Research Leader - Battery Safety & Risk Mitigation

Job Title

Research Leader - Battery Safety & Risk Mitigation

Remote/Home Based

- Lead and contribute to research projects focused on energy storage system safety, including thermal runaway prevention, fire detection and suppression, and post-incident analysis.

- Develop and evaluate safety protocols, standards, and best practices for battery energy storage systems (BESS), with a focus on fire prevention and mitigation strategies.

- Collaborate with utilities, project developers, technology manufacturers, and safety regulators to advance industry-wide understanding and implementation of safe storage practices.

- Provide technical oversight on projects involving fire risk assessments, safety testing, and emergency response planning.

- Engage with EPRI members to align safety research with evolving regulatory requirements and field challenges.

- Contribute to broader projects in operations and maintenance, testing and commissioning, and controls, with a safety-first mindset.

This is your opportunity to work on real-world challenges and be part of a mission-driven organization committed to transforming the energy landscape—safely and sustainably.

- Experience with NFPA 855, UL 9540A, or other relevant safety standards for energy storage systems.

- Background in fire science, hazard analysis, or safety engineering related to battery technologies.

- Demonstrated experience in incident investigation, root cause analysis, or development of fire mitigation strategies for energy systems.

Additional Requirements

- Candidate must be available to meet with members in the office, in the field at their site, and attend conferences and expos.

- Works independently on technical activities, including project ideation and launch with limited supervision.

- Demonstrates responsibility for highly specialized technical objectives or problems where the relationships between cause and effect are difficult to establish and little or no precedence exists, and the use of creative and imaginative thinking is required.

- Provides high-level engineering efforts to support requirements in development and design and provides guidance to junior staff.

- Acts as technical specialist and/or project manager for projects or project tasks, providing oversight to assure technical, financial, and schedule milestones are met.

- Communicates complex strategies and project results clearly and concisely to diverse audiences—including subject matter experts, program members, advisors, and the public—by tailoring content and format across guidelines, reports, meetings, webcasts, workshops, and conferences.

- Has established relationships and continually develops new ones with primary advisors to a research area.

- Regularly interfaces and coordinates with national and international technical networks, such as technology vendors, manufacturers, consultants, industry and research organizations, and academia.

- Leads proposal efforts and new research opportunities of value to EPRI members that fit EPRI’s mission and capabilities, which includes solving customer problems, producing insights and information vital to the members, and delivering information in a manner that members and customers can and will apply.

- Works alongside EPRI sales staff in Member Services and EPRI International to support business development and member/client needs.

Education: Bachelor’s Degree in a technical field or equivalent experience required.

The salary range for this position is $115,000 USD to $130,000 USD annually.

This salary range is an estimate, and the actual salary may vary based on various factors, including without limitation applicant's education, experience, skills, and abilities, as well as internal equity and alignment with market data. The salary may also be adjusted based on applicant's geographic location.

This role is eligible to participate in EPRI’s annual incentive program. The amount of incentive varies and is subject to the terms and conditions of the plan.

This role is eligible to participate in EPRI’s standard employee benefit programs, which currently include the following: medical, dental, vision, 401k, STD/LTD and paid family leave, life and accident insurance, paid time off (flexible vacation, sick leave, and holiday pay).

EPRI participates in E-Verify, an online system operated jointly by the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration (SSA). EPRI uses the system to check the work status of new hires by comparing information from the employee's I-9 form against SSA and Department of Homeland Security databases.

EPRI is an equal opportunity employer. EEO/AA/M/F/VETS/Disabled

Together . . . Shaping the Future of Energy.

www.epri.com