Entry Level Quantum Engineering Jobs in California

Pronoia Energy is a pioneering deep tech startup at the forefront of quantum energy storage innovation. As a lean, mission-driven team, we thrive on rapid prototyping, cross-disciplinary collaboration and solving complex engineering challenges to turn quantum physics into practical, scalable products. Our current focus is on developing our groundbreaking room-temperature macroscopic quantum energy storage technology that promises orders of magnitude greater energy density, faster charging, and higher power delivery as well as being cheaper and safer compared to existing battery technology. This represents a paradigm shift in energy storage with applications spanning consumer electronics, electric vehicles, renewable grids, and beyond.

To meet our ambitious goals we are hiring an Experimental Chemist to do the hands-on chemistry of discovery and characterization at the heart of our technology. This is a high-stakes, high-reward role where you will synthesize new materials, run the reactions, and use analytical instruments to determine what a material actually is and how it behaves.

In this role, you will collaborate across the simulation, synthesis, and cell-build pipeline, feeding validated materials to the computational scientists who model them and the cell technicians who build them into cells. Once the material is processed, the chemistry ends and the physics begins: you will interpret data with a deep understanding of solid state device physics, evaluate permittivity and analyze electric moduli to verify that macroscopic ion leakage is completely frozen out, and that each candidate truly locks energy into a stable quantum-confined state.

• Synthesize and purify candidate materials, including electrode materials and novel solid-state compounds.

• Characterize materials rigorously using tools such as broadband dielectric spectroscopy (BDS), impedance analysis, X-ray diffraction, and electrochemical testing.

• Verify quantum confinement from BDS data, calculate frequency dispersion exponents, evaluate real permittivity stabilization plateaus, and analyze electric modulus inversions to confirm macroscopic ion leakage is completely frozen out.

• Perform impedance data analysis to isolate long-range charge translation from highly localized bulk relaxation states

• Fit experimental dielectric data to Cole-Cole, Davidson-Cole, or other equations to extract relaxation times

• Feed validated material candidates and transport parameters into the simulation, cell-build, and testing pipeline.

• Keep a safe, meticulous wet lab and collaborate across the materials, physics, and computational functions.

• Provide data-driven insight that informs each design iteration.

• M.S. or Ph.D. in electronic materials science, condensed matter physics, chemistry, or a related discipline, ideally with a specialization in functional solid-state dielectric metamaterials.

• Hands-on synthetic or electrochemical chemistry with direct battery-materials experience, and safe, meticulous wet-lab practice.

• Hands-on expertise in broadband dielectric spectroscopy and high-speed potentiostat diagnostics, with mathematical fluency in areas such as complex permittivity, complex conductivity, and electric modulus formalisms to isolate bulk quantum relaxations from macroscopic space-charge effects.

• Hands-on expertise in methodology such as Broadband Dielectric Spectroscopy (BDS) and high-speed potentiostat diagnostics, with mathematical fluency in complex permittivity, complex conductivity, and Electric Modulus formalisms to isolate bulk quantum relaxations from macro space-charge blockages.

• Experience compounding solvent-free, catalyst-activated dynamic covalent polymer networks, with a working understanding of network relaxation dynamics, alpha/beta structural transitions, and polymer chain behavior under sub-nanometer confinement in porous host matrices.

• A self-starter comfortable in an early, undefined materials function who thrives amid ambiguity and rapid iteration.

• Experience with fast-transient bench craft such as impedance-matched 50-ohm RF transmission lines, high-slew-rate pulse generators, and shielding configurations that suppress parasitic cabling noise during fast-edge pulsing.

• Transport modeling using explicit Laity resistance friction coefficients derived from current-current correlation functions.

• Practical experience handling thermodynamics of nano-confined systems

• Specialization in solid-state, materials, or battery chemistry, and experience synthesizing and rigorously proving genuinely novel materials.

• Familiarity with battery metrics and standards, and prior deep tech R&D alongside interdisciplinary teams in physics or materials science.

• Chance to solve one of the world's biggest engineering challenges and pioneer quantum energy storage.

• Competitive salary, equity in a transformative startup, and performance-based incentives.

• Access to cutting-edge labs, tools, and resources in a flexible, collaborative work environment.

• Comprehensive benefits: health insurance, unlimited PTO, professional development stipend, and relocation assistance if needed.

• A culture of innovation where your work will accelerate our path to market impact.