Develop optimisation-based energy management and control for maritime batteries and fuel cells to improve efficiency, safety and lifetime within the NWO SEANERGETIC project.
Job description
Are you motivated to develop advanced control and optimisation methods that accelerate the transition toward zero-emission shipping?
We are looking for a highly motivated Postdoctoral Researcher to join the Maritime & Transport Technology (MTT) department at TU Delft within the NWO KIC project SEANERGETIC (Ship system expanded energy storage devices lifetime via AI-empowered control).
SEANERGETIC aims to make electrochemical energy storage systems (batteries and fuel cells) economically and environmentally viable for maritime applications by leveraging operational data and hybrid modelling approaches. The project focuses on extending lifetime, improving efficiency, ensuring safety, and enabling circular use of energy storage technologies.
This position contributes to Work Package 3: Energy, Health and Safety Management and Sizing Optimization. You will work within the Sustainable Drive and Energy Systems group at TU Delft, in close collaboration with industrial partners and data owners in the SEANERGETIC consortium.
Your main tasks will include:
- Developing optimisation-based energy management strategies for hybrid and full-electric vessels, with explicit constraints on safety, efficiency and component limits.
- Designing and evaluating predictive control approaches (e.g., MPC/stochastic MPC) for real-time power split between batteries, fuel cells, and auxiliaries.
- Integrating battery and fuel cell health indicators (SoC/SoH, thermal constraints, degradation proxies) into control and decision-making.
- Formulating and solving multi-objective optimisation problems (e.g., efficiency vs lifetime vs availability), including Pareto analysis and sensitivity studies.
- Contributing to sizing optimisation of batteries and fuel cells using operational profiles and lifecycle objectives, linking design choices to operational control policies.
- Validating methods on real-world datasets and, where applicable, demonstrator environments with consortium partners.
- Publishing results in high-impact journals and conferences, and contributing to project deliverables.
The position offers a unique opportunity to work at the interface of control engineering, optimisation, and maritime energy systems, with direct impact on reduced CAPEX/OPEX and extended lifetime of energy storage devices.
Job requirements
We are looking for an outstanding and enthusiastic postdoctoral candidate with a strong background in control engineering, optimisation, and energy management for electrochemical energy systems.
The ideal candidate should hold a PhD (or is close to completion) in control engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, maritime engineering, applied mathematics, or a related field.
Moreover, the candidate should demonstrate experience with at least one of the following:
- Model Predictive Control (MPC) / stochastic MPC / constrained control
- Optimal control and mathematical optimisation (convex optimisation, nonlinear programming, dynamic programming)
- Energy Management Systems (EMS) for hybrid powertrains and/or microgrids
- Battery and/or fuel cell modelling, including operational constraints and degradation-aware control
The ideal candidate has strong programming skills in Python and/or MATLAB and is comfortable working with real operational datasets.
The candidate must be able to work independently while collaborating effectively within a multidisciplinary consortium of academic and industrial partners and communicates clearly and professionally in English.
Experience with maritime hybrid energy systems is considered a strong plus, but it is not a strict requirement.
TU Delft (Delft University of Technology)
Delft University of Technology is built on strong foundations. As creators of the world-famous Dutch waterworks and pioneers in biotech, TU Delft is a top international university combining science, engineering and design. It delivers world class results in education, research and innovation to address challenges in the areas of energy, climate, mobility, health and digital society. For generations, our engineers have proven to be entrepreneurial problem-solvers, both in business and in a social context.
At TU Delft we embrace diversity as one of our core values and we actively engage to be a university where you feel at home and can flourish. We value different perspectives and qualities. We believe this makes our work more innovative, the TU Delft community more vibrant and the world more just. Together, we imagine, invent and create solutions using technology to have a positive impact on a global scale. That is why we invite you to apply. Your application will receive fair consideration.
Challenge. Change. Impact!
Faculty Mechanical Engineering
From chip to ship. From machine to human being. From idea to solution. Driven by a deep-rooted desire to understand our environment and discover its underlying mechanisms, research and education at the ME faculty focusses on fundamental understanding, design, production including application and product improvement, materials, processes and (mechanical) systems.
ME is a dynamic and innovative faculty with high-tech lab facilities and international reach. It’s a large faculty but also versatile, so we can often make unique connections by combining different disciplines. This is reflected in ME’s outstanding, state-of-the-art education, which trains students to become responsible and socially engaged engineers and scientists. We translate our knowledge and insights into solutions to societal issues, contributing to a sustainable society and to the development of prosperity and well-being. That is what unites us in pioneering research, inspiring education and (inter)national cooperation.
Click here to go to the website of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. Do you want to experience working at our faculty? These videos will introduce you to some of our researchers and their work.
Conditions of employment
- This is a full-time, temporary postdoctoral position (1.0 FTE) for 18 months, with an intended start in Q2/Q3 2026. The position is funded through the NWO KIC project SEANERGETIC (Budget 15171) and falls under salary scale 10 (CAO-NU), depending on experience.
- Duration of contract is 1,5 year Temporary
- A job of 36-40 hours per week.
- Salary and benefits are in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities.
- An excellent pension scheme via the ABP.
- The possibility to compile an individual employment package every year.
- Discount with health insurers on supplemental packages.
- Flexible working week.
- Every year, 232 leave hours (at 38 hours). You can also sell or buy additional leave hours via the individual choice budget.
- Plenty of opportunities for education, training and courses.
- Partially paid parental leave
- Attention for working healthy and energetically with the vitality program.
Will you need to relocate to the Netherlands for this job? TU Delft is committed to make your move as smooth as possible! The HR unit, Coming to Delft Service, offers information on their website to help you prepare your relocation. In addition, Coming to Delft Service organises events to help you settle in the Netherlands, and expand your (social) network in Delft. A Dual Career Programme is available, to support your accompanying partner with their job search in the Netherlands. .
Additional information
For more information about this position, please contact Dr Andrea Coraddu (a.coraddu@tudelft.nl), Department of Maritime & Transport Technology, TU Delft.
Interviews may be held on a rolling basis until the position is filled.
Application procedure
Are you interested in this vacancy? Please apply no later than 6 May 2026 via the application button and upload the following documents:
You can address your application to Dr. Andrea Coraddu.
Please note:
- You can apply online. We will not process applications sent by email and/or post.
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