Senior Electrochemical Stack Engineer

Senior Electrochemical Stack Engineer

Mission Zero Technologies

London, United Kingdom

We're looking for an Electrochemical Stack Engineer to develop our next generation of stack designs. Electrodialytic approaches to DAC lean on established electrodialysis designs, however these designs are far from optimal for the specificity of electrochemical direct-air capture. As our Electrochemical Stack Engineer you'll lead stack development at MZT. You'll define the opportunity areas for our next-generation stack, develop concepts that attack the biggest resistance losses in the cell, while ensuring stability and robustness, and lead the build–test–evaluate cycles that prove (or kill) them. For winning concepts, you'll scale them into full-size stacks, navigating supply chain and manufacturing constraints along the way.

The role has two sides. You'll lead on the stacks we procure, assessing what the supply chain offers, judging their suitability for our process and specifying modifications where needed. In parallel, you'll lead the development of DAC-optimised electrodialytic stacks designed around our process conditions from the start. On both fronts you'll work closely with our process, mechanical and electrical engineers so that the stack meets the requirements of our DAC technology and the wider plant design.

What you’ll be doing

• Defining the opportunity areas for MZT's next-generation electrochemical stack: quantifying where the losses sit and which are worth attacking first
• Developing concepts for performance improvement across cell geometry, materials and flow design, backed by models and analysis that clarify your predictions
• Leading build–test–evaluate cycles with the R&D team: designing testing campaigns, characterising stack performance and tracing observed phenomena back to underlying mechanisms and design features
• Scaling successful concepts into full-scale stacks, working through fabrication, assembly and design-for-manufacture constraints
• Leading stack procurement: assessing commercially available stacks, specifying modifications and managing technical relationships with vendors and manufacturers
• Articulating stack requirements to process, mechanical, electrical and safety engineers so the stack and the wider plant design converge
• Closing the feedback loop: internalising learnings from every campaign and applying them to subsequent stack designs
• Mentoring, guiding and supporting junior staff, helping them acquire new skills, knowledge and capabilities

What you’ll need to be successful in this role

• A deep grounding in the theory and mathematical principles that describe electrochemical processes. You understand electrochemistry from first principles, not just by analogy or heuristics
• Experience designing electrochemical stacks at multiple scales involving aqueous electrolytes, ion-exchange membranes and gas generation
• A strong grasp of how the culmination of geometric features, material selection and process parameters determines the critical performance parameters of a stack
• A track record of taking designs through to fabricated, assembled hardware in collaboration with mechanical, electrical and process engineers
• Significant experience designing and executing testing campaigns, with the diagnostic instinct to trace behaviour back to root mechanisms
• The habit of reducing problems to first principles and building models to sharpen your thinking, paired with the judgement to reach for heuristics when they're the better tool
• Equal appetite for ideation and execution: you can get obsessed with a problem, and you finish what you start
• As comfortable in the lab or workshop as you are developing designs, models and analysis
• Experience mentoring, guiding or supervising junior colleagues
• A degree in chemical engineering, electrochemical engineering, materials science or a related discipline
• Roughly 5–10 years' experience spanning stack design, testing and scale-up
• Clear communication skills across engineering disciplines

Ideally, you’ll also have

• Direct experience with electrodialysis, bipolar membranes or related ion-exchange membrane processes
• Hands-on experience with carbonate or alkaline electrolytes, and with managing gas evolution and two-phase flow inside cells
• Electrochemical or multiphysics modelling experience (COMSOL or equivalent, or your own codes)
• Experience with EIS and other advanced electrochemical diagnostics
• Working CAD skills, enough to take your own concepts from sketch to drawing
• Experience working directly with stack, membrane or component manufacturers, and navigating their manufacturing constraints
• A PhD in electrochemistry, electrochemical engineering or a related field
• Experience in a startup or similarly fast-moving R&D environment
• Patents or publications in electrochemical cell or stack design
• Most importantly, we'd also welcome hearing from you even if you feel you are under or overqualified - as finding the right person is critical