Director of Data Science

About Liminal Insights

Liminal’s mission is to accelerate the clean energy transition by improving the cost, quality, and reliability of battery manufacturing. We do this by providing customers with better analytics and insights during production. Our breakthrough EchoStat® platform uses ultrasound and machine learning technology to supply customers with the information needed to accelerate production ramp-up, improve productivity and reliability, and detect critical defects early. Liminal has active product evaluations with major cell manufacturers and EV OEMs. 

Our Culture and Values

• We are dedicated to building a world-class, world-positive company.
• We work closely on a foundation of mutual trust and informed decisions.
• Our core values are trust, empathy, and curiosity.
• We encourage personal growth, continuous learning, and safety.
• We believe the most innovative teams are inclusive and celebrate all forms of diversity.

About the Role

As the Director of Data Science at Liminal, you will be a key leader in shaping and advancing our data science strategy, driving innovation, and applying signal processing and machine learning techniques to enhance our EchoStat® platform. 

You will work closely with cross-functional teams, including hardware engineering, software engineering, product, and business development, to build and deploy metrology and machine learning models that optimize battery manufacturing processes. You will be assessing detectability of defects in batteries, leveraging your data science and physics-based modeling experience. This is a hands-on role in a dynamic startup environment, and you will have the opportunity to influence both technical and strategic decisions while leading a data science team. This role is also customer-facing, requiring the ability to communicate complex, technical findings and deliver analytics results to customers regarding their battery cell analyses.

 You will report directly to the CEO/CTO.

Main Responsibilities Will Include

• Lead and manage the data science team, providing technical direction and mentorship.
• Own the data science product and technology development roadmap, driving innovation in inspection analytics and modeling.Conduct hands-on machine learning and data science work, including building and optimizing models.
• Analyze and interpret results, ensuring easily interpretable and actionable insights for internal stakeholders and customers, both written and visual.
• Provide input to account owners so they (and you) can create meaningful, technically accurate customer presentations & materials based on the data.
• Using insights generated by ultrasound data and modeling results, inform hardware system and software product requirements
• Optimize ultrasound data quality through advanced signal processing techniques to better interpret physical properties of battery components and to improve the accuracy and effectiveness of inspection methodologies.
• Integrate principles from physics, chemistry, and materials science to drive the data science activities for the organization.
• Engage directly with customers to identify problems and solutions, deliver insights from analytics, and discuss the impact of findings on their battery manufacturing processes.
• Occasionally travel (10-15%) to customer sites for presentations, collaboration, and project support, if needed.

Minimum Requirements

• 10+ years of experience in data science for physical inspection, with at least 3 years in a leadership or management role.
• Managing direct reports and leading data science initiatives across multiple teams.
• Experience with physics-based modeling, simulation and signal processing of high dimensional data to identify subsurface or remote phenomena.
• Experience in applying both analytical and machine learning algorithms to address problems in physical space, such as convolutions, denoising,  depth imaging, artifact correction, dimensionality reduction, calibration, beamforming, homography.
• You likely come from one of the following backgrounds: inspection, materials science, ultrasound, CT, X-Ray, lidar, aerospace, optical or laser sensing, geology, computer vision, IoT
• Strong background in machine learning, deep learning, and statistical modeling.
• Proficiency in Python and ML frameworks such as TensorFlow, PyTorch, or Scikit-Learn.
• Experience working with modern data engineering and ML tools such as Spark, to handle high dimensional data.
• Proven ability to translate complex data science problems into real-world solutions.
• Experience deploying machine learning models in production environments.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to convey technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.

*Even if you don’t have 100% of the requirements, we encourage you to apply!

Nice to haves      

• Degree in Physics, Chemistry, Materials Science, or other related field.Experience in manufacturing analytics, industrial AI, or battery technology.
• Familiarity with ultrasound data processing and/or battery data processing.
• Hands-on experience with cloud platforms such as AWS and Databricks.
• Knowledge of MLOps practices for managing and deploying machine learning models at scale.
• Prior experience in an early-stage startup environment.

Benefits

• Annual salary of $180,000 to $260,000 plus stock options, based on skill level and experience, to help you and your family build a healthy and secure future.
• Group health benefits that provide support for employee well-being and preventative care, including comprehensive medical, dental, vision, and life insurance.
• A retirement program that helps build future financial security through both traditional and Roth 401(k) options with employer matching.
• Flexible working hours so you can be productive at the times that work best for you.
• Generous time-off policy to allow you to renew and refresh through vacation, personal leave, and holidays.
• For new parents, 12 weeks of fully-paid parental leave that you can take at any point during the first year.

Liminal is an equal-opportunity employer. We celebrate all forms of diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. However you identify or whatever your path here, please apply if this job excites you. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the hiring process, perform essential job functions, and receive other benefits and privileges of employment.