Senior Cell Engineer

bluecurrent; Hayward (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Blue Current in Hayward, CA seeks a Sr Cell Engineer to drive the technical work of moving the cell technology from early-stage R&D through scaled production. You will own your area end-to-end, work with scientists, manufacturing, and process engineers to ensure designs are buildable at scale.

The role demands genuine expertise, creativity, and strong cross-functional collaboration in a mid-size growing organization.

Qualifications

• Must have advanced coursework or experience in electrochemical cell design and materials for batteries.
• Experience designing and interpreting cell characterization studies and failure analysis.
• Strong foundational knowledge of both electrochemistry and manufacturability considerations.

Responsibilities

• Designs and executes hypothesis-driven experiments to understand and improve cell performance using analytical techniques and statistics.
• Leads root cause analysis on cell underperformance and drives design or process changes to prevent failures.
• Investigates material and interface failure modes and quantifies their contribution to performance and yield loss.
• Directs cell characterization and post-mortem analysis in partnership with metrology and selection of discriminating techniques.
• Leads new cell design introductions from small-format research through pilot and production-representative builds.
• Defines cell design requirements balancing electrochemical performance, mechanical robustness, and process capability.
• Collaborates with researchers on new chemistries and electrolyte systems; works with process engineers for scalability.
• Documents findings, specs, and revisions for traceability across research, engineering, and manufacturing.
• Mentors junior engineers and technicians in experimental design and failure analysis.
• Models and improves laboratory safety practices and implements best-practice updates.
• Other duties as assigned.

Skills

Cell design fundamentals

DOE statistics

Education

PhD / MS / BS with experience in relevant fields

Job description

About Blue Current

Blue Current (the "Company") is the industry leader in the development of silicon solid state batteries. Free of flammable liquid electrolytes, Blue Current's fully dry, inherently safe batteries significantly reduce risks to human and environmental health while providing a higher-performance alternative to traditional lithium-ion batteries. Blue Current's silicon-based platform is highly adaptable, enabling a cost-effective solution for both the mobility and stationary storage markets. Blue Current's team works out of its state-of-the-art headquarters and pilot line facility in Hayward, California. To learn more about Blue Current, Inc., visit http://bluecurrent.com.

Position Summary

We're looking for a Sr Cell Engineer to lead the technical work of moving Blue Current's cell technology from early-stage R&D through scaled production. You'll stay engaged across the full cell development arc, from working alongside scientists on novel cell designs and materials, to partnering with manufacturing and process engineers to make those designs buildable at scale. An ideal candidate brings genuine expertise, creativity, open-ended problem solving capability, and the ability to work cross-functionally in mid-size-and-growing organizations. In this role, you'll operate independently on complex technical problems, own your area of work end-to-end, and will be responsible for project design and execution within your domain.

Essential Functions & Responsibilities

• Designs and executes hypothesis-driven experiments to understand and improve cell performance, using a mix of analytical techniques (chemical/material metrology like SEM, spectroscopy, etc) and statistical techniques (design of experiments, regression, and capability analysis)
• Leads root cause analysis on cell underperformance and unexpected failures, developing mechanistic explanations rather than correlations, and driving the design or process changes that eliminate the cause.
• Investigates material and interface failure modes (e.g. degradation, delamination, contact loss, mechanical fracture, contamination), and quantifies their contribution to performance loss and yield loss
• Directs cell characterization and post-mortem analysis in partnership with metrology, selecting the techniques that discriminate between competing failure hypotheses rather than merely describing the result
• Leads new cell design introduction from small-format research samples through pilot and production-representative builds. Successful engineers identify scale-sensitive failure modes early, and work with the manufacturing team and R&D to iterate and solve problems
• Defines cell design requirements that balance electrochemical performance, mechanical robustness, and process capability, and develops cell designs and processes as the cell is scaled out of the lab to ensure high quality product rollout
• Collaborates with research scientists on new cell chemistries, electrolyte systems, electrode architectures. Collaborates with process engineers to ensure scalability.
• Documents experimental findings, cell specifications, and design-of-record revisions so that conclusions and the evidence behind them remain traceable across research, engineering, and manufacturing
• Mentors junior engineers and technicians in experimental design, failure analysis, and characterization practice. Represents cell engineering in cross-functional technical planning and project execution
• Models and improves laboratory safety practices, demonstrating sound experimental technique and helping implement best-practice updates
• Other duties as assigned, consistent with the scope and level of this position

Minimum Qualifications

Education

PhD in relevant field, or MS (with 3+ years of relevant experience), or BS (with 5+ years of relevant experience); relevant fields include Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Physics, or a related field, with a focus on batteries or electrochemical devices

Experience

• Demonstrated experience taking a cell design from laboratory scale through at least one meaningful scale-up stage, such as a format change, process transfer, or production pilot
• Hands-on experience with cell build unit operations (including 3 or more of: coating, calendering, slitting, stacking or winding, electrolyte or separator integration, sealing, and formation) and an understanding of how variation in each affects performance and yield
• Experience designing and interpreting cell characterization studies, including rate testing, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and cycle life testing
• Experience conducting failure analysis and connecting observed failure modes to upstream process or design root causes

Skills & Knowledge

• Technical foundation in electrochemical cell design, including electrode architecture, stack design, electrolyte-electrode compatibility, and the trade-offs between performance and manufacturability
• Statistical fluency sufficient to design ex