Materials Engineer

Job Overview:

Found Energy has demonstrated its core hydrogen generation technologies at the kW-scale, including a system capable of powering a full-sized electric vehicle. We are now working to scale up the reactor system for both our minimum viable product (MVP) and commercial pilot demonstrations. The completion of the MVP and commercial pilots requires designing and testing numerous sub-processes and sub-systems at the targeted industrial scale, as well as at various intermediate scales along the way. 

Co-ops in this role will be responsible for investigating, enhancing, and developing new materials and methods to advance our short-term and long-term goals, including improving the chemistry and processes of our current system to achieve better performance at lower cost, contributing to the scale-up of our fuel manufacturing, enhance our quality control methods and metrics, and characterizing and validating  feedstock materials from customers and partners. In this role you will be responsible for designing and executing experiments and material quality controls, synthesizing the data, and disseminating the results to the technical staff.

Good chemical hygiene and safety practices are paramount. You will be expected to participate in our chemical hygiene and safety protocols.  

Co-op Duration: 6 months, January - June

Responsibilities and Duties:

• Execute experiments following laboratory best practices and Found Energy SOPs
• Scale-up or optimize one or several subsystems in our current fuel activation process
• Operate bench-scale and prototype-scale reactors
• Generate quality control data of our materials and devise/improve best practices for quality control 
• Test customer provided and internally developed materials for quality assurance
• Document observations in detailed and careful manner
• Synthesize data to determine trends, correlations, and underlying mechanisms
• Present results and conclusions to the materials development and broader technical teams
• Propose and collaboratively plan new experiments based on empirical findings
• Maintain and improve the experimental and analytical capabilities of the lab as needed
• Develop and maintain SOP documentation for experimental procedures and prototype systems
• Participate in and improve upon chemical hygiene and safety protocols  
• Invent new material compositions and chemical systems
• Anticipate and proactively address challenges in system performance
• Proactively identify challenges, design and test creative solutions 
• Participate in building and growing company culture and values

Preferred Qualifications:

• Deeply motivated by the climate crisis and its downstream impacts
• Pursuing education in chemical engineering, materials science and engineering, or related fields
• Exceptional communication and documentation skills
• Hands-on laboratory experience (chemical, materials, and/or metallurgical)
• Track record of strong academic and/or project-based performance
• Exceptional communication and documentation skills
• Experience in one or more of the following:
• Aluminum/metal alloys and metallurgy
• Aqueous chemistry and inorganic chemical reactions
• Experience safely handling acids, bases, and hazardous chemicals
• Experience with high temperature heat treatments, annealing, tempering, etc.
• Experimental design
• Statistical data analysis
• Apparatus/fixture design and assembly
• Chemical separation and purification processes
• Solid-liquid separation and filtration
• Hydrogen handling and safety equipment, including fuel cells
• Familiarity with one or more software languages (Python, C++, MATLAB, etc.)
• Sensor integration and data acquisition
• Process engineering
• Electrodeposition, electrochemistry, and/or corrosion
• Electrochemistry: aqueous, molten salt, and/or high temperature
• Fuel cell or battery chemistry
• Fluid and/or gas handling systems, including safety and compliance
• Experience with 5S or similar methodologies