Senior Scientist, Battery Development

Date:
July 2026 Role:
Senior Scientist, Battery Development

Reports to:

Sr. Director of Research & Development The Company:
Located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Stratus Materials is an early-stage, technology-based company focused on the development and manufacture of advanced active materials for the lithium-ion battery industry. Our primary focus is on advanced electric vehicle batteries, but our materials will also be applicable and very attractive for many other end-user applications using lithium-ion batteries. In late 2025, the company secured a substantial Series B round of financing and is using those funds to execute on its business plans.

If you are interested in a dynamic, high-growth opportunity where you can dig in and make a difference, we look forward to meeting you. Summary of Position:
The Senior Scientist will lead technical efforts to refine lithium-ion battery cells containing Stratus LXMO cathode active materials, including the diagnosis and resolution of cell failure modes. The role’s central objective is to iteratively improve the performance of multi-Ah cells through failure and degradation mode analysis and participation in cell design and test cycles. This role will connect performance limitations and failure modes in LXMO-based cells to their root causes in active material choice, cell/interface design, electrolyte chemistry, formation, and/or operating protocols.

The Senior Scientist will own investigative efforts end to end: from identification of behavior and mechanism through the development and handoff of improved R&D or product-intent designs for further testing and validation. Additional work will include novel development of active-material interfaces and/or electrolyte designs. The ideal candidate has deep practical experience designing, building, sourcing, testing, and diagnosing lithium-ion cells; understanding industry-leading cell components and vendors;

extracting insight from electrochemical and post-mortem data; and translating those findings into iterations on LXMO-based cell designs, their key components, and their formation and operating protocols. This person will lead a small technical team, work closely with internal material and cell development groups, and represent Stratus in technical discussions with external test partners and customers. Success requires deep Li-ion battery experience, a high awareness of the current industry and supply chain, comfort with disciplined experimentation in ambiguous settings, and the persistence and judgment to drive complex upside opportunities and failure/degradation modes to closure.

Responsibilities:
● Own observation, investigation, and mitigation of multi-Ah cell performance failures or upside opportunities, focused on either product-intent cells built to customer-specific requirements for performance or operation, or R&D cells featuring novel varieties of materials in cells.
● Develop and test hypotheses to accelerate closure of observed issues
● Translate failure-analysis results into recommendations for CAM / interface / cell design, customer / internal operating protocols, or other levers for mitigation.
● Drive cell-level innovation on performance by identifying upside opportunities associated with improved cell designs, active materials, components, operating protocols, or suppliers.
● Lead a small team of scientists and technicians assembling, filling, testing, and evaluating lithium-ion cells across coin, pouch, and multi-Ah product-intent formats.
● Develop reusable workflows for diagnostics, investigation, and reporting that improve the speed and quality of future investigations of failures and opportunities.
● Coordinate internal and external testing, analyze results, and communicate technical conclusions to customers, partners, and company leadership.
● Support laboratory safety, equipment qualification, method development, and general technical troubleshooting. Requirements – Education, Experience, and

Skills:

● Bachelor’s or advanced degree in Materials Science, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Electrochemistry, or a related discipline.
● 4+ years of relevant and current industrial…