About Redwood Materials
Redwood is localizing a global battery supply chain that seamlessly integrates recovery, reuse, and recycling — keeping critical minerals in circulation and driving the energy transition. Founded in 2017, we’re delivering low-cost and large-scale energy storage and producing battery materials in the U.S. for the first time, all from batteries we already have.
Battery Safety and Compliance Engineer, Energy Storage
The Battery Certification Engineer is one of the most technically demanding roles on our ESS Engineering team. We receive end-of-life EV battery packs and repurpose them into stationary energy storage systems. We are doing this at scale, with pack types we did not design and cannot fully disassemble or retest individually. That creates a profound certification challenge: the existing standards were not written for second-life systems, many requirements are technically misaligned with real-world EV pack design constraints, and no NRTL has an established pathway for certifying what we build.
This role exists to solve that problem — not by finding workarounds, but by building the technical foundation for a new certification paradigm. You will own Redwood's battery-level certification strategy across UL 1973, UL 1974, UL 9540, and related standards, develop the engineering basis for standards reform, and serve as the company's deepest subject matter expert on EV battery pack design and electrochemical safety.
Responsibilities will include:
Certification Program Development
- Own and drive Redwood's certification strategy for repurposed EV battery packs in stationary ESS applications, spanning UL 1973, UL 1974, UL 9540, and UL 9540A.
- Design a certification regime that is technically rigorous, practically executable, and applicable across multiple OEM pack types, chemistries, and form factors — LFP, NMC, NCA; pouch, prismatic, cylindrical.
- Manage test planning, NRTL coordination, witness testing, deficiency resolution, and certification closure across concurrent workstreams.
- Develop and defend Alternative Means & Methods (AM&M) approaches with AHJs and certification bodies where standard pathways are not achievable for repurposed systems.
Technical Basis for Standards Reform
- Identify, document, and technically argue cases where existing certification requirements are disproportionate to actual safety risk, based on outdated assumptions, or misaligned with established automotive engineering practice.
- A representative example: UL 1973 may specify a creepage or clearance distance that conflicts with the SAE-governed PCB design constraints of an OEM BMS. The gap does not represent a safety deficiency — it represents standards misalignment. You will make that case with engineering data, failure analysis, and regulatory precedent.
- Develop whitepapers, engineering analyses, and technical submissions supporting Redwood's positions in standards proceedings; this work is intended for industry publication and will inform code-making at NFPA, UL, and related bodies.
- Represent Redwood in UL Task Groups and standards committees, including active Task Groups for UL 9540 and UL 1974, and contribute substantively to the technical record.
Battery and Pack Design Subject Matter Expertise
- Apply deep knowledge of EV battery pack architecture — cell design, insulation coordination, BMS electronics, thermal and electrical hazard characterization — to certification questions that require engineering judgment, not just checklist compliance.
- Evaluate OEM pack designs across multiple configurations and provide technically grounded assessments of where existing certification frameworks apply appropriately and where they do not.
- Support thermal runaway characterization efforts, including gas composition analysis, deflagration risk assessment, propagation containment evaluation, and interpretation of UL 9540A test results.
- Provide technical input to system-level certification workstreams — Pack Manager, combiner box, system integration — on battery-specific failure modes, insulation coordination chains, and SELV classification rationale.
Regulatory and Stakeholder Engagement
- Engage proactively with NRTLs — UL, Intertek, TÜV — to build shared technical understanding of how repurposed systems should be evaluated and to advance abbreviated or alternative test protocols where full conformance is not technically justified.
- Support engagement with fire marshals, AHJs, and utilities on the safety case for second-life batteries.
- Monitor and contribute to the evolving regulatory landscape: NFPA 800, IFC, and emerging state-level ESS requirements.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Collaborate closely with ESS hardware engineers, test teams, and operations to integrate certification activities with product development and commissioning timelines.
- Translate certification status, risks, and strategic decisions into clear communications for internal leadership and external partners.
- Contribute to the growth of Redwood's compliance and certification function as it scales.
Desired Qualifications:
- BS or MS in Electrical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related engineering discipline; advanced degree preferred.
- 7+ years of relevant engineering experience, with substantial focus on battery safety, electrochemical systems, or product certification.
- Deep technical expertise in lithium-ion battery systems: cell electrochemistry, pack architecture, BMS design, failure modes, and thermal runaway characterization — developed through hands-on engineering roles at an OEM, Tier 1, or battery manufacturer.
- Strong working knowledge of the UL 1973, UL 1974, UL 9540, and UL 9540A framework, and familiarity with at least one major automotive battery safety standard (SAE J2929, ISO 6469, FMVSS 305, ECE R100, or UN 38.3).
- Demonstrated ability to engage NRTLs and standards bodies on technical substance — capable of arguing the physics and engineering when a requirement is misaligned with safety reality.
- Experience identifying and documenting standards gaps: requirements that are disproportionate to risk, inconsistent with established engineering practice, or technically unachievable for a class of products.
- Strong technical writing ability; capable of producing publishable-quality whitepapers, engineering analyses, and regulatory submissions.
- Experience with creepage and clearance analysis, insulation coordination, and dielectric withstand requirements as applied across automotive (SAE/IEC) and stationary storage (UL) standards.
- Experience with second-life, repurposed, or refurbished battery systems, or with certifications requiring technical deviation arguments or equivalency justification — strongly preferred.
- Active participation in relevant standards committees (UL, SAE, NFPA, IEC, IEEE) as a contributor, working group member, or subject matter expert — strongly preferred.
- Background in ignition probability analysis, fault tree analysis, or quantitative safety methods applied to electrochemical systems — preferred.
- Existing relationships with NRTL engineers, AHJ representatives, or standards committee staff relevant to stationary battery storage — preferred.
Physical Requirements:
- Ability to perform the essential job functions consistently, safely, and successfully in accordance with the ADA, FMLA, and other federal, state, and local standards, including meeting qualitative and/or quantitative productivity standards.
- Ability to maintain regular, punctual attendance consistent with the ADA, FMLA, and other federal, state, and local standards.
Working Conditions:
- Primary work environment: office, laboratory, and field/site settings.
- Ability to work in challenging conditions which may include exposure to noise, chemicals, and temperature extremes, while protected by appropriate PPE.
- Occasional travel to NRTL test facilities, AHJ meetings, standards committee proceedings, and customer/partner sites.
- Occasional evening or weekend work in support of testing, commissioning, or regulatory deadlines.
In accordance with California pay transparency laws, the salary range for this position is listed below. Actual compensation may vary based on a variety of factors, including experience, education, and skills.
California Pay Range:
$127,500 - $248,500 USD
The position is full-time. Compensation will be commensurate with experience.
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