SOLV Energy is a leading provider of infrastructure services to the power industry, designing, building and maintaining utility scale solar, battery storage and high voltage substation projects nationwide.
Job Description Summary:
The Director of BESS Augmentation provides strategic and operational leadership for battery energy storage system (BESS) augmentation projects. This position directs Superintendents, works collaboratively with project managers, oversees portfolio-level planning and execution, and ensures safe, timely, profitable delivery of battery capacity additions, replacements, system upgrades, integration, testing, commissioning, and turnover for SOLV and third-party clients.
This role is fully remote. Specific location details and expectations will be discussed during the interview process.
Job Description:
- This job description reflects management's assignment of essential functions; it does not prescribe or restrict the tasks that may be assigned
Position Responsibilities and Duties
- Provide strategic and operational leadership for BESS augmentation programs, Superintendents, and technical teams in partnership with project managers.
- Set portfolio priorities, staffing plans, governance, performance expectations, and augmentation strategies.
- Direct safe field execution, outage and resource planning, subcontractor coordination, quality, schedule, testing, commissioning, and turnover.
- Partner with project managers on budgets, procurement, contracts, schedules, forecasts, risks, change control, and closeout.
- Review portfolio safety, quality, schedule, cost, margin, technical risk, commissioning readiness, customer commitments, and corrective actions.
- Develop leaders and technical personnel through coaching, training, succession planning, and performance management.
- Coordinate with internal teams, OEMs, integrators, utilities, contractors, and clients to align execution and resolve escalated issues.
- Standardize project controls, reporting, installation and commissioning practices, and lessons learned to improve consistency and profitability.
- Lead BESS safety planning and compliance, including electrical safe work, lockout/tagout, energized work, emergency response, environmental requirements, and OEM procedures.
- Support estimating, scope development, procurement, and vendor quotations for batteries, enclosures, power conversion, transformers, controls, HVAC, fire systems, cabling, and related upgrades.
- Oversee installation and integration of BESS electrical, mechanical, controls, communications, thermal-management, and fire-protection systems.
- Support operating sites with augmentation planning, capacity restoration, compatibility assessments, troubleshooting, and execution.
- Lead cross-functional resolution of battery, OEM, firmware, controls, and balance-of-system issues through documented ownership and closure.
- Review forecasts, profit and loss, estimating accuracy, contingency, and margin-improvement actions.
- Maintain lifecycle oversight from opportunity qualification and feasibility through design, procurement, installation, commissioning, turnover, and closeout.
- Develop BESS augmentation, optimization, reliability, and lifecycle-service opportunities with Business Development, Asset Management, and project teams.
- Train regional teams and improve safety, constructability, repeatability, schedule, cost, quality, and operational performance.
- Travel at least 30% to support projects, sites, clients, and team development.
- Maintain relevant professional and technical knowledge.
- Complete other responsibilities as assigned.
Key Performance Indicators:
- Safety and Compliance: Achieve zero preventable recordable incidents and 100% completion of required safety audits, training, corrective actions, and compliance reviews within assigned due dates.
- Portfolio Financial Performance: Deliver the BESS Augmentation portfolio within approved budgets and forecasts, meet or exceed annual margin targets, and maintain forecast accuracy within ±5%.
- Schedule and Delivery: Complete at least 90% of projects and major milestones on or ahead of the approved baseline schedule, with recovery plans documented for material variances.
- Quality and Rework: Maintain a first-pass quality acceptance rate of at least 95% and keep rework costs below 2% of annual project revenue.
- Client and Owner Engagement: Conduct at least one strategic job-site visit or business review per quarter for each priority client or owner account, with documented needs, commitments, and follow-up actions.
- Client Satisfaction and Retention: Achieve an average client satisfaction rating of at least 4.5 out of 5 and support a client retention or repeat-business rate of at least 90%.
- Risk and Corrective-Action Management: Escalate material safety, client, schedule, and financial risks within one business day and close at least 90% of corrective actions by their agreed due dates.
- Workforce and Succession: Maintain documented development plans for 100% of direct reports, complete quarterly talent reviews, and identify at least one succession candidate for each critical leadership role.
- Operational Improvement: Implement at least three measurable process improvements annually that improve safety, cycle time, quality, scalability, or profitability.
Minimum Skills or Experience Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in engineering, construction management, business, or a related discipline preferred; equivalent BESS leadership experience may be considered.
- Progressive leadership experience in utility-scale BESS, power generation, electrical construction, commissioning, operations and maintenance, or a related technical-services environment.
- Experience leading managers, Superintendents, field teams, subcontractors, and multiple concurrent BESS augmentation projects.
- Advanced knowledge of BESS governance, estimating, budgeting, forecasting, scheduling, procurement, contracts, outage planning, risk, change control, commissioning, and financial performance.
- Strong commercial judgment and experience partnering with clients, owners, Estimating, and project management to develop solutions, define executable scopes, and support sound investment and delivery decisions.
- Ability to communicate strategy, priorities, performance, and risk effectively to executives, clients, and cross-functional stakeholders.
- Advanced knowledge of battery systems, power conversion, transformers, switchgear, protection and controls, communications, HVAC, and fire detection and suppression.