Principal Materials Engineer (Electrolyte)

Title: Principal Electrolyte Engineer

Location: Hyderabad, India, Full time

About the job

Enovix (Nasdaq: ENVX) is an advanced silicon battery company based in Fremont, Calif.

Enovix is on a mission to power the technologies of the future. Everything from IoT, mobile and computing devices, to the vehicle you drive, needs a better battery. Our disruptive architecture enables a battery with high energy density and capacity without compromising safety. We are scaling our silicon-anode, lithium-ion battery manufacturing capabilities to meet customer demand.

This is an exciting time at Enovix! We are looking for experienced candidates to help support our new location in Hyderabad, India for commercialization of our 3D Silicon Lithium-ion Rechargeable Battery.

Job Summary:

Enovix is seeking an experienced chemist with a strong R&D background and the passion to take on challenging tasks developing electrolytes for our revolutionary Li-ion energy storage cells. This role involves researching, and optimizing electrolytes to enhance the performance, safety, and cost-effectiveness of lithium-ion batteries.

Responsibilities:

• Explore novel electrolyte additives, salts, and solvents to improve rate capability, cycle/calendar life, high temperature gassing, and safety.
• Develop advanced characterization techniques to evaluate properties and performance of different electrolyte formulations.
• Improve test methods to rapidly screen materials, understand their interactions with other cell components, and predict full cell performance.
• Work with cross-functional teams internally and externally to bring new electrolyte formulations to cell production.
• Investigate relationships between electrolyte properties, SEI/CEI formation, and electrode/cell performance and safety.
• Analyse in-line process data, metrology data, and electrical test data for rapid feedback to inform the next round of development.
• Monitor emerging technologies and regulatory requirements to guide strategic R&D directions.

Miscellaneous:

• Define development roadmap for electrolyte and battery cell technology.
• Be an expert in technical discussions and lead collaborations with external research laboratories.
• Summarize results in a clear and concise manner and present results and findings to internal and external customers in meetings and conferences.

Qualifications:

Education: Ph.D. in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, or Materials Science with more than 3 years working on lithium-ion batteries in academia and/or industry.

Experience: Proven experience (3+ years) in electrolytes for lithium-ion batteries, including hands-on experience with formulation, characterization, electrochemical testing and design of experiments.

Skills:

• Expertise in battery chemistry and electrochemical processes.
• Proficiency in analytical techniques and instrumentation.
• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to work independently as well as part of a team.
• Excellent communication and documentation skills.

Preferred:

• Demonstrated experience in electrolyte formulation and characterization.
• Strong understanding of electrolyte development for different anode/cathode chemistries and applications such as high voltage, high/low temperature performance, and rate capability.
• Depth of knowledge of electrochemical techniques such as LSV, CV, EIS, and HPPC.
• Hands-on experience with material characterization techniques such as Karl Fischer titration, ionic conductivity measurement, FTIR, NMR, GC-MS, ICP, SEM/EDX, and XPS.
• Process development and integration with a track record of successful implementation.
• Experimental design and data analysis experience with tools like JMP, Tableau, R, Python, or equivalent.
• Good judgment: ability to determine appropriate action and mitigate risks, often with insufficient data.
• Practical approach: ability to differentiate between scalable solutions and exploratory approaches.
• Flexibility and tolerance for ambiguity in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong oral and written communication skills.
• Ability to work well with team members, lead projects to completion, and work independently.