have a process engineer mindset. You care about yields, repeatability, and root cause, not just data trends.
• 3. You are comfortable making equipment work. You can tune a tester from standard settings to the settings a new technology actually needs, and you enjoy that challenge.
• 4. Pouch cell assembly and pouch cell testing experience is strongly preferred.
• 5. You understand battery electrochemistry, formation protocols, cycling, and characterization, and you can interpret what the data is telling you.
• 6. You are skilled with cycler software, data acquisition, and scripting (Python, Excel, or similar) as practical tools, not just for reporting.
• 7. You have a proven record of good documentation discipline. You naturally track what you change, why you changed it, and what the result was, and you write it down without having to be asked.
• 8. You are resourceful and comfortable with ambiguity, and you take ownership of your equipment and your outputs.
• 9. A degree in chemical, mechanical, electrical, materials engineering, or a related field.

Nice to have

• 1. Experience with novel or emerging chemistries, such as lithium sulfur, silicon anode, or solid state.
• 2. Experience commissioning new equipment from vendors or building custom test setups.
• 3. Experience with PLCs, automation, or basic machining.
• 4. Experience taking a process from the lab bench to a pilot line, including writing the transfer documentation and training the operators.