Battery Fire Protection Engineering Lead at Volvo Energy

Transport is at the core of modern society. Imagine using your expertise to shape sustainable transport and infrastructure solutions for the future. If you seek to make a difference on a global scale, working with next-gen technologies and the sharpest collaborative teams, then we could be a perfect match. 

With new technologies and business models increasing in importance at high speed, the transportation and infrastructure industries are changing more and at a higher pace than ever before. As the Volvo Group, we are accelerating to drive our industry forward also in these important areas. Do you want to join our journey and shape tomorrow’s society together with us?

Working at Volvo Energy is different 
Welcome to a team unified by an important mission, great ideas, fun, diversity and inclusiveness. Our colleagues are - and will always be - the most important part of the story. Each colleague truly matters and plays an important role in our journey. Consequently, while demands are high, there are also plenty of opportunities to learn and grow - as a professional and as a person. 

We will be a relatively small team and therefore look for colleagues that thoroughly enjoy this intrapreneurial challenge and ready to hit the ground running. We value individuals who lead with passion, perform with purpose, and transform with vision. Moreover, it will be essential you have a strong ability to form trustful relationships to effectively work with partners - inside and outside of the Volvo Group – in a cross-functional manner. You will make a difference!

Making it a success for yourself and Volvo Energy 
You welcome this chance to work in a smart and modern way, where we together are the catalysts to make our desired future happen. As our business area is new, you need to share our curiosity for new technologies, tools and ways-of-working and constantly want to take it to the next level. At the same time, you realize that breaking new ground also means mistakes will happen and nothing will be perfect. These are not frustrations but instead learning opportunities for us. You see the journey itself as the destination and whilst you are highly successful in your current position, you feel a strong desire to move further – you want to move from success to significance.

Being part of Battery Energy Storage System Technology
Battery Energy Storage System – Technology is a function within Volvo Energy that develops and industrializes Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) and associated services. In this function, we work with new batteries as well as second life applications with vehicle battery packs, monitoring and data analytics, and battery safety. 

Working in very close cooperation with our colleagues from Volvo Group and especially Group Trucks Technology, Group Trucks Purchasing and Group Trucks Operations, we create new business offer opportunities as well as value propositions.  

What are we looking for in this specific role?
We are currently seeking a Battery Fire Protection Engineering Lead to drive our safety leadership ambitions within the BESS industry. In this role, you will lead our battery fire protection engineering efforts including thermal runaway propagation testing, emergency response procedures, and our system architecture from a fire protection point of view (pressure relief, detection, suppression, etc.). You will work closely with various engineering teams in Volvo Energy as well as other stakeholders to communicate your in-depth knowledge to broader audiences and support us in enhancing our collective understanding of a matter that is key to our product and our organization. 

Your starting point will be to:

• Leading our fire protection engineering efforts and being the central driver for achieving our safety leadership ambitions
• Develop, plan and execute various thermal runaway and propagation tests to verify and validate battery fire protection systems, from cell to system(s) level.
• Support the leadership team in defining the overall safety goals and objectives for our product range.
• Engage in and monitor the development of current (e.g. UL9540A, NFPA 855, IEC 62619) and future fire protection standards by actively participating in technical committees.
• Teach and communicate battery fire protection topics to the engineering team as well as non-engineers. 

What are the qualifications likely required to be successful?

• Expert level knowledge of battery fire safety on a holistic level (product, site, personnel) and able to translate their know-how to engineers not familiar with fire safety as well as non-engineers.
• You have significant hands-on experience in battery thermal runaway and propagation testing on cell, module, pack, and/or installation level.
• Comfortable planning and organizing the tests as well as preparing a battery pack with thermocouples, heaters, voltage sensors, putting it on fire and doing post-mortem analysis.

Below is not required but considered an advantage for the applicant:

• Experience from battery fire investigations and methods.
• Experience developing Risk and Hazard Mitigation Assessments and possessing an understanding of current and future fire safety requirements for BESS.
• Understanding of BESS system design and experience in the application of fire protection designs to achieve a comprehensive approach to fire prevention/protection.

So you want to apply? 
If our entrepreneurial spirit, adaptability, and customer-focused mindset light your inner fire, we might be a great match! 

I really enjoy reading cover letters and strongly encourage you to include it in your application!

Feel free to contact me if you have further questions
Roeland Bisschop, Head of Product Development, e-mail: roeland.bisschop@volvo.com

Last application date: 9th November. 

We encourage you to apply as soon as possible, as we’ll be reviewing applications continuously.

We value your data privacy and therefore do not accept applications via mail. 

Who we are and what we believe in 
We are committed to shaping the future landscape of efficient, safe, and sustainable transport solutions. Fulfilling our mission creates countless career opportunities for talents across the group’s leading brands and entities.

Applying to this job offers you the opportunity to join Volvo Group. Every day, you will be working with some of the sharpest and most creative brains in our field to be able to leave our society in better shape for the next generation. ​We are passionate about what we do, and we thrive on teamwork. ​We are almost 100,000 people united around the world by a culture of care, inclusiveness, and empowerment. 

Volvo Energy lives and leads the change in accelerating Volvo Group’s electrification journey and driving circularity for a better tomorrow. We bring together people with who will work in a highly diverse, equal and inclusive global context with an entrepreneurial spirit where everyone is key and directly contributes to achieving our ambitions for wanted position: better for people – better for planet – better for business. Together – from individual success to collective significance!