Battery Safety Engineer

Joby Aviation Inc.•San Carlos, CA

41d•$100,400 - $167,600

About The Position

Joby Aviation is seeking an engineer to help make our batteries the safest in the industry. This person will be a key member of our battery safety engineering effort and drive aspects of our battery pack and vehicle designs. This person will also develop tests that will push our technology and help define the standards for eVTOL. The testing will encompass the full range of abuse-thermal, electrical, and mechanical-of individual cells and full scale battery packs, including propagation and short circuiting.

Requirements

BS or MS in mechanical engineering, thermals, physics, or related field
Solid understanding of battery hazards and failure modes (e.g., thermal runaway, electrical shorts, mechanical abuse)
Strong problem-solving mindset and foundation in thermodynamics, heat transfer, fluid dynamics, and electrical engineering fundamentals
Willingness to get hands dirty and work with team-members on all levels of test execution, from planning to final cleanup
Fundamental understanding of sensing and data acquisition principles
Great written, verbal, and presentation skills

Nice To Haves

Doctoral degree in a relevant engineering or science field
Knowledge of li-ion cell technology and experience with battery testing/design
Experience working with abuse testing at cell/module/pack levels and familiarity with safety testing standards such as UN 38.3, SAE 2464, RTCA DO-311
CAD experience, CATIA preferred
Python or other language for data processing and visualization
LabVIEW or other language for interfacing with data acquisition hardware
Hands-on experience with thermal modeling and simulation tools such as ANSYS Fluent, COMSOL, STAR-CCM+, MATLAB/Simulink, or similar CFD/FEA software

Responsibilities

Perform thermal analysis and simulations (using lumped sum models, CFD, and multi-physics tools) to evaluate cell, module, and pack-level behavior under abuse scenarios
Own test planning and execution for battery performance and safety, with a focus on high-voltage and thermal management
Design, set up, and maintain complex test equipment, including electrical, mechanical, fluid systems, and data acquisition/instrumentation
Correlate simulation results with experimental test data, refining thermal models for accuracy and utility
Drive decisions by analyzing and presenting data-driven insights and leading cross-functional efforts across mechanical, cell, and systems engineering
Support certification efforts across all programs by conducting tests, maintaining meticulous documentation of test plans, results, and observations