Slot-Die Coating Engineer

Role details

Piersica builds lithium-metal pouch cells aimed at 600–800 Wh/kg, and we cast our own thick cathodes on a slot-die roll-to-roll coater in Tallahassee. We are backed by U.S. Army and NSF SBIR awards and private investors. We need the person who

owns that die

. This is a hands-on seat: you set up the coater, you run it, you diagnose the defects, and you write it all down the same day. You'll do the work, not direct it.

What you'll own — the die

• Set up and run the slot-die head

on our benchtop, single-furnace roll-to-roll coater with a slot-die attachment — nothing fancy. Die assembly, shim and gap, alignment, pump and feed, flow-rate-to-thickness math, line speed, drying.

• Run our twice-weekly casts start to finish, on your own.

Slurry mixing is handled by our slurry technician; you own everything from the die onward — setup, cast, dry, and the quality of the tape that comes off the line.

• Dial in the coating window

for thick, high-loading cathodes (30+ mg/cm² class) cast from high-solids slurries with our PIRION™ polymer binder — bead stability, edge control, cross-web uniformity — and

kill defects at the source

: streaks, bubbles, agglomerates, edge beads. Find the cause, fix it, prove it on the next cast.

• Document every run in Teams the same day

— parameters, photos, results, what you'd change next. Not in Teams = it didn't happen.

What you must bring — the gate

• 3–5 years of hands-on slot-die coating where you owned the die

— not observed it, not specified it, not managed the people who ran it. You can talk fluently about the coating window, the bead, shim and gap, and exactly what you did the day the coat streaked.

• Battery electrode slot-die experience preferred.

Deep slot-die hands from another roll-to-roll industry — films, tapes, membranes, photovoltaics, photographic or optical coatings — are welcome.

• You run machines.

You're at home in a small lab where you set up, cast, clean the die, and fix the pump yourself.

• BS preffered

in chemical, materials, or mechanical engineering, or equivalent hands-on experience. This is not a research seat and we are not hiring a PhD for it. Have the die hands without the degree? Apply anyway — the title flexes to Slot-Die Specialist.

• Authorized to work in the United States.

Piersica is unable to sponsor employment visas for this position, now or in the future. Able to relocate to Tallahassee, Florida — we help with relocation, and Florida has no state income tax.

• Good to have:

calendering to a density target; slitting, notching, and punching of coated electrode; pilot-line or scale-up experience; comfort in a dry room or glovebox.

• This is not the seat if

your coating experience is doctor blade or comma bar only and you have never owned a slot die; you've specified, purchased, or managed coaters rather than run them; or you're looking for a research or PhD-track role. Publications don't help here; hands do.

How we hire — fast, and we verify

A 30-minute screen within a week of your application → a technical conversation about the die (the coating window, the bead, gap and shim, a defect you fixed and how) → a paid on-site cast day on our line in Tallahassee →

an offer within 48 hours

of a good cast day. Offers are contingent on a standard background check.

What we offer

• $105,000–$125,000 base,

placed by your depth on the die. Stock options on a three-year vest, plus a milestone bonus tied to cell and pilot-line goals. Signing bonus and relocation assistance.

• 100% company-paid medical, dental, and vision

for you and your family; 17 days of PTO. A small team where the CEO is in the lab and your cast is the company's cathode.