Principal / Staff Materials Scientist

Amperesand • San Francisco, CA

17h • Onsite

About The Position

Amperesand is reinventing how the world powers its most critical systems.
We are facing a once-in-a-generation opportunity for infrastructure disruption. Electricity demand is skyrocketing, driven by AI factories, electric vehicles, and modern industrial growth. Energy supply is shifting to incorporate a more diverse mix of resources – including solar, gas, and batteries – at a massive scale.
And yet the power infrastructure behind our latest mega-projects hasn’t meaningfully changed in nearly 100 years. Supply chains for today’s infrastructure equipment can’t match the pace and sophistication of critical energy projects. Ampersand is building hardware and software that rewrites this broken power infrastructure playbook to support a new era of energy abundance.
We’ve built a new class of intelligent, software-defined power infrastructure products leveraging a decade of advanced medium voltage Solid State Transformer research that’s now ready for commercial deployment.
Our products and solutions go far beyond the capabilities of traditional electrical equipment. We make power systems that are faster to deploy, dramatically smaller and more efficient, and capable of supporting modern, dynamic energy needs for tomorrow’s most demanding energy consumers.
Scalable in-house advanced manufacturing capability is our foundation for meeting timeline and quality expectation to serve infrastructure customers around the world.
Amperesand is led by breakthrough energy hardware development veterans and funded by top tier investors who share our vision of building a category-defining energy technology company.
With hubs in San Francisco, Reno, and Singapore, our global team is laser focused on building foundational technology to solve the most pressing problems in power infrastructure at scale.
Join us in building the power foundation of the future!
(Electrical Insulation, Polymers & Encapsulation Systems)

Requirements

• MS or PhD in Materials Science, Polymer Science, Chemical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related field
• 10+ years of experience working with electrical insulation systems, polymers, encapsulants, or dielectric materials
• Deep expertise in polymer dielectrics, insulation materials, and high-reliability materials systems
• Strong understanding of partial discharge phenomena, dielectric breakdown mechanisms, and insulation degradation
• Experience with MV or HV insulation systems (power electronics, cable systems, transformers, switchgear, or aerospace power systems)
• Expertise in materials characterization techniques (dielectric testing, thermal analysis, microscopy, reliability testing)
• Demonstrated ability to translate fundamental materials science into manufacturable engineering solutions
• Strong collaboration skills across multidisciplinary engineering teams

Responsibilities

• Lead the development and qualification of advanced dielectric materials and insulation systems for medium-voltage power electronics and energy systems
• Evaluate and engineer encapsulates, adhesives, coatings, thermoplastics, thermosets, ceramics, and composite insulation materials
• Design materials systems for medium voltage class equipment, including bulk insulation, stress control layers, and protective coatings
• Perform advanced electrical materials characterization, including dielectric strength, partial discharge (PD), corona resistance, dielectric loss, and electrical treeing behavior
• Develop structure–property–processing relationships linking polymer chemistry, filler systems, and processing conditions to dielectric, thermal, and mechanical performance
• Conduct failure analysis and root cause investigations of insulation systems (voiding, delamination, electrical treeing, corona degradation, environmental aging)
• Work closely with electrical, mechanical, reliability, and manufacturing engineers to translate system-level insulation requirements into robust materials solutions
• Engage with leading materials suppliers and research partners to develop next-generation insulation and encapsulation technologies
• Develop materials specifications, qualification standards, and test methodologies for high reliability electrical insulation systems
• Enable scalable manufacturing processes including potting, encapsulation, molding, coating, and composite insulation fabrication

Benefits

• Competitive Salary + Incentive Stock Options
• Medical, vision, and dental benefits for employees and their dependents, effective from the start of hire
• Company paid Basic Life, AD&D, short-term and long-term disability insurance
• Employees receive paid time off (PTO), paid sick days, and paid company holidays so they can rest, recharge, and take care of their health and personal needs.
• Commuter Benefits
• 6-12 weeks 100% paid parental leave
• Singapore-based employees receive benefits in accordance with local government provisions.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Principal