Senior Staff Engineer - Battery Modeling

Who You Are

As an engineer on the RD&E modeling team, you will bridge physical chemistry, advanced characterization, and computational modeling to accelerate the development of high-performance lithium-ion battery materials and cells. You are a cross-functional problem solver who thrives at the intersection of wet-lab characterization and high-performance computing, leveraging advanced models to turn raw empirical and theoretical data into actionable material & cell design rules. Working closely with synthesis, formulation, and commercial teams, you will quantify property-performance relationships for active materials and coproducts to drive technological differentiation.

Responsibilities and Duties  

• Leverage standard and advanced characterization methods (BET, TGA, Raman, SEM, XAS, XPS, EPR) alongside computational chemistry tools (DFT, electronic structure modeling via Orca, Gaussian, or Q-Chem, and numerical solvers) to quantify correlations between material properties and electrochemical performance of Li-ion battery active materials and coproducts.
• Develop and operationalize electrochemical tests at the half and full cell level to extract material-level kinetics and physics for Li-ion active materials.
• Build and maintain automated data processing, simulation, and modeling workflows using Linux command-line tools, bash scripting, and Python for both material and cell-level modeling
• Translate computational insights into physical material design improvements while guiding internal teams and external customers on cell-level design optimization for maximum power and energy efficiency.
• Leverage empirical historical datasets to create model scenarios to inform design opportunities for energy:power differentiation.

Knowledge and Skill Requirements 

• Ph.D. in Chemistry, Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, or a related physical science discipline.
• Deep experience integrating quantum chemistry methods (DFT, electronic structure calculations) with experimental materials characterization
• Deep experience in physics based model development and application for lithium ion batteries 
• High proficiency in Linux environments, CLI tools, bash scripting, Python, and numerical solvers for physical chemistry workflows.
• Hands-on background in electrochemistry for lithium ion batteries or related field
• Solid grasp of standard (BET, TGA, Raman, SEM) and advanced spectroscopic/synchrotron techniques (XAS, XPS, EPR) applied to silicon or carbon-based active materials.

Physical Demands and Working Conditions

• Wear required personal protective equipment (lab coat, safety glasses, gloves, steel-toe shoes) when operating in laboratory environments.
• Operate specialized analytical instrumentation, gloveboxes, and computational infrastructure in fixed laboratory and office settings.
• Move across facilities and maintain focus during extended computational runs or analytical testing protocols.

The starting base pay for this role is between $172,000 and $218,000 at the time of posting. The actual base pay depends on many factors, such as education, experience, and skills. Base pay is only one part of Sila’s competitive Total Rewards package that can include benefits, perks, equity, and bonuses.  The base pay range is subject to change and may be modified in the future.