Member of Technical Staff - Grid Services

Emerald AI; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive pay & equity

Flexible location

Collaborative work environment

Impact on sustainable energy

Job summary

Emerald AI is seeking a Software Engineer for the Grid Services team to develop systems that connect data centers with electricity markets. You will work on software that processes grid signals and optimizes data center operations while ensuring compliance with market rules.

This position requires 7+ years of experience in software engineering, particularly in Python and distributed systems. Join us to solve the AI power bottleneck and contribute to a sustainable energy future.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of software engineering experience building production systems in Python.
• Strong experience designing and operating reliable, distributed software systems.
• Experience with cloud infrastructure and containerization.
• Familiarity with SQL and modern data engineering practices.

Responsibilities

• Design and build software integrations with ISOs/RTOs, utilities.
• Develop optimization and control algorithms for data center resources.
• Build forecasting models for electricity demand and grid conditions.
• Translate market rules into operational software.
• Build reliable data pipelines for real-time operational data.
• Own software services from design through deployment.

Skills

Production systems in Python

Distributed software systems

Cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP, Azure)

Containerization (Docker/Kubernetes)

Data pipelines

SQL

Electric utilities knowledge

Excellent communication skills

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s or PhD in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field

Tools

Optimization frameworks (OR-Tools, Gurobi)

Machine learning models

Job description

We’re at a pivotal moment for AI and energy. Demand for compute is skyrocketing, but power constraints are becoming a critical bottleneck. Emerald AI sits at the intersection of these two worlds, enabling AI data centers to scale without overwhelming the grid.

Our Emerald Conductor software platform makes data centers flexible and responsive, allowing them to adjust power usage dynamically. This unlocks massive AI growth without major new infrastructure, while also strengthening the grid and supporting the expansion of renewable energy.

We’re a team of experts across AI, cloud, software, and energy—on a mission to scale AI sustainably. We’re backed by leading investors and partners including Radical Ventures and NVIDIA.

Learn more about our vision, team, and backers at https://www.emeraldai.co/.

About the Role

The Grid Services team builds the intelligence that connects Emerald Conductor to the electric grid. As a Software Engineer on the Grid Services team, you will develop systems that enable data centers to participate in wholesale electricity markets and demand response programs. You will build software that ingests grid and market signals, forecasts system behavior, determines available load flexibility, and executes reliable dispatch across utilities, ISOs/RTOs, and energy market operators.

This role combines distributed systems engineering with optimization, forecasting, and energy market expertise. Much of the challenge lies in translating complex market rules—including capacity accreditation, baseline methodologies, settlement, and performance requirements—into reliable production software. Small implementation mistakes can have significant operational and financial consequences.

As one of the early engineers on the team, you will help define the architecture, own major technical decisions, and work closely with control systems, platform, and AI infrastructure teams to turn grid-side decisions into real‑world data center actions.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and build software integrations with ISOs/RTOs, utilities, aggregators, and demand response platforms.
• Develop optimization and control algorithms that determine when and how data center resources—compute workloads, on‑site generation, and storage—are dispatched in response to grid signals.
• Build forecasting models for electricity demand, data center load, prices, and grid conditions to support market participation and dispatch decision.
• Translate wholesale market and demand response program rules—including capacity accreditation, baselines, measurement & verification (M&V), settlement, and compliance—into operational software.
• Build reliable data pipelines that ingest, validate, and process real‑time operational and market data.
• Own software services from design through deployment, monitoring, and long‑term operation.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of software engineering experience building production systems in Python.
• Strong experience designing and operating reliable, distributed software systems where correctness and availability are critical.
• Experience with cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP, or Azure), containerization (Docker/Kubernetes), and CI/CD pipelines.
• Experience building data pipelines and working with large‑scale operational data.
• Familiarity with SQL and modern data engineering practices.
• Experience in electric utilities, ISOs/RTOs, wholesale electricity markets, demand response, or adjacent energy systems.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills.
• Bachelor's, Master's, or PhD in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related quantitative field.

Preferred Requirements

• Experience with PJM, ERCOT, SPP, and/or CAISO markets.
• Experience with optimization frameworks (OR-Tools, Gurobi, CPLEX, Pyomo, CVXPY).
• Experience building, deploying, and monitoring machine learning models for time‑series prediction.
• Experience with industrial communication protocols common in the energy sector (DNP3, ICCP, IEEE 2030.5, OpenADR).
• Experience integrating with SCADA or other industrial control systems.
• Familiarity with NERC/FERC reliability standards and market compliance.
• Experience building settlement, measurement & verification (M&V), or baseline calculation systems.
• Experience with Rust, C++, or other systems programming languages.
• Startup experience or a track record of thriving in highly ambiguous environments.

Benefits

• Impact: Solve the AI power bottleneck and shape how data centers scale sustainably.
• World‑class team: Join a collaborative, low‑ego environment of AI, cloud, software, and energy experts.
• Influence: Build from 0 to 1—impact strategy, GTM, org design, and customer/investor engagement from day one.
• Competitive pay & equity: Stock options let you share in the value you help create.
• Flexible location: Work from Washington, D.C., Boston, or the Bay Area, with 2 WFH days per week.
• Backed by top investors, including Radical Ventures and NVIDIA.

Equal Opportunity

We are an equal‑opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability, and any other protected ground of discrimination under applicable human rights legislation.

Emerald AI strives to respect the dignity and independence of people with disabilities and is committed to giving them the same opportunity to succeed as all other employees. Inclusiveness is core to our culture, and we strive to ensure you get the best from your interview experience. Emerald AI makes reasonable accommodations for applicants with disabilities. If a reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, please reach out to the Talent team.