Senior Battery Modelling Expert

Our goal is to make clean power accessible, to accelerate the shift to zero carbon power and transport.

We’re building and operating the world’s most sophisticated battery systems to enable the uptake of more renewable power and accelerating fleet electrification, de-risking the transition to zero-emission transport at scale. We’ve been consistently innovative since we were founded in 2017, achieving major industry firsts and using proprietary software and data analysis to optimise operational performance for our customers. At the end of their life, we repurpose electric vehicle batteries to provide clean power at depots, on construction sites and film sets.

Today we have 730 MW of grid scale battery storage operational and under construction and are the largest owner and operator of EV buses in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, supporting over 1,000 electric vehicles worldwide. In our first five years we have raised nearly £1.8 billion in funding and have expanded into other markets such as the US. Our rapidly growing company is looking for highly talented and motivated people to join us.

The Opportunity

We are offering an exciting opportunity for outstanding candidates with a passion for fighting climate change to apply their analytical skills and industry expertise to the real-life commercial deployment of energy storage and electric vehicle projects. In our rapidly growing company, adaptable, highly motivated and talented individuals will be given significant responsibility.

We are looking for a Senior Battery Modelling Expert, Engineer or Data Scientist with a background in lithium-ion battery modelling for performance and degradation. As part of the EV Fleet Analytics team, within the Commercial Analytics department, you will work closely with our software, data science, data engineering and operational teams to successfully model the short and long-term performance of batteries, allowing the optimisation of EV fleet operations. Typical duties include developing calculation logic for accurate SoC and SoH determination, building digital-twin models of EV batteries and forecasting degradation over EV fleet lifetimes. The wider EV Fleet Analytics team are responsible for optimising all aspects of EV operations and performance (i.e. efficiency, charging strategy, commercial performance), of which battery performance is a key aspect. Battery models are used across the business to underpin our offering and as such this role will engage on a wide variety of projects and teams from engineering to financial.

A Taste of the Day to Day

• Work with large fleet datasets to train machine-learning models for predicting battery degradation with support from the Data Science team.
• Physics-based modelling to inform battery performance in varying environments and guide charging performance on a vehicle and fleet level. (e.g. electric-equivalent, electro-thermal, digital twin, P2D)
• Work with the wider EV Fleet Analytics team on the application of battery models and expertise to optimise EV fleets and their operation (e.g. technology selection, charging strategy, V2G).
• Researching, benchmarking and developing battery data processing logic for downstream analysis, modelling and reporting activities (e.g. SoC, SoH)
• Managing relationship and assessing third party battery insight providers (SOH, degradation)
• Work with the business development and operational teams to provide in depth modelling insights on fleet sites for both design-phase and live operational projects.
• Work with the software team to deploy simulation and analytics capabilities into automated pipelines linked with live data feedback and providing fleet performance insight or adapting future fleet strategies for continual improvement.
• Take a lead in shaping data pipelines from fleet telematics acquisition to processing and model training, especially in the battery performance and health data area.
• Engage with testing and operations team to devise instrumentation requirements and testing plans in support of model development and correlation (e.g. charging, battery degradation or vehicle energy consumption models).
• Continuously develop our analysis processes to increase efficiency and add value to all areas of the business.

What We’re Looking For

We realise that certain groups of people are less likely to apply for a role if they don’t meet 100% of the job requirements. To be absolutely clear: if you like the look of this job and think you could do it well, we encourage you to apply with a CV that highlights your transferable skills and experience. Above all, Zenobē is looking for collaborative, flexible, empathetic people who are interested in creating and promoting practical routes to a zero carbon world.

We are looking for an expert in lithium-ion battery theory and performance, with experience modelling these aspects. The ideal candidate will be a technically-minded individual with a passion for applying Python-based modelling, simulation and analytical methods for problem solving and system optimisation in the EV sector. With prior relevant experience, the individual will have confidence in working with autonomy, leading projects and spearheading areas of technical development whilst helping to shape the team and representing our technical expertise both internally and externally.

Essential Skills, Qualifications and Experience

• STEM qualification (e.g. engineering, applied physics, (electro)chemistry, data science), 1st or 2-1
• PhD or Masters level degree related to battery chemistry / physics
• Technical background with good understanding of the underlying physical principles related to electric vehicles and the energy sector.
• A strong understanding of battery chemistry and performance aspects (e.g. degradation).
• 2+ years of relevant professional experience working at the cutting edge of the EV or renewable energy sector, focussing on modelling, simulation, analysis and data science for battery performance and degradation.
• Physics / Chemistry-based Python modelling experience (electric-equivalent, electro-thermal, digital twin, P2D)
• Machine learning modelling experience (battery ageing / degradation)
• Data science / data processing experience related to battery performance data (SoC / SoH calculation logic)
• Battery testing procedure specification for characterisation (cell & pack)
• Strong Python experience (numpy, scipy, pandas, matplotlib, plotly, poetry, GIT, scikit-learn and other scientific libraries)
• Excellent mathematical, analytical and problem-solving ability
• Excellent professional communication, reporting and presentation skills
• Ability to lead technical areas and projects, becoming a pioneer in their field of expertise
• Excel proficiency

Desirable but Non-essential Skills

• Additional software engineering/computer science skills – (e.g. Linux, SQL, AWS and network design)
• Additional EV experience not limited to design, development, analysis or testing of EV systems

Working at Zenobē

We’re passionate about sustainability and are proud to offer Team Zenobē a pioneering and collaborative working environment. We encourage our people to take ownership of their career progression and celebrate those that can think outside the box.

If you’d like to join our community of likeminded people hit the apply button now, we’d love to hear from you!

What We Offer

Charge your career at Zenobē and receive

• Up to 25% annual bonus for being awesome
• 25 days holiday, plus bank holidays
• Private Medical Insurance
• £1500 training budget per year, to ensure you grow as we do
• EV Salary Sacrifice Scheme
• Pension scheme, up to 8% matched contributions
• Enhanced parental leave
• Cash back health plan
• Plus more

Lots of our people work flexibly in many different ways, including part-time, flexitime and hybrid working. We can’t promise to give you exactly what you want, but please talk to us about the flexibility you need and let’s see how we can make it work.

Our Approach to Diversity and Inclusion

Our people are our strongest asset and the key determinant of our success, and we value a range of skillsets and perspectives. As an equal opportunity employer, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected attribute. We work to provide equal opportunities and an inclusive work environment, where everyone is fairly treated in the application process and through their career at Zenobē. If there are any adjustments that would help improve your experience with Zenobē, please let us know when you apply.