Senior Materials Scientist

Salary Range: 130000 to 150000 (Currency: USD) (Pay period: per-year-salary)

The Company

Utility Global is redefining how the world makes and uses energy. Through its breakthrough H₂Gen® technology, Utility transforms industrial off-gases and biogases into clean energy and sustainable fuels and feedstocks, helping industries decarbonize without compromise. The company’s proprietary technology delivers a scalable, economic pathway to a zero-carbon future, positioning Utility as a leader in the industrial decarbonization revolution. 

About The Role

Utility Global is seeking a Senior Materials Scientist to develop ceramic materials and fabrication processes for its electrochemical cells. This is a hands-on R&D role focused on understanding how ceramic composition, microstructure, and processing affect cell performance, mechanical integrity, and manufacturability.

Reporting to the Director of Cell Technology, you will lead materials investigations, develop and refine ceramic processing methods, and troubleshoot problems that arise during fabrication and testing. You will work directly with ceramic powders, formed components, coatings, and sintered materials, using experimental data and materials characterization to guide development decisions.

The ideal candidate has substantial practical experience with ceramics, can independently plan and execute experiments, evaluate complex datasets and interrelated processes, and is comfortable working through unfamiliar technical problems in a fast-moving development environment.

Key Responsibilities

Ceramic Materials Development: Evaluate and develop ceramic materials for electrochemical cells, including assessing electrode and electrolyte composition, porosity, microstructure, mechanical strength, and thermal properties.
Processing and Fabrication: Develop and optimize ceramic processing methods, including powder preparation, slurry formulation, greenforming, coating, drying, debinding, sintering, and joining. Identify process parameters that affect part quality and establish conditions for repeatable fabrication.
Experimental Development: Plan and execute structured experimental plans to evaluate materials, identify key process parameters, and improve quality and manufacturability of electrochemical cells.
Troubleshooting and Failure Analysis: Carry out root-cause-analysis to address issues such as cracking, warping, inconsistent porosity, weak components, coating defects, and joining failures.
Data Analysis and Modeling: Apply statistical analysis and data-processing methods to evaluate experimental results, quantify relationships between variables, and guide process optimization.
Support Scale-Up Efforts: Act as supporting liaison with manufacturing to ensure cell fabrication processes are scalable and reproducible. Define process targets, windows, and tolerances that are required for part manufacturing.
Technical Collaboration: Work closely with cell fabrication and testing personnel to resolve materials issues and prioritize development work. Provide technical guidance to laboratory staff and help build reliable experimental and fabrication practices.

Candidate Profile

Required Qualifications

MS or PhD in Materials Science and Engineering, Ceramic Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Metallurgical Engineering, or a related field.

5–10 years of hands-on experience developing, processing, or characterizing ceramic materials in an industrial or research environment.

Strong understanding of ceramic processing, including how forming, drying, thermal treatment, and sintering affect microstructure and final properties.

Experience with ceramic fabrication methods and the practical challenges of producing consistent, defect-free components.

Ability to independently design experiments, analyze results, and use data to make technical decisions.

Experience with materials characterization and the interpretation of microstructural, thermal, mechanical, or compositional data.

Demonstrated ability to troubleshoot materials and processing problems and identify root causes.

Strong technical writing skills and the ability to communicate experimental results clearly.

Ability to manage multiple experiments and priorities while adapting to changing development needs.

Preferred Experience

Experience with functional ceramics, porous ceramics, or ceramic components for electrochemical devices.

Hands-on experience with forming and coating processes such as isostatic pressing, extrusion, tape casting, screen printing, or spray coating.

Experience with sintering, debinding, thermal processing, or ceramic-to-metal joining.

Familiarity with ceramic porosity, pore structure, density, mechanical strength, and dimensional stability.

Experience using characterization techniques such as SEM/EDS, XRD, dilatometry, TGA/DSC, porosimetry, and mechanical testing.

Experience developing processing parameters and process windows for repeatable ceramic fabrication.

Experience with high-temperature materials or ceramics exposed to chemically reactive environments.