Battery Test Engineer Jobs in Rochester, MI (NOW HIRING)

Job Description

The Role

The Formation and EOL Quality Engineer is responsible for establishing and leading product and process quality assurance for formation, aging, and end-of-line testing within the Battery Cell Development Center (BCDC).

This role defines critical quality characteristics, acceptance criteria, control strategies, reaction plans, and lot disposition standards to ensure safe, reliable, and conforming cells through pilot and scale-up activities. The role serves as the independent quality voice for formation and EOL operations, partnering with process engineering, manufacturing, and cell design teams to prevent defects, reduce escape risk, and drive robust corrective actions.

What You'll Do

• Own process quality for new battery chemistry campaigns from formation through endofline testing including automated material movements in the area.
• Update and maintain control plans for critical quality characteristics in formation and end of line testing such as charge/discharge profiles, gas evolution, capacity, impedance, leakage, and voltage decay behaviors in the finished cell.
• Integrate CT and other scanning techniques into end of line quality control, characterizing internal features linked to formation and cell performance.
• Lead datadriven monitoring for end of line testing and cell cycling for lot-to-lot verification.
• Execute 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.
• Create and maintain other quality documentation (process flow diagrams, work instructions, risk analyses, sampling plans etc.) for the formation and end of line area.
• Coordinate measurement system studies (e.g., GR&R / MSA) for key in-line and offline formation and end of line measurements.
• Ensure measurement systems, test methods, and inspection technologies are capable and suitable for product acceptance decisions.
• Provide quality sign-off for hold, release, potential rework, or scrap decisions for formation and EOL lots.
• Challenge process, equipment, or recipe decisions where cell quality risk is not adequately mitigated.
• Lead containment, quarantine, and disposition activities for suspect or nonconforming cells utilizing structured problem solving (e.g., 5Why, fishbone, 8Dstyle approaches) for formation or end of line issues.
• Own root cause investigation and corrective/preventive actions for formation and EOL quality issues, including verification of effectiveness.
• Track formation/EOL quality KPIs such as yield loss by failure mode, control limit violations, false reject and/or escape rates.
• Create defect pareto charts, first time quality metrics, and leading quality indicators to develop continuous improvement opportunities.
• Lead regular reviews of quality trends and drive cross functional action plans with engineering, operations, and leadership.
• Assess quality impact of new materials, equipment modifications, software changes, and automation updates before implementation.
• Audit inspection methods, control plans, and standardized reaction plans in formation and EOL operations.
• Ensure cell traceability is maintained for all inputs into the finished cell.
• Establish reaction plans in the control plan for out-of-control conditions, abnormal trends, and test failures.
• Provide technical leadership for the BCDC as it relates to quality testing for formation chemistry, materials behavior, and structural mechanisms in the finished cell.
• Support new cell builds, equipment designs, and new material introductions, ensuring cell quality and testing 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 a quality role for battery manufacturing or pack design, focusing on formation and end of line.
• Handson experience in cell or module production environments, focusing on formation, aging, and end of life testing.
• Understanding of lithiumion cell electrochemistry, formation, electrode/electrolyte interfaces, and cyclical degradation mechanisms.
• Experience validating end of line vision systems and automated material movements.
• Experience working with large data sets and systems for finished cell lot release.
• Demonstrated experience with battery cycling equipment.
• Practical experience using CT scanning or other advanced internal characterization methods such as SEM.
• Strong working knowledge of quality and statistical tools, including statistical process control, measurement systems analysis (MSA), and other core quality tools.
• Proven ability to interpret product and process requirements in quality documentation using electrochemical and material science fundamentals.
• Demonstrated technical leadership, including mentoring, crossfunctional influence, and the ability to drive complex, multivariable 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 new battery chemistry 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 and testing strategies for 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 onsite 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.

GM does not provide immigration-related sponsorship for this role. Do not apply for this role if you will need GM immigration sponsorship now or in the future. This includes direct company sponsorship, entry of GM as the immigration employer of record on a government form, and any work authorization requiring a written submission or other immigration support from the company (e.g., H1-B, OPT, STEM OPT, CPT, TN, J-1, etc). This role is categorized as onsite. This means the selected candidate is expected to report to a specific location on a full-time basis. The selected candidate will be required to travel <25% for this role. This job may be eligible for relocation benefits.

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