Electrical Engineer (Battery Systems & BMS)
Infrastructure for the Autonomous Era · First in. First up.
On-site · Austin, TX
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MESH stores its energy in batteries, and that energy has to be safe, measured, and ready on demand. You own the pack and the brains that keep it that way, from cell selection to a system that charges, discharges, and protects itself in the field. In a power-storage product, this is core IP, and it is yours.
First Order Effects (FOE) is building America's Infrastructure Prime for the robotic era. Autonomous ships, drones, and robots are rewriting how the world moves, fights, and builds - but none of them work without infrastructure to power them, connect them, and launch and recover them. That's what we build.
Our team comes from SpaceX, Anduril, Saronic, Lockheed Skunk Works, Forterra, and Fuse Energy. Before founding FOE, we built satellite ground stations that closed a national comms gap in days, deployed multi-megawatt power systems at commercial speed, and shipped autonomous surface vessels into Navy fleet production. We've built infrastructure at lightspeed before - now we're applying that playbook to an entire company.
Own the LFP battery system: pack architecture, cell selection and sourcing, mechanical and thermal design, and integration into MESH.
Own the BMS: cell monitoring, balancing, protection, contactor control, and state estimation.
Define battery safety: fault detection, isolation, and the response that keeps energy contained.
Work with power electronics and firmware on charge, discharge, and power dispatch.
Take the pack through build, test, and abuse testing.
What You'll Do
Design battery systems and put them into working hardware.
Go deep on LFP and lithium-ion across cells, packs, thermal, and safety.
Design or integrate a BMS, including cell balancing and state-of-charge and state-of-health estimation.
Handle high-current, high-voltage DC design and protection.
Experience with large-format or stationary storage, EV packs, or microgrids.
Familiarity with UN 38.3, UL 1973 or UL 9540, or maritime battery standards.
A background in cell sourcing and vendor qualification.
$100,000–$250,000 base + founding-team equity sized for the role + benefits. If you're an outlier, we'll pay like it.
To conform to U.S. Government export regulations (ITAR/EAR), applicants must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3). Candidates must be eligible to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance; active clearance not required.
FOE is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with FOE is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.
Sovereignty is built, not declared — come build it with us.
Skills Required
- Experience with large-format or stationary storage, EV packs, or microgrids
- Deep knowledge of LFP and lithium-ion cells, pack architecture, thermal design, and safety
- Experience designing or integrating BMS including cell monitoring, balancing, protection, and SOC/SOH estimation
- Familiarity with UN 38.3, UL 1973, UL 9540, or maritime battery standards
- Experience with high-current, high-voltage DC design, contactor control, and power electronics integration
- Background in cell sourcing and vendor qualification
- Experience taking battery packs through build, test, and abuse testing
- Ability to work on-site in Austin, TX
- Must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or protected individual (ITAR requirement); eligible to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance
What We Do
First Order Effects (FOE) is building infrastructure for the autonomous era, serving the United States and its allies. The company develops and deploys physical systems that power, connect, launch, and recover autonomous ships, drones, and robots. Its work includes MESH Box and SURGE systems and draws on experience in satellite ground stations, power systems, autonomous surface vessels, and defense-oriented engineering.
