Battery Test Engineer

The Company

In order to keep climate change to 1.5°C, we’ll need 30% of global GDP (all of energy generation and transportation) to run on batteries by 2035.

Zitara Technologies (YCombinator S20) builds predictive battery management software for transportation and energy customers with large deployments. Their customers operate >$100M deployments of batteries in satellites, EVs, and renewable energy storage installations.

Our team brings top researchers in physics-based battery algorithms together with seasoned software engineers to build safety-critical firmware and large scale machine learning systems. We bring with us decades of experience from Toyota, Exponent, Proterra, Tesla, Gogoro, Google, and Facebook. 

The Role

We're looking for a Battery Test Engineer to work closely with our customer success, R&D, engineering, and operations team members to develop, collect, and systematize test requirements aimed at producing quality data to train high fidelity battery models and algorithms. This involves designing and implementing the lab and its processes to execute those tests, understanding and tackling engineering challenges in battery test processes, and maintaining and proactively maximizing lab capacity, efficiency, safety, and utilzation. The ideal candidate will be someone who takes initiative, has an intuition for continuous improvement of lab workflow and processes, uses common sense, and takes a creative and resourceful approach to solving problems.

Responsibilities

• Collect test requirements from cross-functional stakeholders- To design and validate battery test scripts, followed by executing tests. 
• Test- and equipment- related troubleshooting and diagnostic activities
• Development and improvement of procedures and test methods to ensure highest levels of productivity and safety are met
• Develop, maintain and iterate on lab standard operating procedures 
• Manage, maintain, and research upgrades to our lab hardware (battery cyclers, thermal chambers, and electronics) and supplies/consumables
• Electrical and/or mechanical design, assembly, and documentation of battery test fixtures
• Validate the end result of battery tests, working with other team members to determine pass/fail criteria
• Clearly communicate technical matters, schedule considerations, deliverables, and needs
• Manage and streamline customer onboarding from the perspective of laboratory testing

Minimum Qualifications

• BS in Electrical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or other related field. 
• 2+ years experience in electrical engineering, metrology, battery testing or applications roles
• Familiarity with battery technology, Lithium-Ion and others. 
• Experience with basic fabrication tools (soldering, hand tools, small power tools, etc.)
• Experience with basic electrical test tools (power supplies, multimeters, battery testers, etc.)
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Proactive communication and follow-up
• Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail
• Clear and effective written and interpersonal communication skills
• Strong practical experience with data management in Excel and vendor-specific data tools
• Working knowledge of lab automation practices in National Instruments/LabView, Mathworks, or another software system
• Familiarity with project management tools such as JIRA or Asana
• Strong self-motivation and team-oriented attitude

Preferred Additional Qualifications

• Experience and Familiarity with use of battery test equipment, including Arbin, Maccor, and Neware cyclers, thermal chambers, and data acquisition systems
• Electrical safety and HV (High Voltage) lab experience 
• Knowledge of Python for test automation and/or data analysis
• Electrochemistry and Battery Internals/Operation knowledge
• Experience with lab system IT including networking and data access tools

What We Offer

• Full-time position, standard hours subject to time zones
• Competitive compensation, equity incentive, and benefits package
• Casual work culture
• Excellent colleagues that are interested in your happiness and growth