Lead Power Systems Engineer, R&D

Role Objective

The Lead Power Systems Engineer will direct power systems studies for ON.energy. This will spend the majority of their time planning, coordinating, and reporting of grid integration modeling efforts in support of interconnection studies, customer compliance verification, and ON.energy product improvement efforts. This role bridges simulation and hardware domains—translating EMT study findings into actionable controls development and hardware de-risking activities and allocating approximately a third of their time to policy interpretation, advisement, and influence. Residing within the R&D team, the position fosters future growth and technology evolution by ensuring ON.energy’s inverter-based products meet and exceed grid interconnection requirements while continuously advancing performance through model-driven insights.

Key Responsibilities

EMT Modeling and Interconnection Support

• EMT Study Planning and Coordination: Serve as the primary technical lead for EMT modeling activities. Define study scopes, develop workplans, and coordinate timelines across internal engineering teams and external stakeholders (utilities, ISOs, consultants) to support interconnection applications and compliance milestones.
• Model Development and Maintenance: Oversee the development, validation, and maintenance of detailed EMT models of ON.energy’s energy storage systems in PSCAD, PSSE, and equivalent platforms. Ensure contractor models accurately represent inverter controls, protection schemes, and plant-level behavior under steady-state and transient conditions.
• Interconnection Study Execution: Perform and review EMT studies required by transmission providers and ISOs, including fault response, frequency and voltage ride-through, sub-synchronous resonance screening, and weak-grid stability assessments. Prepare technical reports and present findings to utilities and grid operators.

Customer Compliance Verification

• Grid Code Compliance Analysis: Verify that ON.energy’s products meet applicable grid codes, interconnection standards (IEEE 2800, NERC, regional ISO requirements), and customer-specific performance specifications through simulation and analysis.
• Technical Reporting: Produce clear, detailed compliance reports for customers, regulators, and internal stakeholders. Document study assumptions, model configurations, simulation results, and any required mitigations or design modifications.
• Customer and Utility Interface: Serve as a technical point of contact for customer and utility engineering teams during interconnection and commissioning processes, addressing modeling questions and resolving compliance gaps.

Controls Development and Validation Support

• Controls Co-Development: Partner with the controls engineering team to translate EMT study findings into control system requirements and tuning recommendations. Support the design and validation of plant control strategies to prototype higher layer functions in the ON.energy EMS.
• Model-to-Hardware Correlation: Collaborate with test engineers to correlate control simulation predictions with Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) and field test results. Identify discrepancies, refine models, and close the loop between simulation and measured performance.
• Validation Campaigns: Define simulation-based test cases and acceptance criteria that feed into HIL and lab validation plans. Review test data against model predictions and recommend firmware or controls adjustments.

Hardware De-risking and Product Improvement

• Architecture Impact Analysis: Use transient and dynamic modeling to evaluate the impact of proposed hardware changes (inverter topology, filter design, protection settings) on system-level grid performance before physical prototyping.
• Failure Mode and Sensitivity Studies: Conduct parametric sweeps, contingency analyses, and failure-mode simulations to identify design vulnerabilities and inform de-risking priorities for new and existing product architectures.
• Product Roadmap Input: Translate modeling insights into actionable product improvement recommendations. Partner with R&D leadership, product engineering, and field teams to prioritize enhancements that improve grid compliance margins, reliability, and customer value.

Policy Review and Advisement

• Guide Policy Compliance and Evolution: Partner with Policy Engagement leaders at ON to inform external policy development efforts and internal product design processes. Engage with Policy stakeholders to influence and review policy, providing recommendations based on quantitative assessment of ON product performance. Address applications and markets across which ON products may be applied.

Experience and Requirements

• Education: M.S. or Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Power Systems, or a closely related field.
• EMT Modeling Experience: 5+ years of hands-on experience developing and executing EMT studies for inverter-based resources, ideally in PSCAD, EMTP, or equivalent platforms. Demonstrated track record of supporting interconnection applications for utility-scale BESS or renewable projects.
• Domain Expertise: Deep understanding of power electronics (inverters/rectifiers), Energy Storage Systems (BESS), grid-forming and grid-following control architectures, and grid interconnection standards (IEEE 2800, NERC FAC/MOD/PRC, regional ISO technical requirements).
• Controls and Simulation: Proficient in MATLAB/Simulink for controls development and analysis. Experience with HIL testing environments (e.g., Opal-RT, RTDS, Typhoon HIL) and familiarity with real-time simulation workflows.
• Technical Communication: Proven ability to prepare and present interconnection study reports to utilities, ISOs, and customers. Comfortable translating complex simulation results into clear, actionable recommendations for both technical and non-technical audiences. Ability to translate modeling, controls, and hardware; fluent in speaking “Simulation” to study engineers, “Controls” to firmware developers, and “Compliance” to utility and customer stakeholders.

Work Environment

This role location is flexible with periodic travel between ON.energy offices, national lab facilities (e.g., NLR), customer project sites, and utility/ISO technical meetings to advance modeling, compliance, and validation activities.