Research Scientist Manager, Climate and Energy

Google•Alameda, CA

1d•$207,000 - $300,000

About The Position

The Climate and Energy team's mission is to use Google technologies to handle climate change and build a sustainable energy future. We apply different technologies to make transformative, non-incremental advances in global energy systems, including accelerating research into fusion, energy storage, and high-risk projects. As an Energy Researcher, you will rapidly evaluate external energy technology proposals and generate your own, leading promising concepts into concrete energy solutions. This role requires an approach: building prototypes, collaborating with domain experts, and scaling projects from bench to deployment. You must grow in ambiguous research-to-product pipelines, iterate rapidly, and maintain the objectivity needed to recognize when to conclude non-viable projects and reallocate resources. As projects progress, you will lead a team of researchers and engineers, manage budgets and schedules, and report progress to executive leadership.

Requirements

PhD degree in Physics or Engineering, a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
4 years of experience with research agendas across multiple teams or projects.
Experience in one or more of the following: High vacuum systems (UHF), Pulse power systems (high voltage), combustion and thermodynamic systems, optics and lasers, or cryogenic systems (superconductors, detectors).

Nice To Haves

Scientific publications in conferences or journals.
Experience with experimental apparatus, data acquisition, and rapid physical prototyping.
Experience managing a research lab or being an early-stage employee/founder at a startup.
Experience evaluating feasibility and merit of grant/partner proposals, as well as grant disbursement.
Experience collaborating with EHS organizations and navigating regulatory compliance.
Experience with simulation and computational analysis.

Responsibilities

Take a nebulous energy challenge and turn it into a concrete, validated technical solution. Motivate, support, and manage research lab environments or early-stage innovation teams as projects grow.
Design, build, and test experimental apparatuses for physical research and development. Influence research direction and produce novel scientific contributions and published findings.
Scale and manage projects as they grow from initial proof-of-concept to broader initiatives, including recruiting domain experts and establishing teams.
Perform careful, deep-dive analysis to identify where technologies might fail and where they can be pivoted for success. Use simulation and computational analysis to de-risk a pipeline of energy solutions.
Evaluate the feasibility and merit of different collaboration and grant proposals.