Research Engineer/Customer Success Engineer

Description

With the mission of "accelerating materials discovery for a sustainable future", PFCC provides Matlantis™, a versatile calculation engine, to help customers accelerate the development of new materials and elucidate their mechanisms.

Traditionally, first-principles calculations do not allow performing a large number of trials due to their massive computational cost. In the materials industry, it is common to first discover materials through experimentation and then via first-principles calculations to elucidate phenomena at a later stage.

The versatility and speed of Matlantis can be used to shorten the time required to validate experimental results in a variety of areas and to present promising candidate materials before experimentation.




PFCC offers Matlantis as SaaS. Not only do we sell software licenses but also accompany our clients to achieve meaningful results by using Matlantis. We provide support for how to use Matlantis, but we also conduct professional technical explanations such as discussions on modeling and simulation methods and case validations. Moreover, we support the promotion of customers' digital transformation (DX).

Since the start of our business in July 2021, we have received interest from customers in various industries. We are addressing cutting-edge challenges in all aspects, including target materials, phenomena, and computational methods.

We look forward to applications from enthusiastic individuals who want to learn and advance their work in this challenging environment.

Responsibilities

※The actual work will be divided among the team according to your experience and abilities, chosen from the following:

• Research and implementation of computational chemistry methods:
  You will conduct research and implementation of physical and chemical simulation methods (such as molecular dynamics, Monte Carlo, reaction pathway analysis, metadynamics, etc.) for various materials. You will create case studies for conference presentations, paper submissions, customer support, and marketing purposes and appropriately publish these. You will lead joint research with research institutions such as universities.
• Leading customer success meetings:
  Understand customers' challenges and propose and discuss the most effective simulation technologies and workflows tailored to their needs.
• Pre-sales activities/clarifying technical issues for potential customers:
  Provide technical explanations of the product to potential customers. Through effective dialogue, identify the problems customers are facing and develop hypotheses for solving them.
• Establishing a presence in the industry:
  Participate in conferences and exhibitions, gain leads through presentations, showcase technical capabilities, and promote building personal networks.
• Collaboration with the product development team:
  Act as a bridge to accurately convey feedback from customers to the product development team and reflect it in product improvements. Go beyond simple information sharing by understanding and communicating underlying needs.

Requirements

Minimum

• Knowledge equivalent to a postgraduate degree in physics, chemistry, or materials science
• Deep experience/knowledge in a specific materials field
• Programming skills using Python
• Fulfill one or more of the following:
  • Experience in computational chemistry, such as deep knowledge or practical use of simulation techniques like quantum chemistry calculations, molecular dynamics, classical force field calculation methods, Monte Carlo methods, reaction pathway search calculations, crystal structure search calculations, etc.
  • Data analysis skills using machine learning and statistical analysis tools (e.g., NumPy, pandas, scikit-learn)

Preferred

• Research and development and paper writing experience related to physical simulation
• Research and development and paper writing experience in the fields of cheminformatics or materials informatics
• Knowledge and proficiency in computational chemistry software and auxiliary tools
• Experience using Atomic Simulation Environment, LAMMPS, GAUSSIAN, VASP, etc.
• Experience tracking trends in the latest papers and conducting replication studies
• Willingness to constantly learn new domain knowledge and actively engage in discussions
• Communication skills and teamwork mindset to facilitate smooth collaboration with customers, internal stakeholders, and partners
• Enthusiasm for market expansion and development
• Skills for discussing with customers in English, as well as reading and writing English documents
• Skills for discussing with customers in Japanese, as well as reading and writing Japanese documents

Required documents in addition to a resume

• Nothing

Appeal

• Opportunity to be involved in high social impact work, such as material development for achieving SDGs
• Engagement with cutting-edge challenges faced by top companies in various industries
• Large scope of responsibility and autonomy in a small startup
• Opportunity to contribute as a stakeholder in the growth of a startup
• Contribution to spreading software originating in Japan to the world

Type of Employment

Full-time employee: a probationary period of 3 months (same terms and conditions as the primary employment)

*Employment as a full-time employee is limited to residents of Japan.

Location

• Tokyo - Japan
• WFH available within Japan

Work schedule

• Saturdays, Sundays, national holidays, national holidays, other (congratulation, condolence, year-end and New Year holidays)
• Full flextime system (no core time)
• Remote work is possible.
• Annual paid leave system by our company's regulations.

Compensation

• Compensation based on experience, performance, ability, and contribution
• Reviewed twice a year
• In addition to base salary, bonuses based on company performance and individual performance (twice a year, in April and October)
• Transportation expenses paid (maximum 150,000 yen/month actual expenses paid; if exceeding the limit, a consultation will be required)

Welfare

• Social insurance (employee pension insurance, health insurance, unemployment insurance, worker's accident compensation insurance)
• Paid vacations, maternity leave, childcare leave, congratulation or condolence leave, etc.
• Periodic health checkups
• Subsidy for purchase of laptop PC
• Smaller Enterprise Retirement Allowance Mutual Aid System