Battery Cell Engineer

BLUE ORIGIN•Grandview, MO

18h•$156,802 - $219,522

About The Position

The Battery Cell Engineer supports development, qualification, and production of a common battery for multiple Blue Origin business units, including New Glenn and Lunar. The role is responsible for cell-level aspects of battery design, development, qualification, and hardware production, including defining cell requirements, engaging suppliers to select cells, testing candidate lithium-ion cells, and advancing battery technology. The engineer also develops operating and safety limits for battery management systems and flight software and works closely with cross-functional, program, and manufacturing teams to deliver flight hardware.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Chemical, Materials Science, Mechanical, Electrical, or Aerospace Engineering, or a related field.
At least 5 years of direct experience testing lithium-ion batteries.
Strong understanding of lithium-ion battery electrochemistry and demonstrated experience characterizing lithium-ion cells.
Familiarity with dQdV and dVdQ analytical techniques and electrochemical techniques such as EIS, GITT, CV, and PITT.
Strong understanding of cell design, including constituent components and their interactions inside the cell.
Knowledge of lithium-ion battery development trends.
Willingness to work hands-on, independently and as part of a team, throughout battery development and production.
Ability to build trust, maintain positive and professional relationships, and contribute to a collaborative and inclusive culture.
Strong organization and technical written and verbal communication 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, or lawfully admitted to the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.

Nice To Haves

At least 3 years of experience in space applications.
Master’s degree in Chemical, Materials Science, Mechanical, Electrical, or Aerospace Engineering, or a related field.
Experience developing launch vehicles and with human spaceflight or high-performance aircraft systems.
Experience estimating lithium-ion battery life.
Experience with data analysis tools such as Python.
Experience with fault tree analysis and DFMEA/PFMEA of electrochemical systems to identify root causes and apply mitigation strategies to development issues.

Responsibilities

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

Benefits

Medical, dental, and vision insurance.
Basic and supplemental life insurance.
Paid parental leave.
Short- and long-term disability.
401(k) with company match of up to 5%.
Education Support Program.
Stock options for regular employees working at least 20 hours per week.
Paid time off of up to four weeks per year based on weekly scheduled hours.
Up to 14 company-paid holidays.
Depending on role type and job level, employees may be eligible for benefits and bonuses based on individual contributions or company results.