Job Description
The Role
The Formation Quality Engineer is a senior technical role within General Motors’ Battery Cell Development Center (BCDC), responsible for defining and leading the quality strategy for formation processes, including electrolyte wetting, initial charging, cell aging, end‑of‑line (EOL) testing and process automation. This role focuses on connecting battery internal structure and electrochemical process data to predict cell performance, reliability, and safety.
The Formation Quality Engineer will partner closely with process engineering to optimize process recipes, leveraging deep expertise in battery chemistry, materials science, and inspection techniques to build robust, data‑driven controls from lab and pilot builds through scale‑up in the BCDC.
What You'll Do
- Own process quality for designated lines and campaigns from formation through end‑of‑line testing including automated material movements in the area.
- Define and maintain critical quality characteristics for formation and end of line testing such as charge/discharge profiles, gas evolution, capacity, impedance, leakage, and voltage decay behaviors in the finished cell.
- Support design of experiments (DOE) with process engineering to develop and refine formation and aging recipes.
- Define and integrate CT and other scanning techniques into end of line quality control, characterizing internal features linked to formation and cell performance.
- Lead data‑driven monitoring for end of line testing and cell cycling.
- Develop end of line test quality and inspection strategies to ensure that finished cells meet expected performance targets including validation of end of line vision systems.
- Develop and maintain quality documentation (process flow diagrams, control plans, risk analyses, sampling plans) for the formation and end of line area.
- Plan and execute measurement system studies (e.g., GR&R / MSA) for key in-line and offline formation and end of line related measurements.
- Lead structured problem solving using root cause techniques (e.g., 5‑Why, fishbone, 8D‑style approaches) for formation or end of line issues.
- Provide technical leadership for the BCDC on formation chemistry, materials behavior, and structural mechanisms in the finished cell.
- Support new cell builds, equipment designs, and new material introductions, ensuring formation and aging strategies remain grounded in sound electrochemistry and materials science fundamentals.
Your Skills & Abilities (Required Qualifications)
- Bachelor’s degree in chemistry, materials science, chemical engineering, or a closely related field.
- 5+ years of experience in battery manufacturing or pack design, focusing on formation and end of line cell quality.
- Hands‑on experience in cell or module production environments, focusing on formation, aging, and end of life testing.
- Deep understanding of lithium‑ion cell electrochemistry, including SEI and CEI formation, electrode/electrolyte interfaces, and cyclical degradation mechanisms.
- Experience working with end of line vision systems and automated material movements.
- Demonstrated experience with battery cycling equipment.
- Practical experience using CT scanning or other advanced internal characterization methods such as SEM.
- Strong working knowledge of core quality and statistical tools, including design of experiments (DOE), statistical process control, measurement systems analysis (MSA), and risk analysis tools (FMEA).
- Proven ability to interpret and influence product and process requirements using both electrochemical and material science fundamentals.
- Demonstrated technical leadership, including mentoring, cross‑functional influence, and the ability to drive complex, multi‑variable problems to closure.
- Effective communication skills, capable of explaining complex electrochemical concepts to diverse technical and operational audiences.
What Will Give You A Competitive Edge (Preferred Qualifications)
- Advanced degree in electro-chemistry, Materials Science and Engineering, or a closely related field.
- Experience integrating formation and aging data with CT and spectroscopy techniques.
- Familiarity with gigafactory scale manufacturing systems used to manage large cycling and test datasets to disposition finished cells.
- Experience implementing new quality systems including quality inspection tools and equipment in pilot environments.
- Experience with advanced analytics (e.g., multivariate analysis, machine learning on cycling and CT data) to identify patterns linked to early cell failures.
Work Environment
- Role is based at GM’s Battery Cell Development Center (BCDC) at the GM Global Technical Center.
- Requires regular on‑site presence in wetting, formation, aging, and test areas, as well as lab environments for characterization and analysis, with appropriate personal protective equipment.
- Occasional travel may be required to production plants, suppliers, research partners, and external test laboratories.
This role is categorized as onsite. This means the selected candidate is expected to report to a specific location on a full-time basis.
This job may be eligible for relocation benefits.
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