Battery Cell Engineer

BLUE ORIGIN•Grandview, WA

23h•$145,188 - $203,263

About The Position

At Blue Origin, we envision millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. We’re working to develop reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems within a culture of safety, collaboration, and inclusion. Join our team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight! This role is part of the Lunar Permanence business unit, which develops Blue Origin’s Blue Moon landers and related products. To further Blue Origin's mission of millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth, we are building sustainable infrastructure for our transport of crew and cargo from Earth to the lunar surface. This role supports the development, qualification, and production of a common battery for use by multiple Blue Origin business units, including New Glenn and Lunar. As part of a small, hard-working, and accomplished team of experts, you will be responsible for defining cell-level requirements, initiating technical discussions with suppliers to support cell selection, performing cell-level development and production testing, developing operating/safety limits for BMS & flight software, and advancing Blue Origin’s battery technology. We are looking for someone to apply their deep technical expertise, natural leadership and interpersonal skills, and commitment to quality to positively impact the aggressive missions at Blue Origin. Passion for our mission and vision is required!

Requirements

B.S. degree in Chemical, Material Science, Mechanical, Electrical, or Aerospace Engineering or related field.
5+ years of direct experience testing lithium-ion batteries; 3+ year in space applications desired.
Strong understanding of electrochemistry properties of lithium-ion batteries; demonstrated experience in characterizing lithium-ion cell.
Familiar with dQdV, dVdQ analytical techniques and other electrochemical techniques such as EIS, GITT, CV, PITT.
Strong understanding of cell design, including constituent components and their interactions inside the cell.
Knowledge of development trend for lithium-ion battery.
Desire to work hands-on, both independently and as part of a team, throughout the development and production phases of the battery lifecycle.
Ability to earn trust, maintain positive and professional relationships, and contribute to a culture of collaboration and inclusion.
Highly organized teammate with excellent technical written and verbal skills.
Ability to travel and work at remote sites supporting test integration, commissioning, and training.
Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.

Nice To Haves

M.S. degree in Chemical, Material Science, Mechanical, Electrical, or Aerospace Engineering or related field.
Experience in development of launch vehicles and with human spaceflight or high-performance aircraft systems.
Experience estimating life of lithium-ion battery.
Experience in data analysis tools such as Python.
Experience with fault tree analysis and DFMEA/PFEMA of electrochemical systems, for identifying root cause, and applying mitigation strategies to development issues.

Responsibilities

Work with cross-functional team to decompose requirements from vehicle level to cell-level requirements/specifications.
Collaborate with cell suppliers to identify and evaluate cell technologies that meet Blue requirements for different applications.
Design, develop, and execute test methods to evaluate various candidate lithium-ion cells; coordinate resources for internal and external testing.
Drive the decision for cell selection based on the test results.
Extract parameters from cell data to support model creation and validation.
Apply different electrochemical techniques to identify cell degradation mechanisms; conduct cell failure analysis.
Use cell testing data to support control/estimation algorithms used in battery management system.
Work with Battery pack design team to improve cell/pack performance (including thermal runaway passive propagation resistance).
Review academic/industry literature of lithium-ion cells and beyond to advance Blue Origin’s battery technology.
Work closely with the program and manufacturing management team through build, test, and delivery of flight hardware.
Support the development of the Automated Test Equipment for acceptance and qualification testing of cells and battery packs.