Senior Alkaline Stack Development Engineer

Location Tallinn, Estonia

Industry Hydrogen / Alkaline Water Electrolysis

Contract Type Freelance / Consultancy/ Local contract possible under conditions.

Work Arrangement Primarily On-site

Start Date As soon as possible

Role Overview:

Our client, an innovative European hydrogen technology company specialising in alkaline water electrolysis, is seeking an experienced Senior Alkaline Stack Development Engineer to support the development of its next-generation electrolyser stacks.

The consultant will take a leading technical role in stack development, focusing on improving efficiency, durability, cost-effectiveness, manufacturability and industrial reliability.

This is a hands-on engineering position with technical leadership responsibilities, rather than a people-management role.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead stack concept development, translating customer and operational requirements into stack architectures and technical specifications.
• Drive the design of cell frames, manifolds, sealing and compression systems, bipolar plates, electrodes and separators in collaboration with specialist teams and suppliers.
• Address alkaline-specific technical challenges, including shunt currents, electrolyte and gas distribution, gas crossover, contact resistance, corrosion and mechanical stability under thermal and pressure cycling.
• Define testing strategies and acceptance criteria for single cells, short stacks and full-scale stacks.
• Participate in prototype builds, teardowns and root-cause investigations, translating findings into validated design improvements.
• Collaborate with manufacturing teams and suppliers on tolerances, tooling, assembly processes and quality controls to optimise production costs and reliability.
• Define requirements for structural, thermal, fluid dynamics and electrical simulations, validating results against experimental data.
• Lead technical design reviews, mentor engineers and coordinate with external engineering partners.
• Contribute to technical risk assessments, PED compliance and engineering documentation.

Mandatory Qualifications:

• Minimum 5 years of industrial development experience, including substantial hands-on experience with alkaline water electrolysis cells and stacks.
• Proven experience developing alkaline electrolyser stacks from initial concept through prototype testing, validation and industrial production.
• Demonstrated experience investigating stack failures and implementing corrective design improvements.
• Strong understanding of electrochemistry, mechanical design, materials engineering, fluid distribution and electrical behaviour within alkaline electrolyser stacks.
• In-depth knowledge of alkaline-compatible materials, sealing systems, compression systems, manufacturing tolerances and component production methods.
• Hands-on experience with CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) and FEM (Finite Element Method) analysis.
• Experience providing technical guidance and mentoring engineering teams while remaining actively involved in engineering activities.
• Degree in engineering, natural sciences or equivalent industrial expertise.
• Fluent English and strong technical documentation skills.

Important Experience limited to Balance of Plant (BoP), academic research or electrolysis technologies other than alkaline water electrolysis is not sufficient for this position.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience developing pressurised alkaline electrolyser stacks.
• Experience validating stack performance under variable loads, start-stop cycles and thermal or pressure cycling.
• Knowledge of polymer cell frames, injection moulding, integrated sealing systems and production tooling.
• Familiarity with PED, ASME design codes, hydrogen safety requirements and Design FMEA.
• Experience analysing operational field data and stack post-mortem findings to improve product performance.
• Knowledge of alkaline electrolyser Balance of Plant systems or downstream equipment, including hydrogen purification units.

Working Environment:

The consultant will work closely with engineering, testing and manufacturing teams at the client's facilities in Tallinn, Estonia.

The assignment involves direct participation in the development, testing and industrialisation of advanced alkaline electrolyser technology.

The position is primarily site-based, although some flexibility may be possible depending on project activities.