Bactery
Electrochemical Engineer / Scientist
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Location: Science Creates OMX, Bristol, UK
Employment type: Full-time, permanent
Salary: Competitive, dependent on experience
Start date: Immediate (depending on notice period)
Help build an entirely new class of energy technology.
Bactery makes electricity from soil. Our bacteria-powered batteries harness naturally occurring soil bacteria to provide reliable, maintenance-free power – anywhere, at any time.
Our systems are already powering real-world deployments across the UK. We're now looking for an exceptional Electrochemical Engineer / Scientist to help shape the next generation of our technology.
Role mission
This is a hands-on role for someone who enjoys solving challenging R&D problems through experimentation. As our technology and team grow, you'll lead the development of Bactery's electrochemical platform - bringing technical leadership, rigorous experimentation and a practical engineering mindset to one of the company's most important R&D streams.
The right person will combine deep electrochemical expertise with a practical startup mindset: rigorous enough to protect the science, pragmatic enough to keep moving, and commercially aware enough to understand that field reality beats lab elegance.
You'll work closely with our founder, combining your electrochemical expertise with Bactery's unique technology. We're looking for someone who brings complementary experience, engineering rigour and the curiosity to help take our technology to the next level.
What you'll own
- Own the electrochemical performance of Bactery's technology, improving power output, efficiency, durability and long-term reliability.
- Lead the development of next-generation electrodes, interfaces and electrochemical architectures, taking concepts from early-stage ideas through to validated prototypes.
- Design and execute rigorous experimental programmes to understand performance limitations, and opportunities for optimisation.
- Translate laboratory discoveries into commercially viable products, balancing performance with manufacturability, scalability, reliability and real-world deployment.
- Generate robust technical evidence to support engineering decisions, grant delivery, IP generation and customer validation.
- Help shape Bactery's electrochemical roadmap, providing technical leadership while mentoring junior scientists and engineers and remaining closely involved in hands-on laboratory work.
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What we are looking for
- A PhD (or MSc with strong applied R&D experience) in Chemical Engineering, Electrochemistry, Materials Science, Chemistry, or a related field.
- Experience developing electrochemical technologies through industrial or applied R&D. You might come from fuel cells, batteries, bio-electrochemical systems or another electrochemical field.
- Strong understanding of electrochemical systems, including electrode materials, interfaces, performance characterisation / analysis and optimisation.
- Confidence designing and running experiments, interpreting data, and making engineering decisions based on evidence rather than opinion.
- Comfortable working in a fast-moving startup where priorities evolve, ambiguity is normal, and everyone is expected to take ownership.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.
- Experience in a startup, university spin-out, hardware, energy or climate-tech company would be advantageous, but isn't essential.
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How we work
- Build for the real world. Design experiments that improve products, not just publications. Field reality always beats laboratory elegance.
- Scientific rigour. Startup pace. Move quickly, learn quickly, but never compromise the quality of science and engineering.
- Reality always wins. Follow the data - even when it challenges your assumptions. Negative results are still progress if they help us make better decisions.
- Own the outcome. Take responsibility for your work, your decisions and the quality of what you deliver. If something needs fixing, step up and fix it.
- Be respectful. Stay curious. Leave your ego at the door. Challenge ideas constructively, and support your teammates.
Why join Bactery?
- We've shown our technology works in the field. Now comes the fun part.
- You'll help build a completely new class of energy technology from the ground up, in a team small enough that your experiments set the direction and your work ships.
- No layers. No committees. No waiting for permission.
- The science isn't settled yet, and that's the fun.
- If you want to spend the next few years solving problems nobody's solved before, come build with us!
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