The Product Development Manager will play a key role in leading and coordinating 2D & 3D lithium anode cell product development activities within LionVolt at its location in Thurso (UK), with a focus on milestone delivery, technical leadership, and cross-functional execution. This is a broad lead role for someone who can operate effectively across product development, R&D, program delivery, and lithium anode cell development.
The successful candidate will be responsible for ensuring that technical activities are aligned with business and customer priorities, development goals, and delivery milestones. The role requires a hands-on leader who is comfortable working in a dynamic scale-up environment and who can bring structure, ownership, and momentum across multiple disciplines. This person will be reporting directly to the CTO of LionVolt.
Key Responsibilities
- Coordinate and optimize people, equipment, and resources to support R&D, product development, and customer delivery.
- Provide leadership across technical programmes and product development activities, ensuring clear priorities, timelines, and accountability.
- Work closely with 3D anode development, electrolyte development, cell development, manufacturing, project management, and senior leadership teams to translate product strategy and customer requirements into reality.
- Support the development, scale up, and industrialization of new products, helping bridge the gap between innovation and customer need.
- Work with project managers across the organization to ensure product development milestones and project deliverables are effectively managed within budgets.
- Build and maintain strong cross-functional collaboration between technical, operational, and commercial stakeholders.
- Identify opportunities for continuous improvement in operational efficiency, development processes, product planning, and customer delivery.
- Ensure compliance with health, safety, quality, environmental, and regulatory standards within the country.
- Contribute to site leadership, organizational development, scale-up, and long-term operational planning.
Candidate Profile
We are looking for a versatile and experienced leader with a strong track record in product development in technical environments, preferably within the battery field. The ideal candidate brings a combination of strategic thinking, practical delivery capability, and the ability to lead across multiple functions.
Skills and Experience
- 15+ years of experience in technical or general management roles within a manufacturing, engineering, and advanced technology environment, focused on product development.
- Experience in the battery industry is highly valued.
- Strong background in one or more of the following areas: technical management, product development, and or R&D leadership within an advanced lithium anode / lithium-ion cell environment.
- Experience managing cross-functional teams and coordinating resources in a complex, fast-paced environment.
- Ability to lead both research and development-focused activities.
- Strong organizational skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously.
- Experience translating technical, development, and customer objectives into realisable products.
- Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills.
- Commercial awareness and the ability to balance development with delivery and business needs.
Personal Attributes
- Hands-on and pragmatic
- Strong leadership presence
- Clear communication skills
- Highly organized and delivery-focused
- Comfortable with ambiguity and change
- Collaborative and able to bring teams together.
- Passionate about technology, product development, and customer delivery.
What We Offer
- A competitive salary and benefits package
- The opportunity to work on breakthrough battery technology with real global impact
- A dynamic, international working environment focused on innovation and collaboration
- Strong opportunities for professional growth in a fast-evolving deep-tech sector