LOCATION:

Coventry

SALARY:

Competitive

PERMANENT/FIXED:

Permanent

Application Reference Number: 0050

Data Scientist

About the role:

UKBIC plays a unique role in helping customers bridge the gap between battery innovation and industrial-scale manufacturing. As a Cell Development Engineer, you will support the development, testing, and industrialisation of lithium-ion cell technologies, materials, and designs, helping determine whether they are technically feasible, manufacturable, and capable of meeting customer performance requirements.

Working across product, process, manufacturing, quality, and supply chain disciplines, you will apply practical cell engineering knowledge to support development programmes, evaluate cell performance, and identify technical risks, assumptions, and maturity gaps. The role contributes to both customer programmes and UKBIC internal development activities, supporting the progression of battery technologies from early-stage R&D towards industrialisation.

As UKBIC expands into new cell formats, the role will support the development, validation, and quality improvement of these new cell offerings, ensuring lessons from early builds are translated into stronger designs, clearer requirements, and more robust development routes.

You will work closely with Product Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering & Operations, Quality, Simulation & Modelling, Supply Chain, Business Development, and external partners to support robust technical delivery. The role will also provide technical input into feasibility reviews, project gates, and customer proposals, helping ensure development plans are aligned with UKBIC capabilities and delivery expectations.

Key Deliverables

In summary, the key deliverables for this role are:

1.      Cell development test plans, trial plans, and DoE plans for customer and internal programmes.

2.      Cell build, test, validation, and performance analysis reports.

3.      Electrochemical data analysis summaries covering cycling, EIS, CV, GITT/PITT, DQ/DV, or related techniques.

4.      Material, component, and supplier evaluation reports.

5.      Technical feasibility inputs for customer opportunities, project gates, and internal reviews.

6.      Risk, assumption, and maturity gap logs for new materials, cell designs, or process changes.

7.      Product quality requirement inputs linked to performance, manufacturability, safety, and cost.

8.      Root cause investigation summaries and recommended corrective or improvement actions.

9.      Technical reports and presentations for customer projects and internal development activities.

10.    Develop and validate new cell formats and configurations, improving the quality, robustness, and manufacturability of UKBIC’s emerging cell offerings.

Key Accountabilities and Responsibilities

• Support cell development activities at UKBIC involving cell design, material evaluation, test planning, quality requirement definition, and root cause investigations.
• Contribute to the development of battery and electrode designs that are scalable, robust, and aligned with customer performance requirements.
• Support technical feasibility assessments for new commercial and internal projects, identifying key assumptions, risks, maturity gaps, and delivery challenges.
• Provide input into new product introduction projects, supporting gated governance through preparation of work packages, deliverables, technical evidence, and development plans.
• Help identify product and process failure modes associated with design changes, internal developments, or customer technologies to support risk reduction and project delivery.
• Work with Supply Chain to support material, component, and supplier evaluation activities, including preparation for development trials and technical reviews.
• Support collaboration with research and development institutes, external partners, and test houses to help progress next-generation battery technologies towards scale-up.
• Contribute to the development and maintenance of UKBIC baseline cell designs, test methods, material specifications, and development learnings to support future programmes.
• Support development activities for new cell formats, capturing build, test, and performance learning to improve future designs, specifications, and development approaches.

Key Interactions

• Product Engineering
• Support the development of cell designs, product definitions, material specifications, and technical reports.
• Provide input into product requirements, development plans, and design changes.
• Support identification of critical features linked to performance, safety, manufacturability, and function through DFMEA / DRBFM activities.

• Quality
• Support the planning of laboratory tests and experiments required to validate materials, cells, and development activities. 
• Provide technical input into quality concerns, management of change, and root cause investigations.
• Support the translation of product-critical features into appropriate quality requirements and control considerations.

• Manufacturing Engineering & Operations
• Support the planning and execution of development trials on UKBIC manufacturing equipment.
• Help assess the practical feasibility of cell, electrode, material, and process changes.
• Capture learning from trials to improve future development activities and support capability growth.

• Supply chain (Logistics and Purchasing)
• Provide technical input into supplier search, material selection, and supplier engagement activities.
• Support material demand planning and scheduling of supplier-related development trials.

• Commercial team (Business development and Project Management)
• Provide technical input into feasibility assessments for new commercial opportunities.
• Support the development of technical plans, assumptions, risks, and work package inputs for customer proposals and project delivery.

Required Qualifications, Skills & Experience:

• Degree or Masters degree in Electrochemical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, Mechanical Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• Industrial or applied research experience in lithium-ion battery cell development, testing, materials evaluation, or manufacturing process development.
• Practical understanding of lithium-ion cell components, including cathode, anode, separator, electrolyte, current collectors, and cell hardware.
• Experience supporting cell development activities from laboratory-scale trials through to larger format or pilot-scale cell formats.
• Ability to plan, execute, and analyse structured development trials or design of experiments.
• Working knowledge of electrochemical testing and characterisation techniques such as galvanostatic cycling, EIS, CV, GITT/PITT, DQ/DV, or related methods.
• Ability to analyse test data and communicate findings clearly.
• Awareness of product and process risk assessment methods such as DFMEA, PFMEA, DRBFM, or management of change.
• Comfortable working with incomplete data, evolving requirements, and practical manufacturing constraints.

Desirable:

• Experience with electrode formulation, slurry preparation, coating, cell assembly, or formation processes.
• Experience working in pilot-line, scale-up, or industrialisation environments.
• Experience working across different cell formats, product configurations, or emerging battery technologies.
• Exposure to supplier or material qualification activities.
• Experience supporting gated development, NPI, or structured project review processes.
• Familiarity with robust design, Six Sigma, or data-led engineering decision-making.
• Awareness of battery safety, handling, and quality requirements.
  

Personal attributes:

Essential:

• Practical engineering judgement and able to make recommendations with incomplete information.
• Challenges assumptions constructively and identifies risks early.
• Applies structured development processes, including technical reviews and risk-based decision-making.
• Collaborates effectively across engineering, manufacturing, quality, supply chain, and commercial teams.
• Takes ownership and accountability for technical decisions and outcomes.
• Communicates clearly with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Able to balance technical ambition with manufacturing and commercial reality.

Desirable:

• Supports the development of engineers and technicians through coaching and mentoring.
• Curious, pragmatic, and motivated by industrialising new battery technologies.

Application Reference Number: 0050