As Scout's Associate Director, Power Systems Engineering, you will lead the company's Power Systems Engineering function and serve as Scout's senior technical authority for electrical systems across utility-scale wind, solar, and battery energy storage projects. You will act as both an individual contributor, with subject matter expertise in electrical engineering, and as a team leader with up to 5 direct reports.
This role is responsible for establishing and maintaining technical specifications, governing electrical system design, supporting project execution, and ensuring operational readiness of Scout's projects in Development and Construction. Your team will provide subject matter expertise for major power system equipment, including wind turbine generators, solar modules, inverters, battery energy storage systems (BESS), power conversion systems (PCS), transformers, breakers, protection systems, SCADA systems, power plant control systems, substations, and transmission lines.
The Associate Director will lead a multidisciplinary team consisting of Electrical Engineering, SCADA, Commissioning, and QA/QC professionals, and will serve as the primary technical interface between Preconstruction, Construction, Interconnection, Asset Management & Operations, Utilities, OEMs, EPC contractors, and third-party consultants.
This role does not perform detailed engineering design but participates in multidisciplinary design reviews with third‑party Owner's Engineers. This role will guide QA/QC and FAT programs, resolve technical RFIs/NCRs, and oversee commissioning and operations handover - while developing standards, mentoring engineers, and scaling best practices across a growing IPP with an entrepreneurial culture.
Your attention to detail and ability to concurrently drive multiple work streams forward on time will be key to your success. Your technical knowledge and experience interfacing with internal and external project execution teams on renewable energy projects will be widely valued in this role.
Travel to project sites within the United States and Canada is expected during project construction, commissioning, and major operational events. Remote candidates will be expected to be in the Boulder office one week per month. This role reports to the Senior Director of Engineering.
What You'll Do
Leadership & Team Management
- Directly lead, manage, and develop Scout's Power Systems Engineering team.
- Current direct reports are expected to include:
o Senior QA/QC Engineer
o SCADA & Commissioning Engineering Manager
o SCADA & Commissioning Engineer
o Power Systems Engineer (BESS & Power Conversion Systems)
- Establish annual goals, performance expectations, development plans, and career progression pathways for direct reports.
- Conduct regular coaching, mentoring, performance reviews, and succession planning activities.
- Lead workforce planning, recruiting, interviewing, hiring, onboarding, and retention of technical talent.
- Assign resources across projects and initiatives to ensure effective utilization and alignment with company priorities.
- Foster a collaborative, high-performance culture centered on technical excellence, accountability, innovation, and safety.
- Establish team metrics, KPIs, and operating procedures to ensure consistent execution and continuous improvement.
- Provide leadership during critical project milestones, major equipment failures, grid events, and commissioning activities.
- Build strong working relationships with department heads across the organization and executive leadership.
Power System Design Governance
Provide technical oversight and governance for the design and implementation of:
- Collection systems
- Substations
- Transmission interconnection facilities
- Protection and control systems
- Plant SCADA systems
- Plant Power Controllers (PPC)
- Energy Management Systems (EMS)
- Utility communication systems
- Operational technology (OT) networks
Responsibilities include:
- Establishing technical standards and design philosophies.
- Reviewing critical electrical design decisions and major design deviations.
- Ensuring compliance with utility, interconnection, operational, and company requirements.
- Supporting consistency and standardization across Scout's project portfolio.
- Capturing and integrating lessons learned into future projects and standards.
Protection & Controls Leadership
Serve as Scout's primary subject matter expert for protection and control systems.
Responsibilities include:
- Establishing protection philosophies and standards.
- Reviewing relay settings packages and protection coordination studies.
- Supporting utility and transmission provider compliance requirements.
- Overseeing protection system testing and validation during commissioning.
- Providing technical leadership related to:
o Protective relaying
o RTAC systems
o Automation systems
o Revenue metering
o Disturbance monitoring systems
o Utility communications
- Supporting investigations of protection events, maloperations, and system disturbances.
SCADA, PPC & Digital Systems Leadership
Through direct leadership and oversight of the SCADA& Commissioning Engineering Manager, provide technical ownership and governance for:
- Plant SCADA systems
- PPC architecture and integration
- Data acquisition systems
- Utility SCADA interfaces
- Telemetry systems
- Remote control systems
- Alarm management strategies
- Operational technology infrastructure
- Fleet monitoring and reporting systems
Responsibilities include:
- Establishing technical standards and architecture requirements.
- Supporting SCADA and PPC implementation and commissioning.
- Ensuring operational data quality and controls functionality.
- Partnering with Asset Management & Operations team to improve fleet compliance and operational visibility.
Commissioning & Grid Integration
Through direct leadership and oversight of the SCADA & Commissioning Engineering Manager, lead technical oversight of commissioning and grid integration activities across Scout's portfolio.
Responsibilities include:
- Establishing commissioning standards and best practices.
- Reviewing and approving commissioning plans and test procedures.
- Supporting major equipment energization activities.
- Overseeing:
o Substation commissioning
o Collection system energization
o Protection testing
o SCADA integration
o PPC testing and tuning
o Utility witness testing
o Performance and reliability testing
- Ensuring projects achieve operational readiness and Commercial Operation Date (COD) requirements.
Electrical Equipment, Quality & Reliability Leadership
Through direct leadership and oversight of the Senior QA/QC Engineer, establish and maintain programs that ensure the quality, performance, reliability, and operational readiness of Scout's electrical assets throughout their lifecycle.
Serve as Scout's technical owner and subject matter expert for major electrical equipment and systems across the portfolio, including:
- Wind turbine generators (WTGs)
- Solar modules
- Inverters
- Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS)
- Power Conversion Systems (PCS)
- Medium-voltage transformers
- Main Power Transformers (MPTs)
- Collector system equipment
- Switchgear and circuit breakers
- Protection relays
- Revenue metering systems
- Substation and transmission facilities
Responsibilities include:
- Technology evaluation, proposal review, and technical due diligence.
- Equipment qualification, vendor assessments, and technical specification development.
- Fleet standardization and continuous improvement initiatives.
- Oversight of Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT), Site Acceptance Testing (SAT), and quality verification programs.
- Management of field quality inspections, contractor quality performance, and NCR processes.
- Failure investigations, root cause analyses, corrective action implementation, and warranty support.
- Development and maintenance of equipment-specific standards, inspection requirements, and quality procedures.
- Capturing and applying lessons learned from construction, commissioning, operational events, and equipment failures.
- Supporting Asset Management & Operations in resolving complex equipment issues and executing reliability improvement programs.
Asset Performance & Operational Support
Provide advanced technical support to Asset Management & Operations throughout the operating life of Scout's assets.
Responsibilities include:
- Troubleshooting major electrical equipment issues.
- Supporting reliability improvement projects.
- Investigating grid events and protection operations.
- Resolving SCADA and PPC performance issues.
- Supporting BESS operational challenges.
- Identifying fleet-wide trends and improvement opportunities.
- Maintaining technical continuity from development through operations.
Stakeholder Communication & Governance
- Lead technical communication with EPC contractors, OEMs, utilities, consultants, and transmission providers.
- Communicate technical risks, opportunities, and mitigation plans across project teams.
- Maintain and govern company standards, specifications, and engineering documentation.
- Partner with Preconstruction, Construction, Interconnection, and Asset Management & Operations teams to ensure alignment throughout the project lifecycle.
Other Responsibilities
Scout is a dynamic and growing organization. Based upon business priorities and organizational needs, your manager may assign additional responsibilities focused on improving Scout's technical capabilities and organizational effectiveness.