Head - EV Cell Design

Role summary

This leadership role is responsible for driving the full battery cell design journey for EV applications, starting from electrochemical concept development through to a production-ready form factor. The position covers chemistry selection, electrode architecture, cell geometry, validation of performance, and handoff of designs from laboratory development to gigafactory-scale manufacturing.

About the hiring organization

You will be joining a major renewable energy group through an executive search assignment managed by Manpower Resources India Pvt. Ltd., a recruitment firm serving manufacturing, engineering, infrastructure and healthcare sectors.

Core responsibilities

The role requires ownership of cell design decisions across chemistry, architecture, validation and industrialization. It also involves building and guiding a high-performing technical team while collaborating with cross-functional and external stakeholders.

• Drive cell design from electrochemical concept to a manufacturable product, including chemistry choice, electrode design, cell geometry and performance verification.
• Set target specifications for energy density, power, cycle life and safety, ensuring alignment with the product roadmap and EV use-case needs.
• Make decisions on electrode formulation, including active materials, binders, conductive additives, coating thickness, porosity targets and calendering settings.
• Oversee half-cell, full-cell and coin-cell testing, and guide teams in EIS, GITT, rate-capability studies and post-mortem failure investigations.
• Evaluate alternative cell architectures with clear trade-offs across performance, cost and ease of manufacturing.
• Lead electrolyte selection and qualification, including additive strategies for better cycle life, safety and low-temperature behavior.
• Partner with manufacturing engineering to establish process windows for coating, winding or stacking, electrolyte filling and formation.
• Work with pilot-line or manufacturing teams to move laboratory designs into scalable, high-yield production methods.
• Support early production through process capability studies and yield-improvement efforts.
• Define cell-level test methods and acceptance criteria in line with AIS 038, IEC 62619 and application-specific needs, working closely with the validation team.
• Monitor global research, patent activity and competitor teardown insights, and contribute to freedom-to-operate evaluations.
• Coordinate with suppliers and academic or research collaborators to remain current on advances in cell technology.
• Build, mentor and develop a multidisciplinary cell design team, including electrochemists, materials scientists and cell engineers.
• Establish strong documentation discipline and lead structured design reviews at key development milestones.
• Promote a data-led culture based on clear hypotheses, controlled experiments and well-documented conclusions.

Education and experience

• Master's degree or PhD in Electrochemistry, Materials Science or Chemical Engineering.
• Strong practical exposure to electrode design, full-cell characterization and scaling from lab to pilot stage.
• 12 to 15 years of experience in Li-ion cell design, electrochemistry and product development.
• Hands-on background in electrode design, cell characterization and scale-up from lab to pilot line.
• Experience across multiple chemistries such as LFP, NMC and silicon-graphite is highly preferred.

Additional information

Location mentioned for the role is Valsad, India. The compensation stated is INR 35,00,000 to INR 55,00,000 per year.

Notes for applicants

No specific opening count, joining date, application deadline, eligibility restrictions, perks or additional benefits were provided in the source information.