Applications Engineer - Battery Diagnostic Systems
London, England, United Kingdom Full-time Posted 1 hour ago
THE ROLE: Build and lead Sention’s applications engineering function while owning the technical customer journey from advanced discovery and demonstrations through deployment, commissioning and long-term adoption of our battery diagnostic systems.
About Sention
Sention Technologies is transforming diagnostics for the electrochemical industry, enabling unprecedented insight into battery performance, quality and safety. Our proprietary ultrasound-based technologies allow us to see inside batteries and turn complex measurements into actionable data through our hardware and software platforms.
By reducing waste, increasing productivity and improving safety, our solutions help R&D teams, battery manufacturers, cell and pack integrators, and fleet operators meet the demands of the energy transition. Our ambition is to make advanced battery diagnostics practical from the laboratory to high-volume manufacturing.
Role summary
This is a newly created role and Sention’s first dedicated applications engineering position. The work is currently shared across several teams, and a single, consistent process for delivering it has yet to be established. We need someone who can deliver customer work from the outset while building the practical processes, tools and standards that will allow the function to scale.
You will be the technical bridge between customers and Sention’s Commercial, Product, R&D and Operations teams. You will turn knowledge currently distributed across those teams into a clear way of working for technical discovery, demonstrations, pilots, commissioning, handover and ongoing support.
You will initially shadow our Chief Product Officer on advanced customer conversations and demonstrations, then take ownership as your product knowledge develops. You will assume responsibility for deployments, commissioning and ongoing technical customer success early in your ramp-up. The Commercial team will continue to own prospecting, pricing, contracts and deal closure; you will own the technical path that makes those deals credible and successful.
TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS: This role involves substantial travel to customer sites in the UK and internationally, including Europe, North America and Asia. Travel may account for up to 40% of working time — approximately 85–90 working days per year — and will not be evenly distributed. Some periods may involve consecutive multi-day trips, occasionally arranged at short notice.
What you will own
Direct battery-sector experience is welcome but not required. Strong candidates may come from adjacent industries where complex measurement systems must work reliably in customer laboratories or factories.
Please submit your application via Sention's BambooHR portal. We welcome applicants whose experience is equivalent to the routes described above, even if their current job title is different.
We plan to complete the recruitment process by late October or early November 2026, subject to their availability and notice period.
Our Intended Timetable Is
About Sention
Sention Technologies is transforming diagnostics for the electrochemical industry, enabling unprecedented insight into battery performance, quality and safety. Our proprietary ultrasound-based technologies allow us to see inside batteries and turn complex measurements into actionable data through our hardware and software platforms.
By reducing waste, increasing productivity and improving safety, our solutions help R&D teams, battery manufacturers, cell and pack integrators, and fleet operators meet the demands of the energy transition. Our ambition is to make advanced battery diagnostics practical from the laboratory to high-volume manufacturing.
Role summary
This is a newly created role and Sention’s first dedicated applications engineering position. The work is currently shared across several teams, and a single, consistent process for delivering it has yet to be established. We need someone who can deliver customer work from the outset while building the practical processes, tools and standards that will allow the function to scale.
You will be the technical bridge between customers and Sention’s Commercial, Product, R&D and Operations teams. You will turn knowledge currently distributed across those teams into a clear way of working for technical discovery, demonstrations, pilots, commissioning, handover and ongoing support.
You will initially shadow our Chief Product Officer on advanced customer conversations and demonstrations, then take ownership as your product knowledge develops. You will assume responsibility for deployments, commissioning and ongoing technical customer success early in your ramp-up. The Commercial team will continue to own prospecting, pricing, contracts and deal closure; you will own the technical path that makes those deals credible and successful.
TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS: This role involves substantial travel to customer sites in the UK and internationally, including Europe, North America and Asia. Travel may account for up to 40% of working time — approximately 85–90 working days per year — and will not be evenly distributed. Some periods may involve consecutive multi-day trips, occasionally arranged at short notice.
What you will own
- Technical discovery and solution definition
- Contribute to advanced customer conversations to understand the application, operating environment, decision process, technical constraints and success criteria.
- Translate customer needs into feasible system configurations, test plans, pilot scopes and deployment requirements, while being clear about product limits and technical risk.
- Support the Commercial team with technical input to proposals, tenders, statements of work, timelines and technical negotiations; help keep qualified opportunities moving to a clear next step.
- Create simple standard operating procedures (SOPs) and clear handover rules so that each customer opportunity is assessed consistently: what the customer needs, whether Sention can deliver it, the main technical risks, what has been agreed, what happens next and when responsibility passes to another team.
- Demonstrations, evaluations and pilots
- Plan and lead compelling demonstrations and evaluations of Sention’s hardware and software, tailored to the customer’s use case and audience.
- Present demonstration results to prospective customers.
- Own the technical workstream of customer site pilots from scoping to close-out, and establish reusable preparation, data-capture and reporting practices.
- Deployment and commissioning
- Lead installation, configuration, commissioning and performance verification for laboratory and manufacturing deployments.
- Integrate and troubleshoot mechanical, electrical, electronic, control and software interfaces, adapting fixtures, wiring, test setups or scripts where necessary.
- Train operators and technical users, document the commissioned configuration and complete a disciplined handover with clear ownership of open issues.
- Develop and improve deployment-readiness checks, commissioning records, acceptance criteria and handover templates so that deployments become faster and more consistent.
- Ongoing technical customer success
- Act as the primary technical contact for deployed customers, helping them adopt the system, interpret results and obtain continuing value from it.
- Diagnose and resolve complex support issues across hardware, software, data and the customer’s test environment; coordinate internal escalation when required.
- Identify technical risks to satisfaction, renewal or expansion early, give the Commercial team clear evidence and recommended actions, and define practical support-triage and escalation routes.
- Build the applications engineering function
- Define and continuously improve the applications engineering operating model, including stage ownership, decision points and handovers across Commercial, Product, R&D and Operations.
- Turn field knowledge into reusable discovery SOPs, application notes, demonstration scripts, pilot plans, deployment checks, commissioning checklists, training material, technical reports and troubleshooting playbooks.
- Establish simple metrics that show demonstration quality, pilot progression, deployment time, first-time-right commissioning, customer adoption and recurring support issues.
- Create a disciplined feedback loop that converts field evidence into prioritised product requirements, defect reports and application opportunities, without allowing one-off requests to quietly become the roadmap.
- You have become the trusted technical owner for customer engagements from advanced discovery onwards, with a clear and deliberate handover from the current technical lead.
- You independently deliver high-quality demonstrations, pilots, commissioning and technical account support across Sention’s hardware and software portfolio.
- You have designed and implemented the first version of Sention’s applications engineering operating model, and the relevant teams use its decision points, handovers, templates and records.
- Customer engagements are more repeatable and measurable because the core playbooks, readiness checks, documentation and metrics now exist and are used.
- Commercial opportunities advance on technically credible evidence, customer promises remain aligned with what Sention can deliver, and recurring field issues are converted into clear product or process improvements.
- Around 5–8 years of relevant professional experience, typically combining a substantial period of hands-on engineering with later customer-facing applications engineering, field engineering, systems engineering, technical consultancy or technical sales work.
- A degree in electrical, electronic, mechanical, mechatronic, systems or control engineering, physics, or another relevant discipline — or equivalent capability developed through substantial practical experience.
- A demonstrable record of building, modifying, integrating or commissioning physical systems: instrumentation, sensors, test rigs, industrial equipment, scientific equipment or similarly complex hardware.
- Experience leading technical customer engagements such as discovery, demonstrations, evaluations, pilots, installation, training or post-sale support.
- Sound commercial judgement: able to understand buying processes, negotiate technical scope, maintain momentum and distinguish a valuable customer requirement from an expensive distraction.
- Excellent written, verbal and presentation skills, including the ability to explain uncertain or complex technical findings to engineers, operators, commercial stakeholders and senior decision-makers.
- A record of turning repeated technical work into clear, usable processes, templates or playbooks that improved delivery and were adopted by others.
- Willingness and practical ability to travel regularly within the UK and internationally, sometimes at short notice and with uneven intensity across the year.
- Hardware: Confident building and adapting fixtures, sensor assemblies, wiring and test setups; comfortable using workshop and laboratory tools safely.
- Electronics and control engineering: Competent in low-voltage electronics, sensors, data acquisition and control interfaces; able to read schematics and diagnose systems methodically using appropriate test equipment.
- Software and data: Comfortable configuring software, examining logs and learning an unfamiliar technical platform. Production software engineering is not required.
- Experimental judgement: Able to design tests, control variables, recognise poor-quality evidence and draw appropriately bounded conclusions from noisy real-world data.
Direct battery-sector experience is welcome but not required. Strong candidates may come from adjacent industries where complex measurement systems must work reliably in customer laboratories or factories.
- Applications engineering or field applications engineering experience with scientific instruments, industrial metrology, non-destructive testing, test and measurement, automation or process-control equipment.
- Experience in batteries, electrochemistry, battery manufacturing, cell quality, acoustic or ultrasonic measurement, signal processing or machine vision.
- Exposure to manufacturing-line integration, PLCs, industrial communications, safety interlocks, quality systems or factory acceptance/site acceptance testing.
- Experience in a deep-tech or hardware start-up, supporting international customers or working in an environment where responsibilities and ways of working were still evolving.
- Evidence of commercial contribution through technical selling, customer negotiation, renewals, expansion or channel enablement.
- Hands-on and credible: You enjoy making, testing and fixing things, and build trust with customers’ engineers through practical problem-solving and sound technical judgement.
- Commercially aware: You understand that technical work should lead to customer value and a viable commercial outcome, without overpromising to get there.
- Structured under pressure: You define the problem, protect safety and data quality, communicate clearly and keep ownership until the issue is resolved.
- Autonomous and accountable: You can operate independently at a customer site, make autonomous decisions and escalate before a risk becomes a surprise.
- A pragmatic function builder: You can turn tacit knowledge and ad hoc delivery into simple processes, SOPs and measures that colleagues actually use, without creating bureaucracy for its own sake.
- Collaborative and low-ego: You share field evidence openly, involve the right specialists and care more about the correct answer than whose answer it was.
- A base salary of £50,000–£60,000, depending on experience.
- Private health insurance, life insurance benefit and a competitive pension plan with a 5% employer contribution.
- 28 days’ annual leave, UK bank holidays and a one-week Christmas shutdown (on top of the 28 days).
- High ownership of a newly created, strategically important role, with scope to define how the applications engineering function operates as Sention grows.
- Close collaboration with a multidisciplinary team across engineering, science, software, operations and commercial delivery.
- A hands-on lab environment in Hackney Wick and exposure to technically demanding customers in the UK and internationally.
Please submit your application via Sention's BambooHR portal. We welcome applicants whose experience is equivalent to the routes described above, even if their current job title is different.
We plan to complete the recruitment process by late October or early November 2026, subject to their availability and notice period.
Our Intended Timetable Is
- Applications open: 15 September 2026
- Initial call with a member of the HR team: Week commencing 5 October 2026
- Technical interviews: From the week commencing 12 October 2026
- Leadership interviews: From the week commencing 19 October 2026
- Offer: By 26 October 2026
