Abuse Testing Technician, Lead

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.

Position Summary:

The Lead Abuse Testing Technician IV is a highly skilled lead role responsible for high-voltage battery abuse testing, teardown, and failure analysis. The role performs safety-critical test procedures on battery modules and packs and leads the day-to-day work of the technician team by delegating assignments in JIRA, applying work priorities, and removing blockers. The role partners with engineers and safety teams and coaches with less experienced technicians, with formal supervisory authority. This is a fully on-site role at McCarran, NV.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Leads the daily work of the abuse testing technician team, delegating assignments from JIRA and tracking progress to completion
• Applies work priorities set by engineering and test leadership to sequence team assignments and adjusts as priorities shift
• Resolves technical, equipment, and logistical blockers to keep testing and teardown work moving, coaching less experienced technicians and escalating to engineers and safety teams as needed
• Performs thermal, electrical, and mechanical abuse tests and teardowns on battery modules and packs to analyze internal components, failure modes, and degradation patterns
• Installs sensors, instrumentation, and harnessing on battery packs and test fixtures and verifies setups for accurate, repeatable testing
• Documents test results with detailed notes, photos, and reports and supports data collection and analysis for performance and safety evaluations
• Enforces high-voltage safety protocols and PPE requirements and maintains a clean, organized test lab with tools and equipment properly stored          

Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities 

• Bachelor’s degree and/or 5+ years of relevant work experience
• Experience in a managerial, supervisory, or lead role, including delegating and prioritizing work for a technical team, with working knowledge of JIRA or similar work-tracking tools
• Working knowledge of high-voltage systems, battery modules, or power electronics, with hands-on mechanical assembly, disassembly, and electrical harnessing experience
• Knowledge of safety procedures and PPE requirements for hazardous materials and high-voltage environments
• Ability to read and follow technical drawings, schematics, and written test procedures and to record test results accurately
• Experience with multimeters, oscilloscopes, and other electrical testing equipment; prior battery testing, automotive, aerospace, or energy storage experience preferred

Physical requirements:

• Ability to lift and work with hand tools for extended periods.

Working conditions: 

• Comfortable working in a fast-paced, team-oriented environment with shifting priorities.

The position is full-time. Compensation will be commensurate with experience.

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