Battery Engineering Internship, Electrochemistry & Simulations

Location: Alameda, CA

Department: Battery Modeling

Who You Are

Are you a thoughtful, creative, diligent, and curious battery engineer or material scientist with strong foundational knowledge in electrochemistry? 

Are you excited at the prospect of helping to build the next generation of battery materials and technologies? Sila Nanotechnologies is seeking a battery engineer and electrochemists to:

1. Help us build foundational battery models with strong mechanistic fidelity.
2. Help develop electrochemical test protocols to isolate intrinsic material properties.
3. Design experiments to bridge understanding on how material properties manifest in different cell design formats.
4. Leverage key insights from our battery models to accelerate learning cycles and reduce the cost of empirical R&D.

Responsibilities and Duties  

• Spend a minimum of 6 months onsite at Sila, beginning in June 2026, to work full-time in this hands-on role.
• Investigate electrochemical test protocols in a wide variety of battery cell formats to isolate active electrode material intrinsic properties.
• Test different battery modeling algorithms to build foundational models with high mechanistic fidelity.
• Develop workflow for parametrization of active battery materials and predictive battery simulations.
• Bridge knowledge of performance bottlenecks across different battery cell formats.
• Thoroughly document and present results, with conclusions and recommendations, to engineering mentors, management and other stakeholders.

Knowledge and Skill Requirements 

• Studying toward a PhD degree in chemical engineering, materials science, chemistry, or related fields.
• Prior experience working in battery-related academic and/or industrial research & development environments.
• Prior experience with electrochemical and material science characterization methods.
• Prior experience with Python and modeling software like Pybamm and/or COMSOL.
• Strong foundational knowledge in Bayesian statistics and machine learning is a plus. 
• Exceptional analytical and documentation skills.
• Ability to learn new skills and ask for help when needed.
• Capable of working independently with direction.

Physical Demands and Working Conditions

• Wear personal protective equipment including, but not limited to, a lab coat, gloves, safety glasses, and steel toe safety shoes.
• Precise and repetitive handling of a range of material quantities.
• Use a fume hood to prepare samples.
• Operate analytical equipment at a bench.
• Move long distances (such as from building to building) and be stationary for extended periods of time.
• Operate a computer and other office equipment, such as a laptop, copier/printer, etc in a fixed location.

The starting base pay for this role is between $25/hr and $39/hr at the time of posting. The actual base pay depends on many factors, such as education, experience, and skills. Base pay is only one part of Sila’s competitive Total Rewards package that can include benefits, perks, and equity.  The base pay range is subject to change and may be modified in the future. This role may also be eligible for overtime.