--- title: 'Abuse Test Engineer, Energy Storage at Redwood Materials' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/abuse-test-engineer-energy-storage-redwood-materials-mccarran-xj7c8p1gv3y2' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-10-26' --- # Abuse Test Engineer, Energy Storage at Redwood Materials - **Company:** Redwood Materials - **Location:** Mccarran, NV - **Posted:** 2026-04-09 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-26 - **Apply:** https://boards.greenhouse.io/redwoodmaterials/jobs/5894704004?gh_jid=5894704004 ## Job description ## About Redwood Materials Redwood Materials was founded in 2017 by JB Straubel, co-founder and former CTO of Tesla, on a simple but radical idea: the critical minerals powering the energy transition already exist. They just need to come back. Today Redwood is the largest lithium-ion battery recycler in North America — recovering, refining, and redeploying critical minerals from end-of-life batteries back into the supply chain. On the energy side, Redwood has deployed the largest second-life battery project in the world, delivering power to AI data centers in months rather than years using proprietary energy architecture engineered entirely in-house. The company is profitable, the market it operates in is projected to grow 20 to 50 times over the next decade, and Redwood is the only company with the supply chain, the technology, and the operational scale to lead it. Abuse Test Engineer, Energy Storage Essential Duties: As an early member of a new engineering team, you will be responsible for designing, executing, and analyzing tests that simulate extreme conditions and misuse scenarios to ensure the safety of our new product. Collaborating with design and manufacturing engineering, you will identify potential failure modes and then intentionally abuse complex electromechanical and electrochemical systems (via short circuit, overvoltage, overheat, overcharge, and forced thermal propagation) in a controlled, well-instrumented, well-documented environment in order to stress those failure modes and ensure our products are robust to real world abuse. You’re a doer, excited about getting your hands dirty and working in a dynamic, fast-paced setting, and want to shape a new department at Redwood. If necessary, we will adjust the job level to suit your experience and responsibilities. Responsibilities Will include: - In addition to performing tests, you’ll help define and build the test infrastructure that will allow us to test swiftly, safely, and with excellent documentation - You will also use your experience and understanding of failure mechanisms to help design new products to be as intrinsically robust to abuse as possible - Designing, executing, and analyzing tests that simulate extreme conditions and misuse scenarios to ensure the safety of our new product - Identify potential failure modes and then intentionally abuse complex electromechanical and electrochemical systems (via short circuit, overvoltage, overheat, overcharge, and forced thermal propagation) in a controlled, well-instrumented, well-documented environment in order to stress those failure modes and ensure our products are robust to real world abuse Desired Qualifications: - Bachelor’s degree in physics, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related field - Strong understanding of physics and the physics of failure - Proven experience with abuse tests, specifically UL9540a and related thermal propagation testing - Proficiency in data analysis tools and software (e.g., MATLAB, Minitab, Python) - Proven experience designing robust, fast-setup data acquisition rigs (e.g. temperature sensor) and actuation (e.g. heater, remote knife switch) - Excellent problem-solving skills and attention to detail - Strong communication and interpersonal skills - Ability to work independently and as part of a team The position is full-time. Compensation will be commensurate with experience. We collect personal information (PI) from you in connection with your application for employment with Redwood Materials, including the following categories of PI: identifiers, personal records, professional or employment information, and inferences drawn from your PI. We collect your PI for our purposes, including performing services and operations related to your potential employment. If you have additional privacy-related questions, please contact us at privacy@redwoodmaterials.com. ## About Redwood Materials ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Redwood Materials recycles lithium-ion batteries to recover critical minerals and deploys large-scale energy storage systems, building a domestic circular supply chain for batteries. - **Entity Type**: Private (Late-stage; Series E closed at $425M in October 2025) - **Headquarters**: Carson City, Nevada, USA (with campuses in Northern Nevada, South Carolina, and an R&D center in San Francisco) - **Founded**: 2017 - **Founders**: JB Straubel (former Tesla CTO) ## Core Business - **Primary industry**: Battery recycling, critical materials production, and energy storage - **Target customers**: B2B – automotive OEMs, data center operators, utilities, and grid-scale energy storage buyers - **Mission/purpose**: “Securing U.S. critical materials. Powering America’s energy future.” – building a resilient domestic supply chain for batteries and enabling the energy transition. ## Products & Services - **Critical Materials Production**: Recovers lithium, nickel, cobalt, and copper from end-of-life batteries (recycling) and produces cathode active material at scale. [redwoodmaterials.com](https://www.redwoodmaterials.com/) - **Redwood Energy**: Designs, integrates, and deploys large-scale energy storage systems (BESS) for data centers and the grid, using both new and repurposed batteries. [redwoodmaterials.com](https://www.redwoodmaterials.com/) - **Battery Bin**: Consumer-facing recycling program launched in December 2025 to collect end-of-life batteries. [redwoodmaterials.com/about/](https://www.redwoodmaterials.com/about/) ## Market Standing - **Valuation**: ~$6 billion (as of October 2025, per Wikipedia) - **Key Metric**: Total funding raised >$1.4B (over $1B in 2023 plus $425M Series E in 2025). Annual revenue not publicly disclosed. - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Partners include Volkswagen Group of America, Panasonic, GM/Ultium Cells, Volvo, Amazon, Toyota, Southern Company, BMW of North America, Crusoe, Lime, Caterpillar, Isuzu. [redwoodmaterials.com](https://www.redwoodmaterials.com/) - **Growth Signals**: - Opened South Carolina recycling campus (2025) and SF R&D center (2025) - Launched Redwood Energy storage division (2025) - Expanded into Europe (2022) - Recognized as Fast Company’s World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies (2024, 2026) and Time100 Climate (2024) - Active job postings: 79 (as of mid-2026), with monthly growth of +83.7% [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/redwood-materials) ## Competitive Advantages - **Technology moat**: Recovers >95% of metals (nickel, cobalt, lithium, copper) from end-of-life batteries, creating a low-cost domestic source of critical materials. - **Vertical integration**: Combines recycling, refining, cathode production, and energy storage deployment under one roof. - **Strategic partnerships**: Deep relationships with nearly every major automotive OEM and energy companies, ensuring feedstock and offtake. - **First-mover in U.S. battery circularity**: One of the largest domestic sources of critical minerals, reducing reliance on foreign supply chains. ## Strategic Focus - Scale domestic battery material production and energy storage manufacturing to meet U.S. grid and EV demand. - Expand Redwood Energy as a standalone business unit for utility and data center storage. - Grow consumer recycling programs (Battery Bin) and deepen partnerships with automakers and energy companies. - Continue R&D in advanced battery chemistries and recycling processes at the San Francisco innovation center. ## Why Work Here - **Mission-driven culture**: Employees are motivated by building a resilient U.S. energy future and solving climate challenges. - **Pioneering environment**: Described as “pioneers, innovators, and collaborators” working on chemistry, materials science, automation, and advanced equipment design. [redwoodmaterials.com/join/](https://www.redwoodmaterials.com/join/) - **Locations**: Multiple campuses – Tahoe (Northern Nevada), Carolina (South Carolina), and downtown San Francisco R&D center. - **Growth opportunities**: Rapid scaling with 79+ open roles across engineering, operations, EPC, software, and business functions. Top talent sources include Tesla (207 alumni), Panasonic, Rivian, and Chewy. - **Work style**: Hybrid/office presence expected at campuses; culture emphasizes making difficult decisions and implementing design constraints to drive impact. ## Sources 1. [redwoodmaterials.com](https://www.redwoodmaterials.com/) 2. [redwoodmaterials.com/about/](https://www.redwoodmaterials.com/about/) 3. [redwoodmaterials.com/join/](https://www.redwoodmaterials.com/join/) 4. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/redwood-materials) 5. [wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redwood_Materials) ## Other roles at Redwood Materials - [Energy Production Planner](https://feeny.ai/job/energy-production-planner-redwood-materials-mccarran-52s8s85vpcz7) — Mccarran, NV - [Staff Global Supply Manager, Construction](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-global-supply-manager-construction-redwood-materials-san-francisco-3n2x4fcm6etp) — San Francisco, CA - [Payroll Specialist III](https://feeny.ai/job/payroll-specialist-iii-redwood-materials-carson-city-30e05zkbpw79) — Carson City, NV - [Controls Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/controls-engineer-redwood-materials-mccarran-8m18h7q532d6) — Mccarran, NV - [Staff Environmental Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-environmental-engineer-redwood-materials-mccarran-qbc1h522m5tr) — Mccarran, NV - [Senior Supply Chain Program Manager, Energy Storage](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-supply-chain-program-manager-energy-storage-redwood-materials-san-a0d24zgf7tnd) — San Francisco, CA - [Senior Electrical Hardware Test Engineer, Energy Storage](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-electrical-hardware-test-engineer-energy-storage-redwood-materials-san-trey1td3r6a1) — San Francisco, CA - [Senior Construction Field Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-construction-field-manager-redwood-materials-mccarran-qqrbastybfxv) — Mccarran, NV - [Accounts Payable Specialist](https://feeny.ai/job/accounts-payable-specialist-redwood-materials-carson-city-5984ftx3yhrp) — Carson City, NV - [Senior Finance Associate](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-finance-associate-redwood-materials-san-francisco-pgkdjce6g6a5) — San Francisco, CA