Principal Engineer, BESS

Job Description

Job Description

About Sparkfund

Sparkfund is the deployment services company utilities rely on to take DERs from grid edge to grid core.

With over a decade of experience as a utility services company, Sparkfund has pioneered a smarter approach to deploying distributed assets as part of a fast-growing grid. Through its Distributed Capacity Procurement (DCP) model, Sparkfund enables utilities to plan, deploy, and dispatch DERs at the scale and pace necessary to meet load growth demand and unlock the full value of the grid. We support program design, assessment of DER grid value, host engagement, and value chain management to ensure on-time, on-budget deployment of distributed resources with maximum grid value and lowest cost.

With more than 3,500 projects deployed across 43 states and more than 300MW of energized assets constructed, Sparkfund is transforming buildings into a valuable extension of the grid for the benefit of our society.

Position Summary

As the Principal Engineer for BESS, you will be our chief technical authority on the technology, procurement, and strategic application of utility-scale energy storage. You will serve as the technical north star for our core business, operating at the intersection of strategy, engineering, and commercial execution. Your expertise will shape our technical roadmap and strategic sourcing, providing the foundational engineering for our large-scale DER programs and ensuring we build confidence with our utility partners and regulators.

Location

While Sparkfund is a remote-first company, with a digital workplace built around emerging hub-offices, this role is required to be in / around our Minneapolis, Denver, or Washington, DC hubs area, with a strong preference for Minneapolis or relocation to Minneapolis. Candidates must be within commuting distance, or open to relocating, to be considered for this role. Company subsidized relocation is available for this role and will be covered by the recruiter.

Key Responsibilities

Strategy & Technical Leadership

• Serve as the organization's foremost technical expert on all aspects of grid-scale BESS, including various cell chemistries, power conversion systems (PCS), control platforms, and safety protocols.
• Advise senior leadership on the safe and effective design, construction, operation, and development of the company's energy storage portfolio.
• Lead the development of the long-term energy storage technology roadmap, evaluating emerging technologies and their potential for grid support applications.
• Translate technical roadmaps into actionable sourcing strategies by identifying and developing relationships with key BESS suppliers, integrators, and EPC contractors.
• Provide expert technical guidance and justification for BESS projects within Integrated Resource Plans (IRPs), regulatory filings, and rate case proceedings.

Engineering & Design Governance

Preferred Skills & Qualifications

Benefits

For full-time positions :

We Want You To Know

You can be a great candidate even if you don't fit everything we've described above. You can also have important skills we haven't thought of. If that's you, don't hesitate to apply and tell us about yourself. We are dedicated to environmental stewardship, and recognize we need diverse perspectives to successfully tackle this massive challenge. To change the world, we must first change ourselves, which is why Sparkfund has created a space that sources viewpoints from people who look and think differently.

We are committed to diversity and building an equitable and inclusive environment for people of all backgrounds and experiences, and we're taking steps to meet that commitment. Sparkfund is an Equal Opportunity Employer and provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws. Sparkfund will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records consistent with federal, state, and local legal requirements.