Staff Electrochemical Engineer
Staff Electrochemical Engineer
Baltimore, MD Area • On-site • Full-time
Passionate about driving the clean energy transition using critical materials?
At Uplift, we’re on a mission to enable clean and low-cost battery metals production using our patent-pending chemical recycling device. By updating decades-old metallurgical processes with the latest advances in electrochemical membrane technology, we're increasing the accessibility of electric vehicles from the ground up. Specifically, we are building electrochemical membrane devices to regenerate acids and bases from brine streams for the integration into hydrometallurgical flow sheets. Conventional processes do not recycle acids, but rather neutralize them in carbon-emitting reactions that produce solid waste streams. The industry-leading energy efficiencies of our devices and their avoidance of hazardous gas byproducts enable a revolution in the production of metals including nickel, cobalt, and manganese.
We are seeking a design engineer with extensive experience in building electrochemical reactors to lead our electrochemical R&D efforts. We believe diversity makes us stronger. Women, people of color, LGBTQ+, veterans, and people with disabilities are encouraged to apply for this role.
What you’ll do
As an early-stage climate tech company, poised for rapid growth in burgeoning industries, we are looking for a highly autonomous, impact-minded design engineer.
We are looking for you to:
- Build bench- to mini-plant- scale electrochemical reactors (electrolyzers / electrodialyzers), especially for performing acid/base chemistry in multi-ion aqueous solutions
- Independently design and run experiments to test performance of electrochemical systems and optimize for voltage efficiency, reaction selectivity, and durability
- Analyze and interpret data, and present your findings to the team, customers, and funders
- Perform technoeconomic analyses on electrochemical devices and their integration within chemical processing plants
Requirements
- 3+ years of relevant research experience within a laboratory or industrial environment
- Masters or doctoral degree in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Metallurgy, or related field, or equivalent practical experience
- Proficiency in electrochemical techniques and equipment (potentiostats, potential sweeps)
- Experience designing and autonomously executing experiments
- Familiarity with computational modeling of electrochemical phenomena including mass transport, for example through use of Comsol Multiphysics, Python, R, or other software
Nice-to-have
- Working knowledge of materials characterization and analytical chemistry techniques and equipment (scanning electron microscope, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer)
- Understanding of current trends in ion exchange membrane development
- Experience with electrochemical system operation or manufacturing at scales larger than the lab bench
- Contributions to patents and experience in intellectual property strategy
- Experience in creating data management plans and archiving of findings for industrial R&D projects
Our values – The Uplift Way
People first
Extraordinary people achieve extraordinary results. We strive to recruit and empower diverse teams because perspective brings strength. We take care of ourselves, our colleagues, our customers, and our communities.
Always raising the bar
We take pride in delighting our customers and partners. To be the best team we can be, we value constructively disagreeing, then committing, and adapting as needed. In our continuous pursuit of excellence, we celebrate successes and normalize good-faith stumbles along the way.
Bias towards action
In the race against climate change, we weigh risks of action against risks of inaction. Many decisions are reversible and do not need exhaustive prior study. We encourage calculated risk taking.
Compensation
Uplift offers a full range of benefits, which may include medical insurance, company equity (stock or membership), and other benefits, depending on the position. Relocation budget will be provided as needed. Target annual salary for this position is between $110,000 and $170,000.