Lead Plant Controls Engineer — EMS & PPC

Fluidstack; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 330,000 - 390,000; Full time

Job summary

Fluidstack is seeking a senior controls engineer to own the plant controller and EMS for utility-scale hybrid plants with PV, BESS, and thermal generation. You will translate control philosophy into executable sequences, validate with hardware-in-the-loop, and drive end-to-end commissioning across multiple blocks.

You will lead the controls software product lifecycle, interface design between control systems, and on-site tuning to meet stringent frequency and voltage responses.

Qualifications

• Own the plant controller or EMS on a utility-scale hybrid plant with PV, BESS and thermal generation.
• Write sequences of operation for source transitions, blackstart or islanding and validate on-site with energized equipment.
• Ship control software as a product, version-controlled and released to running plants.
• Integrate third-party controllers, then replace with in-house code without outages.
• Design interfaces between control systems with defined data/timing/failure behavior.
• Tune plant performance in the field: frequency/voltage response, ramp rates and load steps.
• Communicate clearly so OEMs, commissioning agents and leaders understand decisions.

Responsibilities

• Own the control stack for fully off-grid campuses, the plant controller, dispatch logic and multi-block scaling.
• Translate control philosophy into sequences of operation and validate via simulation and hardware-in-the-loop.
• Manage the contract between plant and data center, expanding from one plant to many blocks.
• Decide component sourcing and replacement strategy, enforcing vendor conformance.
• Build a controls test capability, plant model library and on-site commissioning processes.
• Lead controls commissioning and tuning in the field, with real AI load profiles.
• Hire and lead controls software and test engineers to scale the stack.

Skills

Plant controller EMS

Source transitions

Islanded operation

Control software as product

RTDS / hardware-in-loop

Tools

FlexGen HybridOS

IEC 61131-3

Job description

Fluidstack is seeking a senior controls engineer to own the plant controller and EMS for utility-scale hybrid plants with PV, BESS, and thermal generation. You will translate control philosophy into executable sequences, validate with hardware-in-the-loop, and drive end-to-end commissioning across multiple blocks.

You will lead the controls software product lifecycle, interface design between control systems, and on-site tuning to meet stringent frequency and voltage responses.