Staff Chemical Engineer, Electrolyte Management

Form Energy; Berkeley (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salaries

Stock options

Full medical, dental, vision coverage

Paid parental leave

Generous vacation

Job summary

Form Energy is seeking a Staff Chemical Engineer to own our electrolyte management strategy for the iron-air battery. You will set electrolyte specifications and governance across the system's lifetime, translating R&D insights into scalable product standards.

Reporting to Manufacturing and partnering with R&D, you will drive strategy for refining and evaluating product-level specs to maximize performance while ensuring safety and manufacturability at scale.

Qualifications

• Master's degree or PhD in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, or Materials Science.
• 6+ years of industrial experience leading product and process development in chemical or electrochemical fields.
• Deep technical expertise in electrochemistry or wet chemistry.
• Experience designing rigorous experiments and interpreting analytical data.

Responsibilities

• Own electrolyte management strategy across the product lifecycle.
• Refine and maintain product-level specifications to maximize performance.
• Update specifications based on R&D and vendor input.
• Develop qualification process for electrolyte integration with vendors.
• Define safe decommissioning and passivation processes.
• Translate lab insights into scalable manufacturing specifications.
• Represent electrolyte strategy in cross-functional design reviews.

Skills

Electrochemistry

Wet chemistry

Analytical methods

Cross-functional collaboration

Strong communication

Education

Master's or PhD in Chemistry/Chemical Engineering/Materials Science

Tools

Cyclic voltammetry

UV-Vis spectroscopy

Titrations

Job description

Are you ready to build America’s energy future? Form Energy is an American manufacturing and energy technology company. We’re revolutionizing energy storage with cost-effective, multi-day technology designed to keep the electric grid secure and reliable, even during extended periods of stress. By strengthening the electric system and reimagining what’s possible, we’re giving clean energy a whole new form!

In recent years, Form Energy has earned a number of accolades, including being named by TIME as a "Best Invention", MIT Technology Review as a "Top Climate Tech Company To Watch", and Fast Company as "One of the Next Big Things In Tech". We are making rapid progress on our mission of delivering energy storage for a better world, and our team is growing just as rapidly to meet demand. We have signed contracts with leading electric utilities across the United States and production of our iron-air batteries is underway at our first high-volume manufacturing facility in West Virginia.

Working for Form Energy is more than just a job, it’s a chance to be part of something extraordinary. And now - right as we significantly scale up battery manufacturing - might be the most exciting moment in the company’s history to join. We are assembling a team of highly talented and driven individuals across the country. Driven by our core values of humanity, excellence, and creativity, our team is determined to deliver on our mission and transform the energy landscape for the better.

Feeling energized to make a meaningful impact on the world? Then keep reading - you’ve come to the right place.

Role Description

Form Energy is hiring a Staff Chemical Engineer to own our electrolyte management strategy for our iron-air battery. In this role, you will define how our aqueous electrolyte is managed across the full lifetime of a deployed system, transforming empirical data and electrochemical understanding into robust, scalable product standards. You will operate at the intersection of R&D and Manufacturing, partnering closely with both to develop strategies on electrolyte and set electrolyte specifications and management protocols. This is a product-level ownership role grounded in operating at scale. Your technical judgment will directly shape the operational excellence and long-term durability of our product, and Form's ability to deliver an energy storage solution for a reliable grid.

What You’ll Do

• Own the electrolyte management strategy across the product lifecycle, from initial fill through end-of-life decommissioning.
• Drive the technical strategy for refining, maintaining, and evaluating product level specifications to maximize performance over the battery’s operating lifetime.
• Maintain and update the specification over the system's operating lifetime based on new information from R&D and vendors, assessing their impact on product performance.
• Partner with vendors to architect and establish a robust qualification process for electrolyte integration into our multi-day storage systems.
• Define, validate, and scale safe decommissioning and passivation processes across multiple testing and production scales.
• Partner with Manufacturing to establish clear operating equipment specifications and process formulas, translating laboratory insights into reliable, scalable practices.
• Represent electrolyte strategy in cross-functional design reviews, influencing product and system-level decisions.

What You’ll Bring

• Master's degree or PhD in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, or a related field.
• 6+ years of industrial experience leading product and process development efforts in related chemical or electrochemical fields.
• Deep technical expertise in product level electrochemistry or wet chemistry.
• Applied experience designing rigorous experiments, testing hypotheses, and interpreting complex data from analytical methods such as cyclic voltammetry, UV-Vis, and titrations.
• Comfort working across organizational boundaries, bridging R&D and Manufacturing perspectives to land decisions that work at scale.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate cross-functionally and establish new methods and practices across diverse engineering teams.
• A safety-first mindset paired with strong judgment for balancing performance, safety, and manufacturability trade-offs.
• Intellectual curiosity, pragmatic problem-solving, and a natural inclination to thrive on complexity when navigating ambiguous, multi-variable engineering challenges.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to align technical and non-technical stakeholders around a shared strategy.

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Humanity is a cornerstone of Form Energy’s culture, and we make sure our compensation and benefits reflect that. Form Energy offers competitive salaries, stock options, and a holistic benefits package to ensure all employees have what they need to thrive while working here.

When it comes to you and your family’s health, we cover 100% of medical, dental, and vision premiums for full-time employees - and 80% of healthcare premiums for dependents. This starts from day one. We also offer at least 12 weeks of paid leave for new parents (up to 20 weeks for birthing parents), and generous vacation policies to give employees time to recharge when needed.

To build America’s energy future, we need everyone at the table. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer, and encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply to our open jobs.

If you may require reasonable accommodations to participate in our interview process, please contact [e-mail]. Requests for accommodations will be treated with discretion. Form Energy is committed to maintaining the privacy of our applicants. Please be aware that we will never solicit sensitive personal information such as Social Security numbers or bank account details during the recruiting or hiring process.