Extreme-Scale, Nano & Fundamental Engineering
/Individual contributor at the frontier
Senior Nano Engineer
Several nanoscale programmes at once, and the maturity claims made about all of them.
Compensation
Engagement
Full-Time
Permanent role. Full-time commitment. This is an on-site role at Kolkata. It is not remote and not hybrid.
Scope of role
Own complex problems end-to-end. Set technical direction. Mentor mid and junior teammates.
Research classification
Engineering to a specification, on established science, for something that has to work. Designs, analyses against requirements, test evidence, and maintainable engineering artefacts.
Established science. Rests on settled physics and engineering. The work applies it; it is not what is under test here.
Scale range 10^-9 m to 10^-6 m
This band is real, fabricated and measured every day, and it is also the band most often oversold. A nanomaterial that performs in a characterisation run has not been manufactured at scale, and a device concept that simulates well has not been built. Work from this division states plainly which of the three it is: modelled, made once, or made repeatably. Scientific integrity is a condition of every role in this department. Assumptions are stated separately from conclusions. Uncertainty is reported. Negative and inconclusive results are written up, not discarded. Speculative work is labelled speculative, including when that makes it less impressive. Fabrication, falsification, and presenting a simulation as a measurement end an engagement here.
Scale bands are a research classification, not a claim of experimental reach. Most of this span cannot be probed by any apparatus that exists: nothing below about 10^-19 m has been measured directly, and anything at 10^26 m or beyond is inferred from observation rather than engineered. Every opportunity states the kind of work it actually is.
01 — The role
Why this role exists at EduRankAI
Department of Extreme-Scale, Nano & Fundamental Engineering, Division D05: Nano Engineering & Nanotechnology. This division designs nanoscale systems, models the materials they are made of, develops device concepts, and analyses characterisation data. Fabrication and characterisation are carried out with accredited partner facilities; this division does not claim to own a cleanroom. This position: Several nanoscale programmes at once, and the maturity claims made about all of them. Scale range for this work: 10^-9 m to 10^-6 m. Research classification: Applied engineering. Engineering to a specification, on established science, for something that has to work. Evidential standing: Established science. Rests on settled physics and engineering. The work applies it; it is not what is under test here. This band is real, fabricated and measured every day, and it is also the band most often oversold. A nanomaterial that performs in a characterisation run has not been manufactured at scale, and a device concept that simulates well has not been built. Work from this division states plainly which of the three it is: modelled, made once, or made repeatably. Scale bands are a research classification, not a claim of experimental reach. Most of this span cannot be probed by any apparatus that exists: nothing below about 10^-19 m has been measured directly, and anything at 10^26 m or beyond is inferred from observation rather than engineered. Every opportunity states the kind of work it actually is. Level 5 (Senior). Several related problems at once, and the technical judgement of less experienced colleagues.
02 — The work
What you will own
- 01 Design nanoscale systems against a stated performance target, not against a general aspiration.
- 02 Model materials and structures, including the fabrication tolerances the design has to survive.
- 03 Develop device concepts and carry them to the point where a partner facility could attempt them.
- 04 Analyse characterisation data and state what each technique can and cannot establish.
- 05 Connect theory, simulation and experiment, and report where they disagree.
- 06 Record process conditions well enough that a result can be attempted again.
- 07 Carry several related problems at once without losing the thread of any of them.
- 08 Raise the technical judgement of less experienced colleagues, in review and in person.
03 — The expertise
What we look for
04 — The bar
Who thrives here
- → Education: Doctorate or an equivalent research record.
- → Experience: 6 to 10 years, including work that other people have built on.
- → Scope of the role: Several related problems at once, and the technical judgement of less experienced colleagues.
- → Must have: Can explain why a property changes when a material is made small, in terms of surface-to-volume ratio or quantum confinement. Also: Has interpreted characterisation data — microscopy, diffraction or spectroscopy — and can state what the technique cannot tell you.
- → Portfolio: at least one piece of work — code, a written result, a thesis chapter, a preprint — that somebody outside your institution can read and assess. It does not need to be published.
Terms of Engagement
How working time works at this level
No counted hours. A five-day week with a four-hour overlap window so colleagues can reach you, and objectives agreed for the cycle.
Type
Senior
Working days
5 per week
Rest days
2 per week
Hours counted
No
Daily overlap
4h
Measured by
Objectives agreed for the cycle, the quality of the judgement calls, and the people the work makes better. Not attendance.
Where this stands legally
Hours are not counted at this level. The statutory ceiling of 9 hours a day and 48 a week remains the limit the role is designed to fit inside: if the work cannot be done within a normal week, the scope is wrong, not the person.
The full per-level model is published at Working Hours by Level.
05 — Hiring process
What to expect after you apply
- 01
Application review
Every application is read personally within five business days. We respond either way.
- 02
Take-home or live exercise
Role-specific. Time-boxed. Real problems we are actually working on, not invented puzzles.
- 03
Conversations
Deep technical and values conversations with the team you would join. No trick questions. No panel ambushes.
- 04
Offer or honest no
If yes: digital offer letter, signed in-portal, transparent terms. If no: written feedback if you want it.
The standard
What you deliver, and how it is judged
Deliverables
- Designs with tolerances, expected performance, and the fabrication route assumed.
- Characterisation analyses with what the technique establishes stated separately from what is inferred.
- Process records complete enough for a repeat attempt by somebody else.
- An explicit statement of maturity: modelled, made once, or made repeatably.
Evaluation criteria
- Whether the design accounts for real fabrication tolerance rather than ideal geometry.
- Whether characterisation claims are supported by the technique used.
- Repeatability: does the second sample behave like the first, and is that reported.
- Precision about maturity in every written claim.
Preferred, not required
Nothing in this list is a bar to applying.
Tools you would work in
Reports to: Nano Engineering & Nanotechnology Lead
Works with: D03, D04, D06, D07, D12, D13
Before you start
What we will collect. What it costs. What we will not do with it.
We will collect
- Name, email, phone — Account + application updates. No marketing.
- Resume / portfolio link — Human review of your work.
- Date + place of birth — Identity verification only.
- Your written responses — Selection rubric. Read by humans.
- Government ID (later) — Anti-fraud at offer / interview stage. Not at signup.
We will never
- Sell your data
- Share with third-party recruiters
- Use for advertising
- Train models on it
- Send marketing email
Our situation
EduRankAI is a small, independent organization building long-term capabilities in educational intelligence, advanced AI systems, and research infrastructure. We take no advertiser money, no donations with strings attached, and no investor pressure on hiring decisions. Applying is free, and every application is read by a human — recruitment, technical, academic and leadership teams. It buys us the right to be honest.
Ready to apply?
We read every application personally. If you are the right person for this role — regardless of pedigree, background, or where you are based — you will hear back from us within five business days.
Apply through this page. You will be asked for your education, your experience, and links to work we can actually read — a repository, a write-up, a thesis chapter, a preprint. Send the piece of work you would defend, not the one with the best title. If a result in it turned out to be wrong, say so; we would rather read that than not know. Every application is read by a person. We assess applications on evidence of the work. We do not filter on institution, on age, on gender, on caste, on religion, on disability, or on where you are from. If any part of this process is inaccessible to you, tell us and we will change it for you.
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