Vice President of Engineering

Job Description

VP of Engineering, Power Plant Design | Relocation Provided

Help build the next generation of baseload power — from the ground up.

Brightsmith is proud to be partnered on a confidential search for a mission-driven clean energy developer that's quietly doing something remarkable: engineering a portfolio of next-generation power plants designed to deliver clean, reliable baseload power across the western United States. This is a business built on technical excellence, environmental stewardship and genuinely collaborative leadership — not just words on a careers page.

Why This Role Matters

This isn't a role where you inherit someone else's system and optimize around the edges. As VP of Power Plant Design Engineering, you'll own the technical direction of an entire portfolio — shaping how surface-plant engineering, power conversion systems and grid integration come together to turn an emerging clean power technology into a bankable, scalable source of baseload energy. Your fingerprints will be on project economics, operational reliability and the long-term trajectory of the business itself. Few engineering leadership roles offer this much genuine ownership this early in a company's growth.

What You'll Be Doing

Leading engineering strategy and execution across multiple power plant developments simultaneously

Building and leading an Owner's Engineering team (5–10 engineers) spanning process, mechanical, electrical, and civil/structural disciplines, plus construction and commissioning oversight

Shaping technology selection and vendor strategy alongside internal resource and advanced technology teams

Owning tender packages, EPC bid evaluation, and technical clarifications from the ground up

Holding EPC partners to the highest bar on technical compliance, schedule, quality and safety

Partnering with permitting and regulatory teams to bake compliance into engineering design from day one

Working shoulder-to-shoulder with fellow VPs across infrastructure, interconnection, resource development and site operations — this is a genuinely collaborative leadership team, not a siloed one

Acting as a trusted technical voice to senior leadership, flagging risk early and providing clear-eyed guidance

What You'll Bring

15+ years in power plant engineering and development, ideally in process-intensive or power generation environments

A background in geothermal, biogas, CCGT, waste-to-energy or another thermal/renewable power discipline

Strong mechanical and electrical systems expertise, with hands-on commissioning experience

A track record of building and leading multidisciplinary teams and managing subcontractors

The organizational chops to keep complex, multi-workstream schedules on track

The communication skills to move seamlessly between technical, regulatory and executive audiences

Ready to Lead Something Real?

This search is being handled on a confidential basis by Brightsmith. If you're ready to bring your technical leadership to a business that's actually building the future of clean baseload power — not just talking about it — reach out to Kate Treacher directly for a confidential conversation.