Systems Engineer

About Liminal Insights

Liminal’s mission is to accelerate the clean energy transition by improving the cost, quality, and reliability of battery manufacturing. We do this by providing customers with better analytics and insights during production. Our breakthrough EchoStat® platform uses ultrasound and machine learning technology to supply customers with the information needed to accelerate production ramp-up, improve productivity and reliability, and detect critical defects early. We will be deploying our first fully-automated process inspection solutions in a major cell manufacturing factory in late 2023.

Liminal is based in Emeryville, California. Our investors include ArcTern Ventures, Ecosystem Integrity Fund, Chrysalix Ventures, Volta Energy Technologies and Northvolt. We also have funding support from the Department of Energy’s ARPA-E, the National Science Foundation and California Energy Commission.

Our Culture and Values

• We are dedicated to building a world-class, world-positive company.
• We work closely on a foundation of mutual trust and informed decisions.
• Our core values are trust, empathy, and curiosity.
• We encourage personal growth, continuous learning, and safety.
• We believe the most innovative teams are inclusive of and celebrate all forms of diversity.

Role

As a systems engineer at Liminal you will join a passionate, nimble team of engineers creating cutting-edge battery inspection equipment. You will be an integral part of our team helping validate our complex systems, as well as guide the specifications and design of existing and future systems.

On a typical day you may:

• Test, troubleshoot and validate the system.
• Design and execute experiments to understand and improve system performance.
• Communicate findings and challenges with a wide variety of team members including stakeholders in technical, leadership, and business teams.
• Determine optimal system configurations with our engineering team and document decisions in a way that is accessible to all stakeholders.
• Interface with vendors/design firms to discuss development projects, weigh design tradeoffs, and bring that information back to the broader team for decision making.
• Create design specification documentation for new technology.
• Answer questions about current systems by both using your knowledge of the system and talking with/gathering information from relevant parties.

You are a team player and enjoy solving problems and diving deep into details. You are interested in multidisciplinary work and are excited by learning from others. You are comfortable gathering information and driving the direction of open ended projects. The ideal candidate will approach this work with a mixture of intellectual curiosity, thoughtful creativity, and methodical rigor.

*If you don't have 100% of the requirements, we still encourage you to apply!

• Test, troubleshoot and validate our ultrasonic system, as well as its mechanical, electrical and control subsystems, develop a deep understanding of the complex system with the goal of becoming a Subject Matter Expert (SME)
• Build system models, identify both system specifications (e.g. throughput, sensitivity) and subsystem specifications. Design experiments and analyze the resulting data to validate these specifications throughout the full lifecycle of our systems including design, operation, maintainability, and decommissioning.
• Analyze customer inspection requirements alongside our Product Management and Data Science team and translate these into measurable system specifications.
• Apply systems engineering principles to predict system performance and identify areas for improvement.
• Drive the design of new ultrasonic system architecture. Work across Data Science, Software, and Hardware teams to validate the design concept.
• Create automated tools for the Manufacture team to execute test routines where applicable.

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) or related fields and 5+ years experience in Systems Engineering or related field; Master’s degree and related work experience of 3 years; Doctorate (Academic) degree and 0 years related work experience.
• Effective communication skills including good presentation skills and the ability to communicate across Technical, Commercial, and Leadership teams.
• Experience with developing and troubleshooting complex metrology or inspection systems.
• Experience designing, executing, and interpreting data from experiments to understand and enhance overall system performance.
• Experience with applying systems engineering principles to predict system performance and identify areas for improvement.
• Experience with data analysis software (Python is preferred).

Nice to haves

• Experience with ultrasound systems including transducers and associated electronics.
• Experience with integrating complex systems into a manufacturing line.
• Experience with Solidworks or similar CAD programs.
• Familiarity with PLC logic and programming.
• Working knowledge of Linux systems.
• Familiarity with Python data stack (Numpy, Scipy, Pandas).
• Experience communicating with and programming electromechanical devices.

• Annual salary of $115,000 to $125,000 plus stock options, based on skill level and experience, to help you and your family build a healthy and secure future.
• Group health benefits that provide support for employee well-being and preventative care, including comprehensive medical, dental, vision, and life insurance.
• A retirement program that helps build future financial security through both traditional and Roth 401(k) options with employer matching.

• Flexible working hours so you can be productive at the times that work best for you.

• Generous time-off policy to allow you to renew and refresh through vacation, personal leave, and holidays.
• For new parents, 12 weeks of fully-paid parental leave that you can take at any point during the first year

Liminal is an equal-opportunity employer. We celebrate all forms of diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. However you identify or whatever your path here, please apply if this job excites you. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the hiring process, perform essential job functions, and receive other benefits and privileges of employment.