Staff Mechanical Engineer

About Redwood Materials

Redwood is localizing a global battery supply chain that seamlessly integrates recovery, reuse, and recycling — keeping critical minerals in circulation and driving the energy transition. Founded in 2019, we’re delivering low-cost and large-scale energy storage and producing battery materials in the U.S. for the first time, all from batteries we already have.

Staff Mechanical Engineer – Battery Recycling

We are in the early design stage of our next industrial-scale battery recycling plant and are looking for a Staff Mechanical Engineer to join the team.This is a fast-moving, high-impact project. We’re targeting build and commissioning in under a year, with big equipment and serious engineering challenges. You’ll be part of a small, highly capable team that’s driving this from concept to operation—hands-on and end-to-end.

Responsibilities Will Include:

• Full ownership of critical equipment packages within the plant:
• Bottoms-up understanding of the process to determine equipment functional requirements
• Design equipment to satisfy functional requirements, either with vendors or independently
• Propose clearly thought-out solutions with means to manufacture, including cost and lead time detail
• Produce 2D drawing/3D model detail to initiate fabrication
• Track fabrication, oversee QA/QC and manage Factory/Site Acceptance Tests
• Oversee site install; complete ownership of equipment commissioning
• Equipment package integration: design for seamless interconnects between subsystems
• Plant layout development:
  • Rapidly optimizing for space, cost, simplicity, flexibility
  • Design of buildings/structures to house equipment and materials
  • Running point on model and drawing development
  • Cross-functional coordination with other internal teams to make the design fit-for-purpose
• System-level utilities design:
  • Define plant utility requirements working with infrastructure teams on design
  • Design systems for managing waste streams: gas/liquid; hazardous/combustible
• System-level fluids and energy design:
  • Track full-system mass and energy balances; manage equipment design to rectify any imbalances
• Selective prototyping of lab/pilot-scale systems to derisk commercial design
•  

Desired Qualifications:

• Someone who is able to mix design from first principles along with designing large equipment with uncertainty:
  • Determine what physical phenomena need to be considered and to what accuracy
  • Have a good feel for relative orders of magnitude around key design requirements
  • Progress design despite uncertainty but with clear logical reasoning
• Someone who will proactively jump into problems; identify the key challenges and frame the analysis/tests necessary to solve!
• Someone who is always curious: you’re not afraid to ask lots of questions so that you know the system inside out
• Strong theoretical knowledge of:
  • Heat and mass transfer
  • Fluid mechanics
  • Solid mechanics
• Desired working knowledge of:
  • Mechanical separation equipment
  • Solids handling: conveyance systems
  • Fluid control systems: tanks, pumps, valves
  • Someone who has demonstrated these skills in past projects with a high degree of independence
  • Someone who can distil complex designs for effective communication between team members and teams
  • B.S. or M.S. in Mechanical Engineering or similar

Physical Requirements:

• Ability to safely perform job duties in both office and production environments.
• Must be able to lift and carry up to 50 lbs. as needed.
• Must maintain regular and punctual attendance in alignment with company and regulatory standards.

Working Conditions:

• Work may involve extended periods of working in the production facility.
• Ability to work in challenging working conditions which may include exposure to noise, dust, chemicals, and temperature extremes, while protected by PPE, for extended periods of time.
• May require occasional work weekends or alternate shifts to support production needs.
• Occasional travel to support vendor FATs, or projects at sister sites

The position is full-time. Compensation will be commensurate with experience.

 

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