Research Scientist, Climate and Energy

About the job

The Climate and Energy team's mission is to use Google technologies to manage climate change and build a sustainable energy future. We apply different technologies to make transformative, non-incremental advances in global energy systems, including accelerating research into fusion, energy storage, and high-risk projects.

As an Energy Researcher, you will rapidly evaluate external energy technology proposals and generate your own, leading promising concepts into concrete energy solutions. This role requires an approach: building prototypes, collaborating with domain experts, and scaling projects from bench to deployment. You must grow in ambiguous research-to-product pipelines, iterate rapidly, and maintain the objectivity needed to recognize when to conclude non-viable projects and reallocate resources.

US: $207000 - $300000 (USD) + 20% bonus target + equity + benefits

Learn more about benefits at Google.

Responsibilities

• Take a nebulous energy challenge and turn it into a concrete, validated technical solution. Motivate, support, and manage research lab environments or early-stage innovation teams as projects grow.
• Design, build, and test experimental apparatuses for physical research and development. Influence research direction and produce novel scientific contributions and published findings.
• Scale and manage projects as they grow from initial proof-of-concept to broader initiatives, including recruiting domain experts and establishing teams.
• Perform careful, deep-dive analysis to identify where technologies might fail and where they can be pivoted for success. Use simulation and computational analysis to de-risk a pipeline of energy solutions.
• Evaluate the feasibility and merit of different collaboration and grant proposals.

Qualifications

Minimum qualifications:

• PhD degree in Physics or Engineering, a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 4 years of experience with research agendas across multiple teams or projects.
• Experience in one or more of the following: High vacuum systems (UHF), Pulse power systems (high voltage), combustion and thermodynamic systems, optics and lasers, or cryogenic systems (superconductors, detectors).

Preferred qualifications:

• Scientific publications in conferences or journals.
• Experience with experimental apparatus, data acquisition, and rapid physical prototyping.
• Experience managing a research lab or being an early-stage employee/founder at a startup.
• Experience evaluating feasibility and merit of grant/partner proposals, as well as grant disbursement.
• Experience collaborating with EHS organizations and navigating regulatory compliance.
• Experience with simulation and computational analysis.