A

ALSO

Designs compact electric micromobility vehicles

Battery Systems Engineer

Full-TimeUpdated on 10/16/2026
$125k - $255k/yr
Senior, Expert
Bachelor's, Master's
Palo Alto, CA, USA
In Person
Electrical EngineeringPower Systems Engineering

About the job

Requirements
  • At least 8 years of battery systems engineering experience, including ownership of battery architecture and requirements on a shipped product.
  • Deep understanding of lithium-ion cell behavior, including electrochemical operating principles, thermal characteristics, degradation mechanisms, and translation of these into real-world duty-cycle and pack-design constraints.
  • Hands-on expertise building equivalent-circuit models, thermal networks, degradation behavior, and pack-level simulations from scratch using Python, MATLAB, and Simulink.
  • Experience developing or validating duty cycles for electric vehicle or electrified powertrain applications and translating mission profiles into battery requirements and operating limits.
  • Ability to translate cell and pack behavior into battery management system hardware and firmware requirements, including protection thresholds, contactor and fuse sizing, parallel-cell current balance, and fault-detection logic, working directly with embedded teams.
  • Sufficient fluency in controls and embedded systems to contribute credibly and drive alignment at battery management system and controls design reviews.
  • A Bachelor of Science or Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related field.
Responsibilities
  • Own the analytical foundation of the battery system and lead trade studies across chemistry, pack topology, state-of-charge window, cell selection, and operating limits; translate decisions into cost, range, performance, and cycle-life tradeoffs that inform product and business direction.
  • Build and advance cell- and pack-level electrical, thermal, and degradation models; develop battery duty cycles from real-world usage data and mission profiles, correlate models against measured data, and use them to set architecture decisions, design targets, and operating limits.
  • Define battery operation, including charging strategy, operational use cases, user-facing behavior, degradation management, and end-of-life operating strategy, and ensure these are reflected in system requirements, controls logic, and vehicle integration.
  • Own cell evaluation and down-selection by defining characterization test plans, interpreting performance and degradation data, and translating cell behavior into pack-level model inputs, design constraints, and battery management system operating envelopes.
  • Define battery system requirements, including protection thresholds, thermal limits, charge and discharge constraints, contactor and fuse sizing, fault detection, and end-of-life criteria; provide battery use-case context and cell-behavior constraints to battery management system hardware, firmware, and controls teams.
  • Define test cases, support bench and vehicle-level bring-up, and drive model-to-measurement correlation across electrical, thermal, and degradation domains.
  • Establish technical rigor, pace, and standards as an early member of the growing battery engineering team.
Desired Qualifications
  • Cell characterization experience, including hybrid pulse power characterization, open-circuit voltage curves, and degradation cycling.
  • Familiarity with battery management system state-estimation algorithms for state of charge, state of health, and state of energy, and how they interface with controls.
  • Experience with advanced simulation tools such as Ansys Mechanical, Fluent, Icepak, or equivalent, and fast-charge protocol development and optimization.
  • Background in small electric vehicles, two-wheelers, or light electric mobility platforms; familiarity with requirements management tools; and business acumen in framing engineering tradeoffs around cost, program risk, and product impact.

About the company

Also is a micromobility company spun out from Rivian Automotive in 2025 that designs compact electric vehicles for urban travel, including e-bikes, scooters, and small four-wheel models for consumer and commercial use. It follows a vertically integrated approach, developing electric motors, batteries, and software in-house to improve efficiency and design flexibility. Its Transcendent Mobility concept aims to make short trips more engaging and connected while reducing emissions. With Rivian retaining a minority stake and the founder serving as chairman of the board, Also plans to launch its first product in 2026 in the United States and Europe and pursues logistics and delivery applications to broaden urban mobility.

Company Size

201-500

Company Stage

Series D

Total Funding

$655M

Headquarters

Palo Alto, California

Founded

2025

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Simplify Jobs

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • ALSO closed a $150 million Series D in August 2026 with Prysm Capital.
  • TM-B Launch Edition started shipping across the U.S. in August 2026.
  • DoorDash and Amazon partnerships validate fleet demand and open enterprise revenue before autonomy launches.

What critics are saying

  • TM-B deliveries slipped from spring 2026 to fall 2026, eroding buyer trust.
  • Autonomous delivery ambitions depend on Amazon and DoorDash adoption, not just vehicle performance.
  • If the autonomy platform misses 2027 commercialization, ALSO becomes an overpriced premium e-bike maker.

What makes ALSO unique

  • Rivian spinout DNA gives ALSO automotive-grade engineering, software, and manufacturing discipline.
  • Chris Yu and RJ Scaringe built a vertically integrated small-vehicle platform, not a bike brand.
  • TM-B and TM-Q share motors, batteries, compute, and software across consumer and fleet products.

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Benefits

  • Health Insurance
  • Dental Insurance
  • Vision Insurance
  • 401(k) Company Match
  • Flexible Work Hours
  • Family Planning Benefits

Growth & Insights and Company News

Headcount

6 month growth

15%

1 year growth

-3%

2 year growth

2%
CNBC
Sep 14th, 2026
Chris Yu spins Also out of Rivian to build small EVs for delivery fleets

Chris Yu has spun Also, a micromobility company, out of Rivian in early 2025. The startup produces small electric vehicles including the TM-B e-bike and TM-Q pedal-assist quad using a vertically integrated, in-house technology stack. Also targets denser metropolitan areas and delivery fleets such as Amazon and DoorDash, competing on total cost of ownership. Yu plans to develop an autonomy-first platform next. Before founding Also, Yu was chief technology officer at Specialized and raced bikes professionally. He was born in South San Jose to Hong Kong immigrants.

Tusla Technologies
Sep 9th, 2026
Rivian spinout Also apologizes for delays in shipping futuristic e-bikes.

Rivian spinout Also apologizes for delays in shipping futuristic e-bikes. Last updated: September 9, 2026 5:41 am But that list of high-tech features is creating unexpected bottlenecks for Also's product team. It's not an exaggeration to say that nothing else looked like this bike. The company had originally said customer deliveries would start in ... Read the full story at The Verge. Rivian's futuristic e-bike is delayed, and customers are not happy. Last year, Rivian's micromobility spinoff Also unveiled a new, software-controlled electric bike called the TM-B that immediately set the e-bike world ablaze.

Daily Company News
Aug 22nd, 2026
ALSO raises $150 million in Series D funding round.

ALSO raises $150 million in Series D funding round. ALSO, the Palo Alto-based Rivian spinout focused on small electric vehicles, closed a $150 million Series D financing round. ALSO's recent $150M round was led by Prysm Capital, with participation from existing investors Eclipse (also referred to as Eclipse Capital), Greenoaks, and MVP Ventures. It brings ALSO's total capital raised to approximately $455 million in under two years since spinning out of Rivian. Reports indicate the round pushed the company's valuation above $1 billion (with some private market data citing figures around $1.48 billion). How will ALSO use the funds? The capital is earmarked to accelerate development of ALSO's autonomous vehicle platform and to advance multiple autonomous form factors simultaneously. These are designed for moving both goods and people in urban and suburban environments. The vehicles will leverage the same electric architecture (motors, batteries, compute, and software) already developed for the company's current products: the TM-B consumer electric pedal assist bike and the TM-Q commercial electric delivery quad. ALSO positions itself around solving congestion and lowering "cost per trip" in dense settings, whether vehicles are human driven or autonomous. Co-founder and President Chris Yu has emphasized that the core challenge of urban mobility does not change with autonomy, and the company aims to deliver well designed, intelligent small vehicles better suited to today's cities than full sized cars or vans. What is ALSO? ALSO originated as a skunkworks project inside Rivian, driven by Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe's interest in micromobility. It spun out as an independent company in early 2025 (around March) with an initial ~$105 million raise (primarily from Eclipse). The team draws talent from Apple, Google, Specialized, Tesla, and Rivian. Scaringe co-founded ALSO and remains involved (as chairman or board member), while Rivian retains a minority stake. Chris Yu (former Specialized CTO and Rivian VP of Future Programs) serves as co-founder and president/CEO. Funding has progressed rapidly: * Spinout / early 2025: ~$105 million (Eclipse led). * Mid 2025: ~$200 million from Greenoaks at a $1 billion valuation (pre product). * March/April 2026: $200 million Series C led by Greenoaks, with Prysm Capital and a strategic investment from DoorDash. * August 2026: $150 million Series D led by Prysm. This marks the fourth significant raise in roughly 18 months, reflecting strong investor conviction in the platform approach. ALSO's first products are already in market or nearing broader availability. The TM-B Launch Edition e-bike has begun shipping to U.S. customers; pre orders and configurations for Performance and Standard models are open, with deliveries expected in fall 2026. Pricing for the TM-B has been reported in the $3,500-$4,500 range. The TM-Q is a four wheeled, pedal assist commercial delivery vehicle designed to carry more than 400 pounds of cargo while remaining small enough for bike lanes. It shares core architecture (including a pedal by wire system and circular touchscreen interface) with the TM-B. Key commercial partnerships underscore the dual driven/autonomous roadmap: * Amazon: Multi year collaboration (announced late 2025) to supply and customize thousands of TM-Q-style pedal assist cargo quads for last mile delivery in the U.S. and Europe. Amazon already operates numerous micromobility hubs. * DoorDash: Strategic investment in the Series C plus a multi year commercial agreement to collaboratively develop and deploy autonomous delivery vehicles at scale. DoorDash co-founder and Head of DoorDash Labs Stanley Tang joined as a board observer. The focus is on purpose built small EVs operating in complex urban spaces (bike lanes, curbsides, road adjacent areas). These partnerships provide both revenue pathways for near term driven vehicles and validation/scale for the longer term autonomous platform. Prysm Capital's Jay Park (co-founder and managing partner), an early Rivian backer, highlighted the parallel: ALSO applies the same vertically integrated, design driven approach Rivian used for larger EVs to smaller form factors that better address commercial operators' and consumers' needs in congested environments. The raise occurs against a mixed backdrop for micromobility. Some pure play e-bike companies have faced challenges, yet the broader category (e-bikes, scooters, and small delivery EVs) remains a large and growing market. ALSO differentiates by treating the e-bike and cargo quad as entry points or "wedges" into a broader platform of small EVs (driven and autonomous) rather than as end products. The shared architecture is intended to improve economics across form factors. The $150 million Series D reinforces ALSO's rapid capitalization and shift toward autonomy while building on early commercial traction with major logistics players. It positions the company to scale its platform across multiple vehicle types for urban goods and passenger movement, leveraging Rivian heritage, vertical integration, and high profile partners. Please email Daily Company your feedback and news tips at hello(at)dailycompanynews.com

FinSMEs
Aug 19th, 2026
ALSO raises $150M in Series D funding.

ALSO raises $150M in Series D funding. August 19, 2026 ALSO, a Palo Alto, CA-based technology company building small electric vehicles, raised $150M in Series D financing. The round was led by Prysm Capital with participation from Eclipse, Greenoaks, and MVP Ventures. The raise brought the total amount to $350M. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate its mission to bring driven and autonomous small electric vehicles to consumers and businesses worldwide, accelerate the development of its autonomous vehicle platform, and progress multiple autonomous form factors. Led by Co-Founder and President Chris Yu, ALSO is an electric mobility company that combines vertically integrated hardware and software to deliver purpose-built mobility platforms for moving people and goods. Their solution leverages EV architecture developed for driven and autonomous applications, including consumer electric bikes and commercial electric delivery quads. They offer the TM-B Launch Edition electric bike shipping across the U.S. and have opened pre-orders for the TM-B Performance and Standard models. Don't just read the news. Own the data. Stop manually tracking deals. Access this round and over 100 others this week - in our structured Master Database (XML) + Weekly Intelligence PDF. [Access FinSMEs Intelligence Hub] 19/08/2026

Fortune
Aug 19th, 2026
Also raises $150M at $1B+ valuation to build autonomous delivery vehicles disguised as e-bikes

Also, a Palo Alto-based micromobility startup, has raised $150 million in Series D funding led by Prysm Capital, pushing its valuation past $1 billion. The two-year-old company, which spun out of Rivian in early 2025, makes a small-vehicle technology platform designed for anything smaller than a car, including e-bikes, delivery vehicles, and autonomous transport. The new capital will accelerate Also's autonomous vehicle platform for moving goods and passengers. The company already has partnerships with Amazon and DoorDash for commercial delivery applications. Also's founder Chris Yu argues that repurposing large vehicles for short trips is inefficient in dense urban areas. The startup aims to make small-form-factor autonomy a standard part of transportation within five years, despite recent bankruptcies in the e-bike sector.