VP of Projects

Candid Intelligence; Houston (TX); On-site; USD 250,000 - 450,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Senior base + equity

Unlimited PTO

Medical, dental, vision

Daily meals

Wellness budget

Job summary

Candid Intelligence is seeking a veteran engineering leader to head our practice for gas-fired power projects. You will collaborate with CEOs and senior engineering leaders, stamp FEED deliverables, and defend large-scale estimates, while building a premier multi-discipline team.

You will drive the platform roadmap with the AI/FlowState teams and oversee execution from FEED to delivery, based in Houston or relocatable. Expect equity and senior base compensation.

Qualifications

• 20+ years in power generation engineering, with deep experience in combined-cycle and simple-cycle gas.
• Directed engineering on at least two FEED/EPC gas plants ($200M+ capex).
• PE-licensed in Texas (multi-state ideal).
• Experience with major power EPCs or owner-operators (e.g., Vistra, NRG, Duke).
• Led 10+ disciplines in parallel through FEL/IFR/IIDC cycles.

Responsibilities

• Lead engineering practice across BTM gas-fired power projects (200 MW to multi-GW).
• Serve as senior engineering counterparty to client CEOs and Heads of Engineering.
• Stamp FEL-2/FEED deliverables and defend Class 4 estimates with lenders and other parties.
• Build and lead the engineering team (project directors, senior PEs, multi-discipline leads).
• Architect Candid's dual-team execution model and shape the platform roadmap with AI teams.

Skills

Power generation engineering

FEED/EPC leadership

Texas PE license

Multi-discipline leadership

Client executive engagement

Education

Professional Engineer (PE) licensed – Texas

Job description

About Candid
Candid is the AI execution layer for capital projects in behind-the-meter gas-fired power generation. We compress pre-FEED and FEED schedules by 30%+ at full engineering quality, run by senior PEs on top of a software platform built around how this work actually gets done. We recently closed a $6.5M round led by Schneider Electric and Yann LeCun. Active pipeline: 200 MW to 2.4 GW BTM gas projects serving AI factories, hyperscale data centers, and gas-to-nuclear bridge architectures across Texas and the Gulf Coast.

About Candid
Candid is the AI execution layer for capital projects in behind-the-meter gas-fired power generation. We compress pre-FEED and FEED schedules by 30%+ at full engineering quality, run by senior PEs on top of a software platform built around how this work actually gets done. We recently closed a $6.5M round led by Schneider Electric and Yann LeCun. Active pipeline: 200 MW to 2.4 GW BTM gas projects serving AI factories, hyperscale data centers, and gas-to-nuclear bridge architectures across Texas and the Gulf Coast.

The Role

You lead Candid's engineering practice. Walk into the room with a 30-year nuclear-trained CEO or a Fortune 500 head of engineering and be a peer on day one. Hire the project directors. Stamp the deliverables. Defend Candid against incumbent EPCs (B&V, Bechtel, S&L, B&McD, Worley) on FEED bids. Shape what the platform team builds by feeding back what the work actually needs.

What You'll Do

• Lead engineering practice across BTM gas-fired power projects, 200 MW to multi-GW
• Serve as senior engineering counterparty to client CEOs, Heads of Engineering, VPs of Projects
• Stamp FEL-2 / FEED deliverables; defend Class 4 estimates with lenders, IC, incumbent EPCs
• Build and lead the engineering team — project directors, senior PEs, multi-discipline leads
• Architect Candid's dual-team execution model (Project Execution Team + FlowState platform team)
• Shape the platform roadmap with the AI engineering team

What You Bring

• 20+ years in power generation engineering, deep on combined-cycle and simple-cycle gas
• Directed engineering on at least two gas plants at FEED or EPC stage ($200M+ capex). Owned, not participated.
• PE-licensed in Texas (multi-state ideal)
• Background at a major power EPC (S&L, B&McD, Bechtel Power, B&V, Worley, Kiewit) or owner-operator (Vistra, Constellation, NRG, Talen, Duke, AES)
• Have run 10+ disciplines in parallel through HAZID, IDC, IFR, IFI cycles
• BTM / islanded / co-located generation experience — paralleling, redundancy mapping, microgrid architecture
• Tech-friendly without being naive. You see waste in conventional FEL execution and want to fix it.
• Houston-based or relocatable

Nice to Have

• Nuclear-adjacent BOP work (Vogtle, Palisades, NuScale, BWRX-300, Stone & Webster)
• Data center critical-power experience (Tier III/IV)
• ERCOT or PJM market familiarity
• Direct experience with project-finance / IC / lender engineering review
• Compensation
• Senior base + meaningful equity. Unlimited PTO. Medical, dental, vision. Daily lunch and dinner. $150/month wellness budget.