Catalyzing a cleaner future.
ESS is a globally recognized leader in sustainable energy storage and is consistently identified as one of the most innovative and exciting technology players in energy storage. It is poised to be one of the fastest growing energy technology companies in the world, with projects already across 4 continents and an upcoming public offering. The ESS vision is about enabling the decarbonization of the grid by enabling us to achieve up to 100% of our electricity from clean, sustainable renewable energy.
These are ambitious goals, and we are pursuing them with passion. At ESS, we are leading the energy transition, creating the sustainable energy solutions of the future to help individuals, businesses and communities change energy into lasting value.
ESS is seeking a motivated and versatile Senior Reliability Engineer to join our team. As a Reliability Engineer focused on ESS’s Energy Base product, you will have primary responsibility for the reliability assessment, validation, and design guidance of ESS’s core electrochemical components, including iron flow battery stacks, electrochemical rebalancing cells, and fluid interfaces. You will own the reliability lifecycle—from concept and design through development testing and analysis, manufacturing, and field operation—ensuring exceptional performance at every stage.
In this role, you will investigate failures using physics-of-failure methods and physical testing to accurately predict component and system robustness. You will then translate these insights into design and architecture improvements that prevent recurrence and continuously enhance product reliability, as well as creating system level reliability estimates. You will act as a reliability advisor to system and hardware design teams, helping assess the suitability of off-the-shelf components for ESS’s unique operating environment and long service-life requirements.
What you’ll do at ESS:
Core Component Reliability
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Own reliability engineering of our iron flow battery stacks and rebalancing cells.
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Identify dominant degradation and failure mechanisms (electrochemical, chemical, mechanical, thermal, and environmental).
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Develop physics-of-failure models to guide accelerated life testing, operating limits, and design tradeoffs.
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Define reliability requirements and targets for core components based on field usage conditions, duty cycles, and costing models.
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Design and execute validation plans to determine expected operating lifetimes at different specification ranges.
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Lead teardown and failure analysis of lab-tested and field-returned components.
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Partner with relevant engineering functions to translate failure analysis findings into design changes, updated requirements, and validation improvements.
We’d love to see
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Experience with batteries, flow batteries, fuel cells, electrochemical systems, or fluid-based energy systems.
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Working knowledge of programming, preferably in Python.
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Familiarity with corrosive environments, polymers, or battery materials in general.
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Experience analyzing field reliability data for determining or predicting failure causes.
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Comfort working across disciplines in a fast-moving hardware development environment.
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Knowledge of reliability, warranty analysis, and reliability prediction methodologies.
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Familiarity with design-for-reliability methods, including integrating ECAD/MCAD/CAE data into 3D finite element models.
Benefits of working at ESS:
In addition to the value of working with and helping grow a global reaching clean technology, ESS offers Company assisted medical, dental and vision, 401k with Company match, FSA and HSA accounts, Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP), a generous flexible time off plan, and 8 paid holidays.
As an equal opportunity employer, we are open to considering every qualified candidate who is eligible and legally authorized to work in the United States on a full or part-time basis, without a need for sponsorship.
