Director, Asset Management

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Director, Asset Management

Remote - Nationwide, Remote, US

About Lydian Energy

Lydian is an established energy development company specializing in the development and construction of utility-scale solar and battery energy storage system (BESS) projects in North America. Lydian owns 14 assets in development, construction or under operation, consisting of both solar and storage, which reached or are expected to reach FNTP from 2024-2028.

Lydian is backed by Excelsior Energy Capital (“EEC”), a leading private equity fund manager with more than $1.5B in assets under management, that is exclusively focused on north American middle market renewables investing. Lydian’s relationship with EEC provides several critical advantages, including access to (i) a specialized team of value-add investor-operators with decades of renewables development, construction, and transaction experience and (ii) committed discretionary equity capital, strong relationships with debt and tax equity investors, and deep experience structuring tax equity and project financings.

Lydian has built a team of seasoned, passionate energy infrastructure professionals with deep expertise in project development, construction, financing, and M&A. This is an opportunity to join a fully capitalized development platform that is running at full capacity, but still at an early-enough stage for you to have a real impact on company culture and commercial outcomes.

Job Scope

The Director of Asset Management reports to Vice President of Asset Management and is responsible for maximizing the long-term safety, reliability, performance, compliance, and financial returns of Lydian’s operating renewable energy portfolio. This leader oversees third-party O&M provider management, operating performance, revenue optimization, operating cost control, NERC/FERC compliance, construction-to-operations transitions, warranty and insurance claims, lifecycle planning, and reporting to lenders, tax equity investors, offtakers, and other stakeholders.

The Director will serve as Lydian’s owner-level operating authority. Third-party service providers will perform daily field operations and maintenance, while the Director retains accountability for contractor performance, safe and reliable operations, a portfolio availability target of at least 98%, operating budgets, regulatory compliance, contractual obligations, and long-term asset value.

The role will support a rapidly growing national portfolio of utility-scale BESS and solar assets, including merchant projects in ERCOT, contracted projects, and assets operating in SPP and PacifiCorp service territory. The portfolio includes Headcamp BESS, Fort Stockton BESS, Pintail Pass BESS, Faraday BESS, AC Ranch PV, planned BESS and PV projects in New Mexico and Texas, and approximately 1.5 GW of additional PV and BESS capacity expected in Arizona in 2028 operating in the CAISO region.

Responsibilities

Portfolio Performance & O&M Oversight

• Oversee portfolio-wide energy production, availability, performance ratio, capacity, round-trip efficiency, degradation, state-of-health, throughput, and other applicable metrics against underwritten and contractual baselines
• Ensure safe and reliable operations and maintain a portfolio availability target of 98%, subject to project-specific definitions, approved exclusions, and planned outages.
• Manage third-party O&M service provider relationships, including performance accountability, Service Level Agreement (SLA) enforcement, contract compliance, staffing, response times, reporting, and contractor scorecards.
• Direct preventive, predictive, and corrective maintenance planning, outage coordination, root-cause investigations, equipment reliability programs, and corrective-action closure.
• Implement remote monitoring and SCADA-driven performance analytics to proactively identify and remediate underperformance.
• Oversee spare-parts strategies, critical inventories, work-order performance, and long-term reliability planning.
• Lead annual O&M budget development and cost-control initiatives across the operating fleet.
• Maintain executive visibility into safety events, outages, recurring failures, warranty exposure, compliance issues, performance shortfalls, and operating risks.

Revenue Optimization & Commercial Management

• Assist VP of Asset Management in overseeing PPA, tolling, interconnection, utility, and other operating contract compliance, including revenue metering, billing, and settlement processes.

Financial Management & Reporting

• Own operating expense budgets and manage cost-reduction initiatives across the portfolio
• Develop annual project-level budgets, consolidated portfolio budgets, long-range operating forecasts, and major-maintenance plans.
• Monitor expenditures, accruals, commitments, forecasts, and year-end projections; explain material variances and implement corrective actions.
• Prepare and deliver comprehensive reporting packages to project lenders, tax equity partners, investors, and offtakers in accordance with contractual requirements.
• Ensure compliance with lender covenants, including Debt Service Coverage Ratio (DSCR) requirements, insurance obligations, reserve accounts, operating budgets, and required certifications.
• Oversee warranty management, insurance claim processes, and major-maintenance reserve planning.
• Support tax equity and financing-partner diligence requests, lender reviews, inspections, and annual audits.

Asset Transitions & Lifecycle Management

• Manage construction-to-operations handover ensuring receipt and review of as-built documentation, O&M manuals, commissioning and performance test records, asset data, spare-parts inventories, training records, compliance evidence, and warranty registrations.
• Confirm third-party O&M mobilization, operating procedures, emergency response, monitoring, site access, communications, and support agreements are in place before commercial operation.
• Maintain transition exception logs with risk ratings, owners, due dates, commercial exposure, and closure evidence; lead 30/60/90-day post-COD stabilization reviews.
• Lead asset management planning for battery augmentation, repowering, equipment upgrades, controls modernization, and life-extension initiatives.
• Manage landowner relationships and ensure timely administration of lease, easement, participation, and other land-related payments after handover to Operations.
• Oversee decommissioning planning and bond, letter-of-credit, reserve, or other security obligations where applicable.
• Support M&A diligence on potential acquisitions and divestitures by providing technical, operational, compliance, and lifecycle assessments.

Regulatory & Compliance

• Ensure compliance with applicable NERC reliability standards, FERC reporting requirements, utility tariffs, ISO/RTO rules, interconnection agreements, permits, and contractual obligations.
• Establish and maintain compliance calendars, evidence requirements, assigned responsibilities, internal controls, audit readiness, and escalation protocols.
• Manage third-party compliance consultants and coordinate with Legal, Engineering, IT/OT, O&M providers, utilities, balancing authorities, and market participants.
• Manage property tax assessment appeals and real estate obligation compliance.
• Oversee environmental compliance obligations, including SPCC, stormwater, wildlife agency commitments, waste management, inspections, reporting, and corrective actions.
• Coordinate with Legal on regulatory filings, interconnection agreement compliance, permit renewals, investigations, and potential violations.

Data Management & Technology

• Direct asset management information systems, computerized maintenance management systems, performance databases, operating dashboards, and reporting platforms.
• Ensure data integrity across metering, SCADA, EMS, PPC, operational historians, maintenance systems, settlement systems, and financial reporting platforms.
• Establish portfolio standards for asset hierarchies, outage codes, equipment records, performance calculations, warranty data, and document retention.
• Drive adoption of predictive analytics and machine-learning tools for performance forecasting, anomaly detection, degradation analysis, and maintenance optimization.
• Coordinate with IT/OT and cybersecurity resources regarding remote access, communications, software changes, data retention, and incident response.

Qualifications

Experience

• 8+ years of experience in renewable energy operations, asset management, utility operations, power generation, or power project management.
• 3+ years in a senior asset management or operating leadership role with direct responsibility for operating portfolios exceeding 500 MW
• Demonstrated track record managing third-party O&M providers, service-level obligations, operating budgets, and project-level financial reporting.
• Direct experience with project finance structures, lender reporting obligations, lender covenants, reserve accounts, and tax equity partnership requirements.
• Experience managing utility-scale solar PV and BESS assets, warranties, insurance claims, major maintenance, and construction-to-operations transitions.
• NERC compliance and utility-scale generation operations background.
• Experience managing portfolios across multiple ISO/RTO or utility markets, including ERCOT and one or more of SPP, CAISO, PJM, MISO, NYISO, ISO-New England, PacifiCorp, or WECC.

Technical Expertise

• Deep understanding of solar PV and BESS performance metrics, degradation modeling, operational benchmarking, battery cycling, state of health, throughput, efficiency, and augmentation planning
• Expertise in power-market operations, ISO settlement processes, ancillary-service markets, merchant BESS operations, and contractual performance requirements.
• Working knowledge of SCADA, EMS, PPC, computerized maintenance management systems, asset management platforms such as PowerFactors, Greenbyte, or Locus Energy, and PI historians.
• Proficiency in financial modeling, budget development, cost forecasting, reserve planning, variance analysis, and operating performance reporting.
• Ability to interpret O&M agreements, warranties, financing documents, PPAs, tolling agreements, interconnection agreements, and regulatory requirements.

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Finance, Business, or related field required.
• MBA or advanced technical degree strongly preferred.

Preferred Qualifications

• BESS operations and dispatch optimization experience in ISO/RTO markets.
• Direct experience with merchant BESS operations in ERCOT.
• Experience managing portfolios across multiple ISO/RTO markets and utility jurisdictions.
• Experience with project-financed renewable energy assets, lender reporting, tax equity structures, and investor reporting.
• Professional Engineer (PE), NERC certification, Certified Energy Manager (CEM), CFA, CPA, or comparable professional credential.

Key Competencies

• Strong safety leadership and owner-level accountability for reliable operations.
• Commercial acumen and a strong grasp of the intersection between technical performance and financial returns.
• Exceptional stakeholder-management skills with lenders, investors, offtakers, utilities, O&M providers, OEMs, regulators, landowners, and project partners.
• Analytical and data-driven approach to portfolio performance, risk management, and decision-making.
• Collaborative partner to Construction, Engineering, Procurement, Finance, Commercial, Legal, IT/OT, and Safety teams.
• Ability to build scalable processes and systems for a rapidly growing national portfolio.
• Ability to travel 25% to 40% of the time to domestic locations.

Equal Employment Opportunity

We are committed to equal-employment principles and are dedicated to diversity and the strength it brings to the workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth or medical condition related to pregnancy or childbirth), gender identity or expression, religion, physical or mental disability, medical condition, legally protected genetic information, marital status, veteran status, military status, sexual orientation or any other protected category or class that may be applicable.