Abuse Test Engineer, Energy Storage
Summary
Design and execute abuse/safety tests on Redwood's energy storage products, intentionally stressing battery and electromechanical systems via short circuit, overvoltage, overheat, overcharge, and thermal propagation in a controlled lab environment. Uses UL9540a protocols, data acquisition rigs, and analysis tools like MATLAB, Minitab, and Python to identify and mitigate safety risks.
About Redwood Materials
Redwood is localizing a global battery supply chain that seamlessly integrates recovery, reuse, and recycling — keeping critical minerals in circulation and driving the energy transition. Founded in 2017, we’re delivering low-cost and large-scale energy storage and producing battery materials in the U.S. for the first time, all from batteries we already have.
Abuse Test Engineer, Energy Storage
Essential Duties:
As an early member of a new engineering team, you will be responsible for designing, executing, and analyzing tests that simulate extreme conditions and misuse scenarios to ensure the safety of our new product.
Collaborating with design and manufacturing engineering, you will identify potential failure modes and then intentionally abuse complex electromechanical and electrochemical systems (via short circuit, overvoltage, overheat, overcharge, and forced thermal propagation) in a controlled, well-instrumented, well-documented environment in order to stress those failure modes and ensure our products are robust to real world abuse.
You’re a doer, excited about getting your hands dirty and working in a dynamic, fast-paced setting, and want to shape a new department at Redwood.
If necessary, we will adjust the job level to suit your experience and responsibilities.
Responsibilities Will include:
- In addition to performing tests, you’ll help define and build the test infrastructure that will allow us to test swiftly, safely, and with excellent documentation
- You will also use your experience and understanding of failure mechanisms to help design new products to be as intrinsically robust to abuse as possible
- Designing, executing, and analyzing tests that simulate extreme conditions and misuse scenarios to ensure the safety of our new product
- Identify potential failure modes and then intentionally abuse complex electromechanical and electrochemical systems (via short circuit, overvoltage, overheat, overcharge, and forced thermal propagation) in a controlled, well-instrumented, well-documented environment in order to stress those failure modes and ensure our products are robust to real world abuse
Desired Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in physics, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related field
- Strong understanding of physics and the physics of failure
- Proven experience with abuse tests, specifically UL9540a and related thermal propagation testing
- Proficiency in data analysis tools and software (e.g., MATLAB, Minitab, Python)
- Proven experience designing robust, fast-setup data acquisition rigs (e.g. temperature sensor) and actuation (e.g. heater, remote knife switch)
- Excellent problem-solving skills and attention to detail
- Strong communication and interpersonal skills
- Ability to work independently and as part of a team
The position is full-time. Compensation will be commensurate with experience.
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