Senior Research Engineer – Protective Coatings

We are searching for a (Senior) Research Engineer – Protective Coatings to join our Cell Technology Team. This team is responsible for developing cell technologies and materials solutions for critical cell components to be deployed in Electric Hydrogen's electrolyzer product. As a (Senior) Research Engineer – Protective Coatings, you will be responsible for the creation/obtainment, development, and optimization of protective coatings in the electrolyzer cells. You will be working closely with our manufacturing team and external coating vendors to define materials specification and communicate the test and characterization results of the coatings. Reporting to Manager-Cell Technology, you will also work closely with cell design engineers, cell test engineers, stack engineers, and supply chain team members. The ideal candidate should be communicative, detail-oriented, self-motivated, and most importantly should thrive to use data to inform decisions.

You will be based in Natick, MA. You will report to Manager – Cell Technology.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Innovate new surface treatment and coating processes to further improve the overall product performance and reliability of the electrolyzer cells
• Developing accelerated stress tests to evaluate coating degradation
• Collaborate with internal development engineers and external vendors, understand the challenge in scaling-up coating processes, pay attention to variations in coating characteristics of samples, inform the implications of coating characteristics on electrolyzer cell performance
• Document and communicate designs and performance results to multi-disciplinary team members and project stakeholders
• Develop ex-situ test and characterization techniques for protective coatings of cell materials, using chemical or physical characterization techniques
• Own design specification of protective coatings in the electrolyzer cells
• Optimize performance and durability of the protective coatings in the electrolyzers
• Develop and utilize in-situ test to evaluate performance and durability of coating materials under simulated electrolyzer cell testing conditions

Basic Qualifications

• Experience with materials characterization
• Knowledge of thin film materials and coating techniques.
• Strong interdisciplinary communicator, across a range of engineering and operation functions.
• Knowledge of environment, health, and safety (EHS) requirements for manufacturing.
• 0-3 years of post-degree industrial or national lab hands-on experience
• PhD in Chemical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Chemistry, Physics, Manufacturing Engineering, or related field.
• Comfortable to give oral presentations and writing technical reports
• Ability to pay attention to details.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience of advanced materials characterization techniques including but not limited to SEM/EDS, XRD, XRF, XPS, TEM, FIB, micro-CT, TOF-SIMS, etc.
• Experience or knowledge of electrodeposition processes such as electroplating and electrophoretic deposition as well as electroless deposition.
• Track record (research papers or patents) in field of electrochemical devices or thin film materials
• Experience or knowledge of surface treatment processes on metal surfaces such as anodizing, oxidizing, nitriding, carbidizing.
• Experience or knowledge of thin film deposition techniques such as magnetron sputtering, ALD, PLD, PECVD, etc.
• Research experience for electrochemical devices is highly desired, including but not limited to experience in electrolyzers, fuel cells, batteries, solar cells, etc.

Compensation & Benefits:
[Natick Zone] Senior Research Engineer (P4):