Director, Cell Development

QuantumScape is on a mission to transform energy storage with solid-state lithium-metal battery technology. The company’s next-generation batteries are designed to enable greater energy density, faster charging and enhanced safety to support the transition away from legacy energy sources toward a lower carbon future. About the team:  The Cell Development team is responsible for taking QuantumScape's solid-state lithium-metal cell technology from early concept through manufacturing maturity. The team works at the intersection of materials science, electrochemistry, and process engineering, partnering closely with Failure Analysis, Metrology, Quality, and Manufacturing to turn promising ideas into reliable, scalable cells. We operate with a mission-driven mindset, favor clarity over noise, and hold ourselves to a standard of radical candor and zero tolerance for siloed handoffs. What we need: We are looking for a Director of Cell Development to lead our solid-state battery cell development efforts end to end — from early idea generation through maturation into a manufacturable, reliable product. This person will be the thought leader for yield and reliability improvements across our solid-state cells, and will drive cell design and scale-up from single-layer architectures to multi-layer cells and pack-level integration. This role requires genuine comfort with open-ended, ambiguous problems in a fast-paced environment: the ability to break complex technical challenges into simpler, well-scoped chunks, drive parallel workstreams to resolution, and bring the results back together into a coherent path forward. If you enjoy building high-synergy teams, communicating with clarity at every level up to the executive team, and taking ownership of hard, unsolved problems, we'd like to hear from you. What You'll do: Own the technical roadmap for solid-state lithium-metal cell development, from early-stage idea generation and feasibility through maturation and manufacturing readiness Act as the thought leader on yield and reliability, setting the technical direction and priorities for improving cell performance, consistency, and failure rates Lead cell design and scale-up efforts, including the transition from single-layer to multi-layer cell architectures and downstream pack integration Partner closely with Failure Analysis, Metrology, and Quality teams to diagnose root causes of cell-level issues and translate findings into design and process improvements Break down complex, open-ended technical problems into structured workstreams, and synthesize results across parallel efforts into a clear, actionable path forward Build and lead a high-synergy, cross-functional team, hiring and developing talent to grow the group's capabilities Drive cross-functional campaigns spanning R&D, manufacturing engineering, and quality to qualify new processes and improve line performance Communicate progress, risks, and…