Head of Performance Engineering (m/w/d)

Silicon Ranch is a fully integrated provider of customized renewable energy, carbon, and battery storage solutions for a diverse set of partners across North America.

We are known for putting community partnerships first, and are the only renewable energy company in the U.S. that owns and operates all of its solar ranches and has a 100% track record for successful delivery.

• We have the largest utility scale agrivoltaics portfolio in the country under Regenerative Energy, our nationally recognized holistic approach to project design, construction, and land management. Our model incorporates regenerative ranching and other regenerative land management practices to restore livelihoods and soil health, biodiversity, and water quality.

Through our subsidiary, Clearloop, we are able to help businesses of all sizes reclaim their carbon footprint with a direct investment in building new solar projects while also helping bring renewable energy and economic development to distressed communities.

By joining Silicon Ranch, you will be joining a team of experienced and dedicated individuals who have proven time and again that it is indeed possible to not only "make solar do more", but to make the promise of carbon-free, renewable energy that benefits people right where it comes from a tangible, measurable, and replicable reality.

Silicon Ranch is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace that is reflective of the communities in which we work and serve. We are an equal opportunity employer and will consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, and other legally protected characteristics.

Job Description

Position: Head of Performance Engineering/Remote Operations

Location: Nashville, TN

Overview: This position is responsible for leading a team of performance engineers, plant operators and software products to analyze and operate Silicon Ranch's solar power plants through monitoring system alerts and operating plant data, and performing engineering reviews of plant equipment to provide actionable insights to internal and external stakeholders.

Main Responsibilities

Team Leadership & Development

• Manages the day-to-day tasks of the Silicon Ranch Remote Operations Team members.
• Coordinates team priorities and sets tasks and goals for each member, ensuring alignment with company objectives.
• Reviews team member deliverables/goals and provides constructive feedback focused on professional improvement and growth.
• Mentors Remote Operations team members on technical skills and soft skills needed to communicate effectively with stakeholders.
• Identifies and assigns special projects and alarm/analysis tool creations needed to support better fleet performance management.

Performance Analysis & Optimization

• Leads analysis of data from solar and battery facilities to find trends and determine root causes of equipment failures.
• Leads multiple key areas of performance management/analysis with a focus on providing information that drives effective decisions.
• Leads support initiatives for Asset Management and Operations Teams with data and analysis to enable decision-making.
• Oversees the process for calculating energy losses caused by equipment outages, determines the impact of those outages, and trends related failure modes.
• Leads identification and development of key analyses for execution across the Silicon Ranch fleet.

Issue Escalation & Resolution

• Leads escalation of performance drivers with internal Asset Management and Operations Teams and third-party providers as needed.
• Identifies complex issues within the SRC portfolio, escalating issues for support as needed, while also leading identification of the most complex issues across the fleet.
• Leads development of processes and procedures to ensure quick identification and possible resolution of issues on the portion of the portfolio under management.

Automation & Reporting

• Manages a large volume of trackers and platforms to monitor issues and analyze data, constantly aiming to improve and automate analysis tasks.
• Leads SRC's continued automation effort within our data lake and Power BI reporting platform.
• Prepares and oversees the preparation of periodic reports to internal and external stakeholders.

Compliance & SOP Management

• Leads creation and updates of SOPs regarding monitoring and operations for NERC reporting support and TOP alerts/notifications (e.g., substation shutdowns, maintenance, forced outages, voltage regulations, breaker operations, functionality testing).
• Trains and develops Remote Operations Center operators in NERC/CIP operations for solar and BESS plants.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Engineering or Science required.
• Advanced skills with Microsoft Excel required.
• Experience with coding (Python, R, or a comparable platform), power systems engineering, electrical engineering, or solar performance engineering required.
• Experience with Fabric/Azure required.
• Intermediate knowledge of how solar systems are installed and operated is required.
• Expert knowledge of how solar systems (ideally) or power systems are installed and operated is required.

Experience

• 5+ years professional experience in power generation system design, development, construction, operation preferred with 3+ years required in Solar and/or Battery systems.
• 3 years of work experience analyzing data from power generation equipment or other manufacturing process data is highly desired but not required. Renewable energy systems data analysis is a plus.
• 3+ year management experience required with a preference for experience leading engineering or other technically focused team.
• 1+ year of power generation fleet operations / monitoring center experience is a plus with a preference for renewables experience.

Our interview process

A typical interview process at Silicon Ranch might include the below stages. Please note that we may make changes to these steps as needed, and details will be provided to you early on in the process.

1. Introductory Interview with our recruiter
2. Hiring Manager Interview to dive into technical skills and behavioral questions
3. Panel Interview to assess cross-functional skills and dive deeper into technical skills
4. Executive Interview to answer high-level questions about SRC and the team