Principal Electrochemical Engineer

VVater•Austin, TX

5d•Onsite

About The Position

The Principal Electrochemical Engineer will serve as the technical owner of VVater’s electrochemical treatment systems. The role leads how reactors are conceived, modeled, built, tested, and scaled, including electrode materials and geometry, cell and stack architecture, hydrodynamics, power delivery, and durability. The engineer will take reactors from bench cells through field-deployed, manufacturable modules designed to perform reliably on real water. The position works closely with process research, electrical, mechanical, and manufacturing teams in a fast-paced technology development environment. VVater develops water purification technologies, including its Farady Reactor, ALTEP, Advanced Dissolved Air Flotation, and Micro & Nano Bubble technologies. Its systems are used or being developed for municipal drinking water and wastewater, potable and non-potable reuse, data centers, commercial buildings, resorts, residential purification, and consumer health water. The role also supports the technology roadmap, generates intellectual property, mentors engineers and scientists, develops laboratory capabilities, and represents VVater with customers, partners, universities, national laboratories, and at conferences and in publications. This is an onsite position based in Austin, Texas; remote and hybrid work are not available. Applicants must participate in required assessment tests to continue in the recruitment process.

Requirements

PhD in Chemical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Electrochemistry, Materials Science, or a related field; exceptional candidates with an MS and equivalent depth will be considered.
At least 8 years of post-degree experience in electrochemical engineering, technology development, or applied electrochemical research; doctoral research counts toward this experience.
Demonstrated experience designing, building, and scaling electrochemical reactors, cells, or stacks from bench to pilot or commercial scale, including hands-on testing on real feeds.
Deep command of electrochemical engineering fundamentals, including thermodynamics, electrode kinetics, mass transport, current and potential distribution, and Faradaic efficiency.
Hands-on expertise with electroanalytical techniques and potentiostat/galvanostat instrumentation.
Experience with electrode materials, coatings, degradation, and durability analysis.
Proficiency with multiphysics modeling such as COMSOL or equivalent, and with Python, MATLAB, or similar tools for data analysis.
Hands-on fluency with modern AI tools such as Claude or equivalents, and the ability to vibe-code internal engineering tools, models, and automations.
Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including research proposals, design specifications, and customer-facing technical reports.
Comfort with ambiguity and the judgment to decide what to test next without waiting for direction.

Nice To Haves

Experience in a startup or applied R&D organization taking first-of-kind electrochemical technology to market.
Experience with multiphase flow and bubble management in gas-evolving electrochemical reactors, including CFD.
Corrosion science and materials selection for aggressive aqueous environments.
Experience with instrumentation, data acquisition such as LabVIEW, and PLC/SCADA integration for test stands and pilot systems.
Familiarity with drinking water and reuse requirements affecting electrochemical systems, including byproduct formation limits and NSF/ANSI 61 materials compliance.
Experience with pulsed, pulse-reverse, or AC electrochemical processes, and working knowledge of power electronics and how waveform shapes affect electrode behavior and electrochemical processes.
Commercial scale-up of electrochemical systems such as electrolyzers, flow reactors, or electrochemical separation stacks, including skid integration and field commissioning.
Electrode or stack manufacturing, coatings, or design for manufacturability in a production environment.

Responsibilities

Lead the design of electrochemical reactors, cells, and stacks, including electrode materials and geometry, flow fields and hydrodynamics, current and potential distribution, gas management, sealing, and materials of construction.
Select, develop, and qualify electrode materials and coatings for activity, selectivity, conductivity, and service life in real water matrices.
Diagnose degradation mechanisms such as passivation, scaling, fouling, corrosion, and coating loss, and design reactors to address them.
Collaborate with electrical engineering to define power delivery and connect electrical operating parameters with electrochemical performance and energy use.
Investigate reaction mechanisms and kinetics for target contaminants and byproducts, and quantify efficiency, selectivity, and specific energy consumption.
Use electroanalytical methods, including CV, LSV, EIS, chronoamperometry, chronopotentiometry, rotating disk, and reference-electrode techniques, to determine kinetic, thermodynamic, and mass-transport parameters.
Build multiphysics and CFD models of current distribution, mass transport, bubble-laden multiphase flow, and heat generation to guide design and scale-up.
Use structured experimental design and data-driven optimization, including DOE, Bayesian methods, and machine-learning methods, to accelerate development.
Scale reactors from bench cells to pilot and commercial modules, define scale-up rules, and validate performance at each step.
Support Factory Acceptance Testing, Site Acceptance Testing, field commissioning, and troubleshooting of deployed reactors.
Develop SOPs, operating envelopes, and safety protocols for electrochemical systems, including gas evolution, electrical safety, and byproduct management.
Support the technology roadmap with company leadership, aligned with reuse, industrial, and data center market needs.
Generate intellectual property.
Mentor engineers and scientists, build Technology Development laboratory capabilities, and raise the technical bar across the team.
Represent VVater technically with customers, partners, universities, national laboratories, and at conferences and in publications.