Orbital’s hardware solutions solve the biggest challenges in data centers. Each of our products contains an advanced material discovered with our AI, giving it breakthrough real-world performance. We’re looking for ambitious thinkers and builders; those excited by the challenge of bridging AI and industry, chemistry and computation, discovery and deployment.
Our mission is to usher in an era where new, advanced materials are both discovered and engineered with AI and we’ll use this to build hardware that solve major global technology challenges.
Joining Orbital Materials means working at the intersection of deep tech, applied science, and engineering innovation. We are a truly global organisation with sites in London (UK) San Francisco (CA), Princeton (NJ) & Calgary (Canada) building teams in ML Research and Product Development to Mechanical and Chemical Engineering, offering opportunities for talented individuals who want to shape the future of materials and their applications in high-impact industries.
Role OverviewWe are seeking a Technical Lead to tackle some of the most diverse and consequential challenges at the intersection of AI and hardware/industrial development—from atomic to data-centre-scale. This role requires setting the technical bar high, rapidly up skilling across unfamiliar domains by collaborating with domain experts, and building production AI systems while managing a small world class team.
Key Responsibilities
1. Set the Technical Bar & Ensure Engineering Excellence
Hands on coding - including establishing and maintaining exceptionally high standards for code quality, system architecture, and ML engineering practices
Conduct rigorous code reviews that elevate team capabilities
Build robust, maintainable systems that serve as foundations for others to build upon
Create a culture of technical rigour, first-principles thinking, and engineering craftsmanship
Own end-to-end delivery of AI systems: from data pipelines and model training to production deployment
Develop and deploy solutions across the entire technology development pipeline—some examples include computational chemistry simulations, materials optimisation, supply chain management agents, and more
Rapidly up skill in new technical areas through close collaboration with domain experts (no prior chemistry or materials experience required)
Balance research rigour with pragmatic engineering to deliver production-ready systems
Provide technical leadership, mentorship, and career development for our AI engineers
Manage the intake and development of AI residency programme participants
Foster a culture of learning, curiosity, and first-principles problem solving
Manage a high-performing team that can independently tackle complex, novel problems
5+ years of professional experience, with at least 1 year in a leadership role
A background as a machine learning engineer, research engineer, or software engineer.
Professional track record of successfully applying AI and machine learning across multiple domains, demonstrating the ability to rapidly up skill and deliver results in unfamiliar problem spaces
Proven experience training, evaluating, and productionising AI models at scale, with a deep understanding of the full ML lifecycle from research to deployment
Strong engineering fundamentals with the ability to write high-quality, maintainable code and architect robust systems that others can build upon
Experience managing, mentoring, or leading technical teams, with a commitment to developing others' skills and careers
Excitement about working at the intersection of AI and physical sciences, where models must interface with real-world constraints and experimental validation
Nice to see
Experience with physics-informed or chemistry-focused AI applications.
Experience building or fine-tuning large language models.
Background in computational chemistry, materials science, or related scientific domains.
Experience with agent-based systems, tool use, or agentic workflows. Contributions to open-source ML projects or published research.
Competitive salary commensurate with AI sector
Flexible and generous paid time off
Excellent health, dental and vision insurance plan
Equity package - the ability to own part of Orbital Materials as we grow
Regular company offsites to the USA and beyond
The experience of working in a cutting-edge organisation dedicated to a better future
Orbital Materials is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
Top Skills
What We Do
Building novel solutions for clean air, water and energy with AI. Let's keep Earth our home forever. From sustainable fuels, to carbon capture, to harmful chemical removal from the environment, Orbital Materials develops and commercialises technologies that keep earth our home forever. At the core of our company is a foundation model for atoms, built by world experts in generative AI and large language models.
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