A cover letter is required for consideration for this position and should be attached as the first page of your resume. The cover letter should address your specific interest in the position and outline skills and experience that directly relate to this position.

At the University of Michigan's new Electric Vehicle Center (EVC), we educate, innovate, and engage to accelerate the future of electric mobility. As part of the EVC, the UM Battery Lab works to create and maintain a state of the art, independent user facility with a flexibility of scale in production and characterization of batteries that will benefit the energy storage community as a whole. 

Basic Function and Responsibility

The Battery Lab at the University of Michigan is a full-service battery cell fabrication and testing facility open to any academic or industry user.

It was established in 2015 as the nation's first university-based pilot line, and today it's the only one located in the heart of the auto industry.

The lab is an IP-protected safe zone where researchers from around the globe can prototype, test, scale-up, and analyze batteries and the materials that go into them. It is currently 17,000 sq. feet of research space and includes a pilot line for pouch and cylindrical cells, an R&D pouch cell line, coin cell fabrication, electrochemical cycling, abuse testing, and a full suite of material characterization tools, across two distinct locations. 

The current role would be joining our highly trained technical staff as a Battery Engineer at the Senior level. This position will be responsible for usage and maintenance of our electrochemical testing capabilities, as well as supporting the cell manufacturing in our facility. The successful candidate may be expected to train and supervise students, new hires, and outside users of the facility. In this role, excellent written and verbal communication is expected, as this position will be interfacing directly with users (academic and industrial) and may be expected to present at conferences or guest-lecture in college-level courses. It is anticipated that this position will primarily work at the Phoenix facility (North Campus), though frequent travel to the Ellsworth facility will be required.

• Primary Responsibilities:

  • Generate and follow SOPs and pre-generated procedures to test and collect operational data on batteries and battery materials, including but not limited to: (35%)

    • Charging/discharging

    • Product cycle Life

    • Failure analysis

  • Data analysis and reporting to customers on: (35%)

    • Electrochemical cycling

    • EIS

    • Abuse testing

    • Other analytical work

  • Train users in characterization and testing equipment operation, as well as laboratory techniques, explain and demonstrate technology and equipment capabilities, operations, limitations, and outcomes. (10%)

  • Project and/or Resource management and maintenance: (10%)

    • Cycler maintenance and calibration

    • Channel allotment and tracking

    • Chamber maintenance and calibration

    • Lead maintenance

    • Lab hygiene

• Secondary Responsibilities:

  • Assist in the fabrication labs with: (10%)

    • Mixing

    • Coating

    • Cell assembly

    • Fixturing for formation

    • Degas

• The position requires a relevant bachelor's degree and 5 years relevant experience, or an advanced degree (master's degree or above) in battery science/engineering and 2 years relevant experience

• Candidates must have: 

  • Experience working with the following electrochemical testing equipment:

    • Maccor cycler experience required. 

    • Solartron Impedance Analyzer experience appreciated

  • Understand the fundamentals of battery testing.

  • Experience with laboratory safety and training.

  • Good written and verbal communication skills, as well as good record keeping habits are required.

  • Customer service-oriented mindset.

  • Able to work in a low humidity environment.

  • Ability to work efficiently in a multitasking, rapid-cycle development environment.

  • A valid driver's license and clean driving record. 

  • Ability to move items weighing up to 50 pounds.

  • Ability to travel to various locations to conduct work

• Experience working in an academic battery research facility or an industrial battery testing or fabrication facility. 

• Understand the fundamentals of battery manufacturing

• Experience with analytical equipment. Including:

  • X-ray Diffractometer

  • Accelerated Rate Calorimeter

  • Glove boxes

  • TGA/DSC

  • Novonix Ultra-high Precision Coulometry

  • Arbin Cell Cycler 

  • High Voltage Safety

• Experience with the Voltaiq data management platform

Work location flexibility may be stationed alternatively at the North Campus or the Ellsworth expansion site depending upon current user demand.

This position is not eligible for employment visa sponsorship.

The University of Michigan conducts background checks on all job candidates upon acceptance of a contingent offer and may use a third party administrator to conduct background checks.  Background checks are performed in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Job openings are posted for a minimum of seven calendar days. The review and selection process may begin as early as the eighth day after posting. This opening may be removed from posting boards and filled any time after the minimum posting period has ended.

The University of Michigan is an equal employment opportunity employer.

About University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

A great university is made so by its faculty and staff, and Michigan is recognized as one of the best universities to work for in the country. The Michigan culture is known for engaging faculty and staff in all facets of the university to create a workplace that is vibrant and stimulating.For two consecutive years, the Chronicle of Higher Education has placed U-M in its "Great Colleges to Work For" survey. In particular, the university earns high marks for strong relations between faculty and administrators, a collaborative system of governance, strong pay and benefits, and a healthy work/life balance.

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