What are the responsibilities and job description for the Senior Equipment Design Engineer position at Stratus Materials Inc.?
Date: June 2026
Role: Senior Equipment Design Engineer
Reports to: Sr. Director of Process Development & Facilities
The Company: Located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Stratus Materials is an early-stage, technology-based company focused on the development and manufacture of advanced active cathode materials for the lithium-ion battery industry. Our primary focus is on advanced electric vehicle batteries, but our materials will also be applicable and very attractive for many other end-user applications using lithium-ion batteries. In late 2025, the company secured a substantial Series B round of financing and is using those funds to execute on its business plans. If you are interested in a dynamic, high-growth opportunity where you can dig in and make a difference, we look forward to meeting you.
Summary of Position: The Senior Equipment Design Engineer position will be instrumental in the design, build, assessment, and improvement of production process equipment within our production lines. This role is a combination of mechanical, electrical, chemical, and thermal engineering as well as prototype and production machine design. This role will work closely with material scientists, data scientists, operations personnel, test engineers, and other process engineering and quality personnel to produce scaled equipment to produce world class energy storage materials.
Responsibilities:
- Designing, prototyping, monitoring, validating, and scaling process equipment such as reactors, mixers, furnaces, heat exchangers, dryers, separators, pumps, compressors, and evaporators.
- Conducting feasibility studies, designing processes, conducting experiments, collecting data, analyzing results, drawing conclusions, and reporting findings to project stakeholders.
- Developing robust, cost-effective, full-scale production equipment using internal and external resources.
- Demonstrate safety leadership particularly with chemical operations (gas generation, pressure vessels, exothermic reactions, corrosive materials, etc.) in both day-to-day activities and by incorporation in process /equipment designs.
Requirements – Education, Experience, and Skills:
- Bachelor’s or Advanced degree in Mechanical or Electrical Engineering (or similar science and engineering field).
- 3 – 5 years’ experience in Process Engineering and Machine Design for materials processing industries, at both pilot and large scale.
- Specific experience in the design, specification and commissioning of large-scale automated chemical and thermal processing equipment, piping, and control/instrument systems.
- Strong experience in chemical and thermal process scale up, and communication between Manufacturing, Pilot Production, and Research teams to effectively produce data-driven decisions.
- Strong technical and analytical skills with the ability to solve complex problems and to provide innovative solutions in a rapidly changing environment.
- Experience working with metal oxides, powders, battery active materials, and familiarity with battery performance behavior and metrics reflecting material quality.
- Technical understanding of mixing, drying, or other processes for powder productions, solid/liquid reactors, and high temperature kilns (300-1600C).
- Fluent in Quality with requisite experience, expertise, education, and certifications
- Good verbal, written, computer and organizational skills.
- Ability to handle multiple, competing priorities in a continuously changing environment.
- Highly conscious of safety and EHS.
- Experience designing, starting up, and scaling operations is a plus.
- Experience with start-up or early-stage companies is a plus.
Requirements – Geographic and Physical:
- Located in Pittsburgh, PA
- Able to frequently move about an office and factory floor.
- Occasional light lifting and ascending/descending stairs.
- Travel requirement: Occasional domestic and international travel to suppliers and partners
Along with an exceptional culture and an opportunity to make a global difference, Stratus Materials offers a competitive compensation and benefits package as well as an entrepreneurial environment and the opportunity for phenomenal professional growth and development. Founded in early 2022 by a team including Dr. Jay Whitacre of Carnegie Mellon University, the company is an Equal Opportunity Employer.