Battery Material Scientist - Cathode

We are building a state-of-the-art facility and a world-class team of technologists for R&D into next-generation battery cells, and now we are looking for Senior Material Scientists to make it happen. Are you ready to take the chance to work at the forefront of energy storage R&D?

Volvo Cars is one of the most well-known and respected car brands in the world. Northvolt is a leading supplier of sustainable, high-quality battery cells and systems, dedicated to delivering the world’s greenest lithium-ion battery. Together, we have formed a joint venture, NOVO Energy, to power the next generation of pure electric Volvo Cars.

The Material Technology team is a highly diverse and international team. Together we bring new battery materials to market in real, mass-market automotive products. You will see the results of your work on roads around the globe and you’ll help bring a new generation of mobility to life.

What You’ll Do

Your work will focus on understanding the fundamentals of new materials and how they influence the performance of automotive batteries. You will plan and execute experiments, validate new analytical methods, and analyze data to assess which new materials, deployed together, will enable NOVO to meet performance requirements for next-generation Volvo Cars.

Design and execute experiments. Based on sound statistical methods, plan and deliver efficient experimental campaigns that provide actionable information about new battery cathode materials & manufacturing methods to cell designers.

- Develop characterization techniques that empower you and the team around you to understand particle-level and electrode-level cell performance drivers.
- Discover causative relationships. Connect material-level properties to product-level battery performance specs. Figure out methods of predicting cell performance based on analytics at the particle and electrode level.
- Once validated, work closely with cell designers to scale new materials into full-size cell designs. Iterate.
- Stay on top of the newest technology and methods out in the world. Use your judgment to make the case for which technologies are aligned with the company’s goals and worth investigating further.
- Communicate complex chemistry and materials science concepts clearly to non-expert audiences. Make your planning and technical thought process visible and understandable to the people around you, from managers to technicians.

Skills & Requirements

To enjoy this role, you are comfortable in new settings, working on open-ended problems where no prescribed solution exists. When your experimental data doesn’t look right, you’re the first person to take a deep, in-person look at the experiment to understand and durably fix root causes of drift.

You thrive from extracting clean signals from noisy experiments and to produce high-quality technical work with minimal guidance and underdefined inputs. You are a curious and passionate team player who likes to have fun while achieving the goal!

- An advanced degree such as PhD in chemistry or materials science with a focus on cathode materials.
At least 3 years of practical experience in battery R&D such as experience in battery industry or doing PhD in topics related to cathodes for lithium-ion batteries - You’ve been through multiple iterations of new materials development, evaluation, and characterization.
- A strong foundation in materials science and chemistry, electrochemistry, surface chemistry, materials structure, and both inorganic & organic chemistry fundamentals.
- The ideal candidate has experience with batteries and analytical tools to evaluate battery materials.



Volvo Cars is one of the most well-known and respected car brands in the world. Northvolt is a leading supplier of sustainable, high-quality battery cells and systems, dedicated to delivering the world’s greenest lithium-ion battery. Together, we have formed a joint venture, NOVO Energy, to power the next generation of pure electric Volvo and Polestar cars.

Our Gigafactory in Gothenburg will be one of the largest cell production facilities in Europe, with a potential annual cell production capacity of up to 50 gigawatt hours (GWh) - thereby enabling a supply of batteries for approximately half a million Volvo and Polestar cars per year. Our state-of-the-art R&D facility will gather leading expertise from all over the world, to create the next generation battery cells.

You can read more about this joint venture in these press releases, here and here.