Performance Engineer

INTRODUCTION

Generate Capital is hiring a Performance Engineer to support its operating asset portfolio.  Reporting to the Vice President of Asset Management, the mission of this role is to optimize the performance of Generate Capital’s operating portfolio via an engineering and analytics-based approach to identifying problems and opportunities.

ABOUT GENERATE CAPITAL

Generate Capital is a leading investment and operating platform for sustainable infrastructure. Founded in 2014, Generate has been accelerating the Infrastructure Revolution for years, partnering with pre-eminent innovators with a diversified fleet of over 2,000 sustainable infrastructure assets, serving more than 1000 customers and communities. We are the one-stop shop for technology companies, developers and integrators for capital and help to deploy sustainable infrastructure and for customers to meet resilience, decarbonization and cost savings goals.

Climate change, and the related resource challenges of food insecurity, energy poverty, and water scarcity, require an unrelenting focus on delivering solutions at the urgency and scale required. At Generate, we believe that we can solve the world’s most pressing resource issues by taking a systems-level approach, one that has the appropriate time horizon and the financial, operational and human capacity to comprehensively address the challenges before us. We recognize that our stakeholder alignment is our license to operate: customers, communities, innovators, developers, employees, capital partners and the planet all must win.

We do work others can’t. Generate is the long-term, flexible, operationally capable, and values-driven partner for pioneering project developers and solutions providers, offering an empathetic and experienced approach to solving the world’s most important problems.

Joining Generate is an opportunity to help build a cutting-edge, values-driven organization that is redefining the economics of sustainable infrastructure. At Generate we take a long-term approach to our people and are committed to building a diverse, equitable, and empathetic workforce that is willing to roll up our sleeves and do what it takes to get infrastructure projects built. We integrate our values – integrity, collaboration, excellence, intellectual honesty, and accountability – at all levels, in all of our decisions. Certified as a Great Place to Work, Generate offers employees a collaborative culture, opportunities for personal growth and exposure to ongoing learning opportunities.

What you can expect from us:

• The ability to truly “do well by doing good”; indeed, we really are changing the world
• An opportunity to help build a cutting edge, values-driven organization that is leading the Resource Revolution and redefining the economics of distributed, sustainable infrastructure
• The integration of our values at all levels: Integrity, collaboration, excellence, intellectual honesty, and accountability
• An opportunity for entrepreneurship and leadership in building out and managing the company’s operational infrastructure
• A commitment to your professional development, ongoing learning opportunities, and overall growth as an individual
• The ability to work with a team with decades of collective experience financing billions of dollars of sustainable infrastructure, leading startups, and growing great people
• Competitive pay and benefits

ABOUT YOU

You are an experienced performance engineer in the renewable energy industry with a strong understanding of the technical foundations of power generation technology as well as industry standard performance metrics and methods of using data to identify and implement opportunities for improved performance, reliability, and operating life of power generation equipment. 

What you will be doing at Generate Capital as Performance Engineer:

• Thoroughly understand the operations of each facility, using this knowledge to identify, implement, and monitor opportunities for operating and commercial improvements in Generate Capital’s portfolio
• Perform data-driven root cause analyses and create the framework for quantifying and prioritizing performance variance analysis across all asset classes
• Work closely with members of the Information Technology team and serve as the operational subject matter expert to agree upon requirements for reporting, data integrity verification, performance metrics, and other tools necessary to support a data driven asset management program
• Work within the Asset Management department to identify areas of potential under performance or missed opportunity and use this as a basis to perform technical analysis on equipment functionality, resource variance, and other asset class-specific root causes. Deliver the results of investigations to colleagues and recommend changes to equipment, operating parameters, baseline assumptions, or other variables to ensure that assets consistently perform at or above expectation
• Work with other members of the Asset Management team to update Generate Capital’s Approved Vendor List for all asset classes based on performance of existing components in operation
• Assist in diligence and investment assumptions related to equipment performance and resource availability for new investments
• Provide general engineering and technical operations support to the Asset Management team as needed
• Assist in determining Independent Engineer scopes, and reviewing IE work product
• Work closely with the field operations team to set best practices in maintenance and drive performance improvements, as well as providing ongoing monitoring and oversight of efficacy of and adherence to any recommendations implemented
• Interact directly with vendors when necessary to troubleshoot problems and implement solutions to equipment performance issues

Candidate requirements and qualifications:

• Undergraduate degree in engineering, physics, or meteorology
• 5+ years of relevant professional experience. Preference will be given to candidates with prior experience in multiple sustainable energy asset classes (particularly solar PV, storage, anaerobic digesters, microgrids, electric vehicles, fuel cells)
• Strong knowledge of standard assessment and modeling techniques relevant to performance engineering for Generate Capital’s portfolio, such as PVSyst, and use of remote data gathering tools, such as aerial surveillance and satellite monitoring, to obtain performance information on a distributed asset base
• Advanced skills in a programming language to facilitate direct interaction with and analysis of large-sized raw data sets, such as Python or Matlab
• Prior experience in using the output of a work order management system to create critical spares protocols
• Capable of synthesizing the results of technical analysis into presentations and recommendations to a management as well as a field operations audience
• Excellent organizational and self-management capability
• Outstanding communication and interpersonal skills, including empathy, intuition, and listening
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively in a cross-functional team
• Ability to rapidly learn new concepts with minimal formal instruction
• High level of self-awareness and humility, with excitement about confronting uncomfortable situations or new challenges
• Intellectual agility and curiosity, superb analytical skills; problem-solving is your default mode
• Entrepreneurial spirit: flexibility, comfort with risk and the unknown, recognition that we’re never going to be perfect and that “perfect can be the enemy of the good”
• Knowledgeable and dependable presence with experience working with management
• Experience in a growth company is preferable

Location and Travel Requirements

• This position will be based in San Francisco, CA. Remote work arrangements may be considered
• Travel required occasionally, comprising visits to Generate Capital’s second office, conferences, and meetings with key vendors and stakeholders in various locations. Remote candidates will be required to undertake additional travel to Generate Capital’s San Francisco office on a periodic basis

Generate Capital is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against otherwise qualified applicants on the basis of actual or perceived race, color, creed, religion, ancestry, citizenship status, age, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identification, national origin, disability or handicap, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws.