Materials Engineer

About Tempo

Based in San Diego, California, Tempo develops thermochemical energy storage (TCES) systems designed for energy-intensive industries. The platform enables industrial operators to shift energy use over time by sourcing power when it is most cost-effective and enables the electrification of high-temperature industrial heat at a cost advantage to using fossil fuels. By storing electricity thermochemically, the system delivers a continuous stream of combustion-free, high-temperature air at up to 1,200°C.

Tempo is backed by leading climate and energy investors, including Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Khosla Ventures, and Prelude Ventures.

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The Staff Materials Engineer will lead complex materials development and quality initiatives that directly impact product reliability, manufacturability, and supplier readiness. This role combines deep technical expertise in ceramic materials with ownership of quality systems, process control strategies, supplier qualification, and scale-up readiness. This experienced Materials Engineer will operate as a technical leader across R&D, manufacturing, and supplier organizations, ensuring that materials, processes, and inspection methodologies consistently produce reliable outcomes.

Beyond project execution, this role establishes standards, develops quality frameworks, mentors engineers, and drives continuous improvement across the organization. This position is particularly suited for an engineer with significant experience in ceramic manufacturing, quality assurance, process control, failure analysis, and supplier qualification.

• Lead efforts around material development with desired electro/thermo-physical properties
• Conceive and implement material testing and qualification strategies

• Establish QA/QC methodologies for ceramic materials, components, and manufacturing processes.
• Develop inspection plans, control plans, acceptance criteria, and statistical process control methodologies.
• Lead root-cause investigations for material failures, process deviations, yield losses, and field performance issues.
• Develop incoming, in-process, and final inspection strategies for ceramic products.
• Drive implementation of quality systems with internal teams and external manufacturing partners.
• Define critical-to-quality (CTQ) characteristics and process capability targets.

• Lead qualification and auditing of ceramic suppliers and contract manufacturers.
• Develop supplier scorecards and quality metrics.
• Review and approve manufacturing process changes, material substitutions, and corrective actions.
• Partner with suppliers to improve yield, consistency, and throughput.

• Lead investigations involving cracking, creep, thermal shock, dimensional instability, conductivity drift, and microstructural degradation.
• Correlate microstructure, processing history, and operating conditions with component performance.
• Develop accelerated life testing methodologies and reliability validation plans.

• Define quality requirements for pilot and commercial-scale manufacturing.
• Identify manufacturing risks before scale-up and implement mitigation plans.
• Drive process capability improvements and manufacturing readiness assessments.

• MS in Ceramics Engineering, Materials Science, or similar discipline
• 5–10 years relevant experience with hands on formulations, characterization, and analysis

• PhD in Ceramics Engineering, Materials Science, or similar discipline
• Deep Expertise in ceramic processing, sintering, powder technology, and high-temperature materials.
• Demonstrated…