Principal Engineer, Asset Management

NextGenEnergyJobs; New York (NY); On-site; USD 140,000 - 205,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, and vision insurance

401(k) plan with 3% employer match

LifeTime Fitness corporate membership

Monthly commuter stipend

Learning and education stipend

Flexible PTO policy

Regular company events

Job summary

Orenda is seeking a Principal Engineer to act as the fleet's technical conscience within the Asset Management department, ensuring long-term health, safety, and engineering integrity of every Orenda BESS asset from acceptance to decommissioning.

Reporting to the Director of Asset Management, you will build the technical foundation with failure mode analyses and alarm philosophy, develop master maintenance plans, and codify the safety program and test protocols for enforceable performance

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering or closely related field.
• 10+ years in power systems engineering across generation, storage, or transmission & distribution, including senior authority roles.
• Demonstrated depth in protection and coordination studies, arc-flash analyses, one-line designs, MV switchgear.
• Familiarity with NEC, IEEE 1547, UL 9540/9540A, NFPA 855/70E/70B codes.
• Led FMEA/RCM programs, alarm rationalization and root-cause investigations.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the fleet's technical conscience and independent authority for asset health, safety, and engineering integrity from acceptance to decommissioning.
• Build the technical foundation: failure mode analysis, alarm philosophy, maintenance plans, safety program, and test protocols.
• Collaborate with Engineer of Record and OEMs to ensure robust engineering standards across the fleet.

Skills

Power systems engineering

Protection studies

ARC flash analyses

Field experience

Python/SQL for analytics

Education

Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering

Tools

CMMS

Python

SQL

Job description

Orenda is on a mission to make the grid more efficient with renewable energy projects and proprietary asset management technology.

Key Responsibilities

• The Principal Engineer is the fleet's technical conscience. As the independent, senior most engineering authority of the Asset Management department, you ensure the long term health, safety, and engineering integrity of every Orenda BESS assets: the ultimate technical steward from asset acceptance through decommissioning. Your sign off is binding: no asset enters the fleet, no maintenance program governs it, and no engineering change touches it without your approval. Reporting to the Director of Asset Management, you build the technical foundation from zero: the failure mode analysis and alarm philosophy the command center runs on, the master maintenance plans the field executes, the departmental safety program every crew works under, and the test protocols that make our performance guarantees enforceable against OEMs. You cross check the Engineer of Record and the equipment OEMs and catch what they miss.
• This role is ideal for: a senior power systems engineer who has caught what the EOR missed, builds maintenance programs from failure modes rather than vendor brochures, and wants their engineering judgment to be the standard an entire fleet is run by.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering or a closely related engineering field.
• 10+ years in power systems engineering across generation, storage, or transmission & distribution, including 3+ years as a senior or final technical authority: owner's engineer, lead/chief engineer, or design review sign-off responsibility where your judgment was the deciding word.
• Demonstrated engineering depth, not familiarity: has performed or authoritatively reviewed protection and coordination studies, arc-flash analyses, one-line designs, and MV switchgear applications and can defend that work under challenge.
• Working command of the codes and standards that govern this fleet: NEC (NFPA 70), IEEE 1547, UL 9540/9540A, and NFPA 855/70E/70B.
• Reliability methods in practice: has personally led FMEA/RCM programs, alarm rationalization, and root-cause investigations through to implemented corrective action.
• Commissioning or test protocol experience producing contractually enforceable results: acceptance testing, witness authority, or performance baselines that survived OEM dispute.
• Genuine field presence: substantial time on energized MV equipment and operating sites; comfortable being the engineer the crew calls from the field.
• Professional Engineer (PE) license strongly preferred; New York licensure a plus
• Utility scale or distributed BESS commissioning or operations experience
• NYISO / VDER technical familiarity (interconnection, dispatch, and metering constructs)
• CMMS implementation experience; Python or SQL for engineering analytics
• Previously built an engineering function, standards library, or maintenance program from scratch
• At Orenda, you’ll help build the real-world infrastructure that makes the energy transition possible.
• You’ll join a mission-driven culture that values ownership, accountability, continuous learning, high performance, and genuine collaboration. We work hard, move quickly, and enjoy doing it together.
• In addition to the chance to do important work with a great team, Orenda offers a competitive compensation package designed to attract and retain top talent:
• Base Salary: The anticipated base salary range for this full-time position in New York City is $140,000-$205,000 per year. The final base salary will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the successful candidate's relevant experience, skills, and qualifications.
• Bonus: In addition to the base salary, this role is eligible for a significant annual performance-based bonus.
• Health, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) plan, with 3% employer match
• LifeTime Fitness corporate membership
• Monthly commuter stipend
• Learning and education stipend
• Flexible Paid Time Off (PTO) policy
• Regular company events