Lead Protection and Controls Engineer

Most controls roles are about wiring up one relay panel after another the way it's been done for decades. This one is different. Yes, you'll define how a microgrid behaves when the utility drops, set the protection that keeps it safe, and take designs through utility review, but you'll also work shoulder-to-shoulder with our AI and software team to encode your expertise into a system that produces coordinated power designs faster and more reliably than anything the industry has seen. You won't just be doing the work. You'll be re-imagining how it gets done.

The Opportunity

Monterra is a new kind of consulting engineering firm specializing in power infrastructure for modular data centers, battery storage, microgrids, onsite generation, and EV charging. Our licensed PEs work with AI agents developed in-house to deliver engineering services faster while remaining in responsible charge of every design.

Since launching the service a few months ago, we've been winning and delivering projects, and our client base is quickly growing.

We're hiring our first Controls Engineer, who will serve as the technical authority and in-house subject matter expert on microgrid controls and protection. You'll work closely with our electrical engineering team, own controls and protection design across the firm, lead the development of our controls engineering standards and processes, and help translate your expertise into the AI-powered workflows that make Monterra different. In this role, your time will be split across:

• Client project delivery (~60%): microgrid control philosophy, sequences of operation, and protection design, from concept through utility/AHJ review.

• Discipline building (~20%): establish and continuously improve Monterra's controls and protection standards, design practices, and quality controls.

• Shaping the AI (~20%): set the standards and design rules our AI agents follow, and work with our product & engineering team to make them better on every project.

What You'll Do

Microgrid Controls

• Write the control philosophy and sequences of operation for data center and industrial sites that combine utility service, BESS, gas turbines, reciprocating generators, solar, and critical loads.

• Define operating modes and transitions: grid-connected, islanding, resynchronization, black start, load shedding, generator dispatch, and ride-through.

• Specify microgrid controllers and BESS plant controllers, and integrate grid-forming and grid-following inverters with rotating generation.

• Define the controls and communications architecture linking the microgrid controller, relays, generators, BESS, and site SCADA/EPMS/BMS, including points lists for integrators.

• Coordinate controls interfaces with equipment vendors and integrators, including generator controls, paralleling, and load sharing.

Protection & Relays

• Own the protection philosophy, relay coordination, and relay settings for MV systems, generators, BESS, and PV, designed to hold up in both grid-connected and islanded operation.

• Specify relays, instrument transformers, and transfer-trip and interlock schemes.

• Produce protection and control one-lines, three-lines, DC control schematics, and relay panel layouts.

Coordination & Delivery

• Define interconnection protection to IEEE 1547 and utility requirements, including direct transfer trip, and take it through utility interconnection review.

• Respond to utility and AHJ comments and support construction RFIs and submittals.

• Hand off clear design packages and settings to the integrators who commission the system, and support them remotely when questions come up.

Engineering Standards & Shaping Our AI Agents

• Own Monterra's controls and protection standards, including control philosophy templates, standard schemes, a details library, and QC checklists.

• Define the technical rules our AI agents follow, review and validate their engineering output, and work with our AI platform team to continuously improve the system.

Who You Are

You're a controls engineer who loves and takes pride in your craft, but is also a little frustrated by the monotony and the slow pace of change in the industry. You've taken microgrids from control philosophy through energization, you know exactly how a site should behave when the utility drops, and you can read a relay settings file in your sleep. But you're also the person on your team who is always trying out and evangelizing new ideas and tools, experimenting with new ways of working, and building spreadsheets to automate your own work. If that sounds like you, this could be the right role for you!

Required

• 7+ years of experience in power system protection and controls, including significant microgrid controls work for generation, BESS, or MV systems.

• Hands-on experience writing sequences of operation and implementing microgrid operating modes: islanding, resynchronization, black start, load shedding, and the transitions between them.

• Utility interconnection protection, including IEEE 1547 and direct transfer trip.

• Protection relay settings and coordination for MV, generator, and BESS applications (SEL or similar), including protection that works under the low fault current of inverter-dominated islanded systems.

• Strong communication and collaboration skills, including the ability to explain engineering decisions to non-specialists (e.g., software engineer teammates) and work closely with clients and teammates.

• Qualities we value: intensely curious, strong team player, pursuit of excellence, strong sense of ownership and accountability, self-starter, creative problem solver. Equally comfortable being scrappy or meticulous, depending on the situation.

Preferred But Not Required

• Hands-on configuration of SEL RTAC or comparable automation controllers.

• Field commissioning experience with distributed energy resources, turbine systems, or BESS, and an understanding of how design decisions play out during startup.

• Gas turbine or reciprocating generator controls, including governor/AVR interfaces, paralleling, and load sharing.

• Grid-forming BESS integration, including PCS and plant controller interfaces.

• Working knowledge of IEC 61850 GOOSE, DNP3, and Modbus for integration with SCADA, EPMS, and BMS.

• Data center power and controls experience: ATS and UPS interfaces, and modular power systems.

• Experience with fully off-grid or prime-power microgrids, including aeroderivative turbines.

• Hands-on relay coordination studies in ETAP, SKM, ASPEN, or similar.

• Comfort with AI tools and enthusiasm for using AI to improve engineering workflows. No software development experience required.

Compensation & Benefits

• Competitive salary commensurate with experience.

• Meaningful early-stage equity: you'll be the first controls engineer on a small team, not employee #50.

• Benefits including but not limited to: health, vision, and dental insurance, unlimited PTO, and more.

• Remote-first; occasional travel for site visits, customer meetings, conferences, and team gatherings.

About Monterra

You'll work most closely with:

• David Kim, Co-Founder & CEO

• Kelson Reiss, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer

• Daniel Ihlenfeldt, PE, Principal Electrical Engineer

• Tyler Blauvelt, PE, Principal Electrical Engineer

Monterra is backed by reputable VC and Angel investors, including Urban Innovation Fund, Base10 Partners, Very Serious Ventures, and more. Learn more about the company here.