At a Glance
- Tasks: Join a cutting-edge team to develop innovative power transmission solutions using fibre technology.
- Company: Trine Energy, a pioneering startup revolutionising electrical power distribution.
- Benefits: Remote work, great culture, and opportunities for professional growth.
- Other info: Collaborate with top manufacturers and leading university labs in a dynamic environment.
- Why this job: Make a real impact in the energy transition with advanced technologies.
- Qualifications: Masters in Physics/Computational Physics and strong programming skills.
The predicted salary is between 30000 - 40000 £ per year.
Trine Energy is a UK based early stage startup developing products for transmission of electrical power (1MW+) using power of fiber (PoF) as the core technology. We are working on the hypothesis that the production of power is a solved problem. Solar and wind based energy production has been rapidly scaling since the start of the century. The renaissance of fission nuclear reactors and advancements in fusion means there will be no shortage of electrical power. Today, the only option for distributing electrical power over distance is the power grid, which is an outdated technology. According to various studies, ~$1 Trillion of annual investment is needed globally to upgrade and expand the grid networks to reach net zero targets by 2050. It has not seen any real innovation for a very long time and there is none on the horizon to significantly reduce costs. The grid becomes unstable when there is too much intermittent power in the mix, which goes against the global drive for energy transition.
Laser and fiber optic technologies, in comparison, are modern and enjoy rapid innovation. Both are highly flexible products with many interesting properties that electricity and power cables do not have. Their cost and performance are improving at Moore’s law scale. Our plan is to combine technologies from different fields of science and engineering such as high power diodes, fiber lasers, specialised fiber optics, power over fiber, and thermal photovoltaic cells to achieve our goal. By using technologies that are already invented and commercialised, we aim to push the boundaries of engineering and finance to create a product that solves one of the biggest energy transition bottlenecks.
Besides the scientific work, you will have the opportunity to work with top-tier manufacturers of laser, fiber optics, and semiconductor products, top-ranking university labs, and fast-growing industries such as AI datacentres and renewable power producers. On a day-to-day basis, you will work under the lead Research Scientist and shadow across all workflows. You will be part of the scientific research team developing highly detailed and multi-level simulations starting with the fiber level physics and then adding multi-physics models on top to develop a digital twin of the system. This is a polymathic process where knowledge from several domains of physics is drawn, and models are developed and tested using first principles and common sense engineering thought processes.
Your responsibilities will include:
- Learning about core physics used in product development through your own research and reading academic and research papers.
- Building optical systems using splicing, combiners, splitters, free space beaming, etc.
- Conversion of laser to electrical power using semiconductor laser power converters.
- Using equations (linear/ODE/PDE) and tools (Python, third-party tools) to model linear, spatial, and temporal behaviour of the end-to-end system.
- Incorporating vendor specifications, lab measurements, and synthetic data into modelling frameworks, and rigorously sanity-checking outputs against analytical estimates and literature.
Qualifications:
- Masters in Physics/Computational Physics with coursework covering thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, optics, optoelectronics, lasers, and semiconductors.
- Excellent command over the underlying physics and governing equations.
- Nice to have knowledge: laser properties, principles of laser propagation in fiber and free space, modes and mode solving, the science of semiconductors for laser generation and conversion of light to electricity.
- Hands-on experience in building models, simulation, post-processing, and validation.
- Proficiency in Python programming language, AI-aided coding (Cursor, Codex, Claude Code, etc.), AWS, Azure, GCP, GPU clusters.
- Familiarity with any multi-physics tool - COMSOL, Ansys, MATLAB or open-source tools.
- Ability and willingness to perform tasks independently with minimal supervision.
- Ability to search scientific literature relevant to work, develop and test hypotheses, articulate problem statements, and offer potential solutions.
We offer a high-performance team environment with a great culture and remote work options, which will convert to hybrid by the end of the year.
Associate Research Fellow employer: Trine Energy
Trine Energy is an innovative early-stage startup that offers a dynamic work environment where creativity and scientific exploration thrive. As an Associate Research Fellow, you will collaborate with leading manufacturers and top university labs, gaining invaluable experience in cutting-edge technologies while contributing to the energy transition. With a strong emphasis on employee growth, a high-performance culture, and the flexibility of remote work transitioning to a hybrid model, Trine Energy stands out as an exceptional employer for those seeking meaningful and impactful careers in the energy sector.
