Technical Director jobs in Lowell, MA

New Leaf Energy is seeking a Technical Director, Utility-Scale to join our growing team. In this role you will help drive progress toward transmission-connected solar and storage projects larger than 20 MW across the United States. The Utility-Scale Team  is responsible for determining the strategy for our utility-scale business and will drive the work conducted by SMEs across multiple technical teams in pursuit of that strategy.

A key area for this role is strategic program management in support of utility-scale development activities, including technical resource management, interdisciplinary coordination and communication, process development, and change management.

Ideally this position will be filled from a New Leaf office location, although we will consider remote applicants. This position will report to the Executive Vice President of Engineering.

Position responsibilities will include, but are not limited to: 

• Strong focus on process development, entrepreneurial problem solving, strategic planning, and continuous improvement to establish and achieve goals for quality, schedule, and financial results of the business;
• Close coordination with the Utility Scale Project Development Lead and other Utility Scale Team members to align as a team with a shared responsibility for developing a strategy and execution plan that results in the successful development of utility-scale projects across the United States, including clear communication of priorities to SMEs;
• Oversee the technical review, risk evaluation, and value engineering assessments for projects under development;
• Provide strategic guidance on transmission and interconnection including management of congestion, curtailment and deliverability studies, taking information about changing grid dynamics and planned transmission upgrades and expansions and translating it into project siting and design recommendations, in collaboration with existing internal and external SMEs;
• Manage the design, permitting, and value engineering / optimization efforts for projects in the prospecting, entitlement and design phases. This work will at times be performed by an internal team, and in other cases sub-contracted;
• Provide oversight of our engineering team’s work in generating preliminary designs, performance models, cost estimates, and both permitting and bid set plans;
• Build a network of subcontractors and a process for engaging those partners as a complement to the strong internal technical team at New Leaf Energy;
• Work with senior management to improve process, efficiency and achieve operational excellence in individual functional areas, utility-scale development business, and for the company overall;
• Assist in developing key performance indicators (KPI’s) to monitor and control the utility-scale business performance, and engage in strategy deployment to deliver on the KPIs;
• Ensure that all business KPIs that are impacted by engineering efforts are understood and tracked on a recurring basis; identify, plan, and implement continuous improvement efforts as needed;
• Build and maintain a company culture of passion, performance and accountability that attracts, retains, and motivates the best qualified employees.

Desired Qualifications 

• 10 years’ experience at the intersection of engineering and business;
• Understanding of the growing importance of transmission system expertise in renewables and storage siting and development, and the ability to translate complicated technical transmission analysis and plans into actionable development guidance;
• Strong program management skills, with an emphasis on managing multiple projects within a portfolio and managing priorities with regular adjustment to new information from the market;
• Knowledge of technical solutions for complex grid interconnections, and understanding of how to coordinate and manage utility and independent system operator (ISO) counterparties from design phase through ISA;
• Understanding of rules and regulations related to technical aspects of PV and storage design - e.g. local and national electric and fire codes, permitting requirements, utility interconnection tariffs, ISO requirements, etc.;
• Exposure to design of Medium and/or High Voltage power systems that include parallel generation and DC subsystems (i.e. PV and/or battery systems);
• Experience coordinating a multidisciplinary team, including navigating different individual team members’ priorities to build alignment across the team;
• Ability and inclination to continually evaluate business needs and practices, successfully facilitating improvements using lean problem solving, standard work, and New Leaf Energy principles;
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to provide leadership alongside peers within the 4-person Regional Team and to the broader Utility Scale team;
• Education Requirements: Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent experience.

Compensation

New Leaf Energy compensates all employees in three ways: market-competitive base salary, plus above-market variable compensation, plus an equity-like program such that all employees experience the benefits of ownership.  We use a data-driven and transparent methodology to calibrate compensation that is externally competitive and internally equitable, guided by the New Leaf Energy compensation manual, which is available to all employees.

Under our compensation framework, the likely base salary range for this position is $161,320 - $183,880. Your actual salary may be above, in, or below this range, depending on your location and experience. Our office locations in Lowell, Boston, Oakland, and Chicago all carry geography-based upward adjustments to the base pay range.

Compensation for this position includes an incentive plan, about which we can go into detail in the interview process.