Forward Deployed Engineer (Batteries)

Polaron is a spin-out from Imperial College London, founded by Dr Isaac Squires, Dr Steve Kench, and Dr Sam Cooper.

The founders share a mission: to harness engineering, artificial intelligence, and materials science to design the materials of the future.

Our vision is to become the world leader at the interface between AI and materials, combining scientific rigour with engineering pragmatism to enable the next generation of sustainable, high-performance materials.

Our work isn’t just about hard scientific problems. It is about the urgency and impact of solving them. Advanced materials underpin all aspects of modern life, from the batteries that power electric vehicles to the alloys used in turbines and the composites that make aircraft lighter.

Accelerating how these materials are developed, designed, and manufactured has a direct impact on the world’s ability to build a more sustainable future.

We’re building Polaron to help the world’s best materials teams move faster from image data to engineering decisions.

That means turning microstructure and manufacturing signals into trusted insights, shortening iteration loops, and helping teams design and qualify materials with greater confidence and speed.

Our key stats:

• Team of 15 people today, growing fast.
• Based in East London (Shoreditch Exchange, Hoxton).
• Backed by leading investors, cutting-edge research, and strong industry partnerships.

Overview

You’ll join our Delivery function as a Forward Deployed Engineer, owning technical execution across battery-focused customer and partner workstreams.

A key part of the role is on-site, forward-deployed work: spending time with customers and partners, sitting alongside their materials and manufacturing teams, mapping their processes and pain points, and translating those into shipped solutions built on top of Polaron’s models and platform.

You’ll work at the intersection of battery materials, manufacturing, microstructure, and AI - turning real datasets into engineering intelligence, helping customers make better engineering decisions, and feeding high-signal learnings back into the Polaron product.

Responsibilities

• Pre-Sale Development: and deliver polished technical demos showcasing platform capabilities. Assist sales teams by scoping opportunities and preparing proposals. Perform analysis as part of closing contracts.
• Post-Sale Delivery: high-quality onboarding to ensure seamless adoption. Lead on-site delivery with customer materials and manufacturing teams: map current processes, identify bottlenecks, define success metrics, and develop solutions on top of Polaron’s models + platform. Support on delivering pilot programmes, including project management and technical delivery. Support with customer retention - feedback sessions, gathering insights, bespoke development, and direct support.
• Collaboration & Representation: Act as the bridge between customers and internal teams, influencing product roadmaps. Represent Polaron at industry events and creating thought leadership content, strengthening our position as a leader in materials innovation.
• Battery Workstream Ownership: Own end-to-end delivery of battery microstructure analyses: from scoping and data readiness through to validated results and stakeholder-ready readouts. Lead technical workstreams within the battery programme, including leading a major grant project.

A snapshot of your first 6 months

Month 1 - Take ownership and create momentum

• Take full ownership of delivery planning for a battery research grant project (scope, milestones, stakeholders, reporting cadence).
• Get hands-on with Polaron’s stack and workflows: run end-to-end analyses on real battery microstructure datasets and document what “good” looks like.

Month 3 - Deliver first value and broaden impact

• Deliver the first tangible outputs for the grant project (e.g., a validated analysis, baseline metrics, or a partner-ready readout).
• Start owning Forward Deployed workstreams across our battery customers (e.g., demo prep, customer-specific analysis, partner support).
• Turn learnings into repeatable internal workflows: playbooks, notebooks, validation checks, and clear handoffs to Engineering/AI.

Month 6 - Establish reliable execution at scale

• Operate as a trusted technical advisor in customer/partner calls on battery microstructure, microscopy, and interpretation.
• Technical delivery lead across multiple live industrial projects with leading battery cell manufacturers and OEMs.
• Maintain high-quality delivery across research and grant programmes.

Our hiring process

• Intro call (20 min) to get to know you, your experience, and your motivation.
• Technical interview centred around a core project challenge (battery microstructure and delivery problem-solving).
• Paid trial day to work with the team on a real delivery challenge (remote or onsite).
• Final decision and feedback.

We value transparency and fast feedback at every step.

Requirements

Requirements

You are a delivery-oriented battery domain expert who can translate ambiguous goals into a concrete plan, drive execution, and communicate clearly across stakeholders.

You have:

• Battery domain depth (cell + materials): Strong understanding of how cathode material properties and microstructure connect to cell performance and failure modes, and how to reason about trade-offs in electrode and cell design. Masters degree minimum.
• Microstructure + microscopy fluency: Comfortable working with SEM and microstructure data, spotting when imaging is insufficient, and driving an iterative loop with partners to get usable data and benchmarks.
• Project delivery experience in a multi-partner consortium: Able to translate project goals into concrete workstreams, milestones, and success metrics, and drive execution with minimal oversight.
• 2+ years battery industry experience: or equivalent technical industrial experience.

Bonus points for:

• Electrochemical modelling literacy: Comfortable interfacing with modelling teams, understanding parameterisation challenges, and using tools like PyBaMM enough to diagnose issues and unblock progress.
• Manufacturing and process constraints awareness: Experience with electrode processing and manufacturability constraints.
• Technical consulting experience: Experience working on-site with customers to map bottlenecks, understand customer pains, and rapidly develop solutions.
• Startup/entreprenurial mindset: Demonstrated high-agency and bias-to-action.

Mindset and values

We’re looking for someone who:

• Is scientifically curious and thrives on complex, technical challenges.
• Works with low ego and collaborates transparently.
• Enjoys autonomy but knows when to ask questions and seek alignment.
• Has a long-term mindset: ready to help build a company, not just a product.
• Communicates openly and values shared learning.

Team and culture:

You’ll join a small, tight-knit group of engineers and scientists who are building Polaron’s product and culture together. We operate with:

• High trust and ownership.
• Pragmatism over dogma.
• Curiosity, humility, and scientific discipline.
• A strong focus on quality, impact, and long-term maintainability.

Benefits

Benefits

• Salary: £55,000 - £70,000 depending on experience.
• Equity: meaningful stock options.
• Holidays: 25 days + 2 festive leave days.
• Perks: gym membership, free barista coffee.
• Location: Shoreditch Exchange (Hoxton, London).