Director of Systems Engineering R&D (Reston)

ON.energy   is setting the standard for large load interconnection. ON’s patented AI UPS™ is a medium-voltage UPS that serves as a firewall, protecting the data center from the grid, and the grid from the data center. With multiple gigawatts currently under construction, we are enabling grid-safe data centers.

Role Objective  

• Lead ON.energy’s Systems Engineering team and the practices that translate product strategy, customer needs, grid requirements, and technology opportunities into complete, verifiable system solutions.  

• Establish practical systems engineering governance across product architecture, requirements, interfaces, technical risk, verification, qualification, and design transfer.  

• Build team capability and technical ownership for grid-scale energy storage, power conversion, UPS, and advanced power quality products from concept through field deployment.  

Team Leadership and Capability  

• Lead, coach, and develop Systems Engineers; define roles, ownership, capability gaps, hiring priorities, and workload balance across active product and customer programs.  

• Set objectives, provide feedback, support performance management, and build the technical depth required for ON.energy’s product roadmap.  

• Act as product lead engineering interface to sales, sales engineering, and project engineering  

Systems Engineering Practice and Governance  

• Define and improve the lifecycle for concept definition, requirements, architecture, interfaces, design reviews, technical risk, verification planning, configuration control, and design transfer.  

• Establish practical templates, tools, review criteria, decision records, interface documents, and evidence expectations without creating unnecessary process burden.  

Product Architecture and Technical Direction  

• Guide system architectures for grid-scale energy storage, power conversion, UPS, and advanced power quality products across performance, safety, controls, protection, thermal, mechanical, cybersecurity, serviceability, and lifecycle requirements.  

• Assign design authorities, resolve cross-disciplinary conflicts, and ensure structured trade studies covering performance, cost, schedule, manufacturability, supplier capability, reliability, and product risk.  

• Document major technical decisions, assumptions, constraints, and rationale in a way that can be reused across future programs.  

Requirements, Interfaces, and Risk  

• Ensure requirements are complete, testable, traceable, and aligned with product strategy, customer commitments, regulations, grid codes, and standards.  

• Oversee disciplined flow-down to subsystems, components, software, controls, verification, and release criteria.  

• Establish management of electrical, mechanical, thermal, controls, communications, and operational interfaces across internal teams, suppliers, customer systems, and project applications.  

• Maintain technical risk visibility across the product portfolio and drive early retirement through modeling, prototyping, supplier testing, design reviews, and root-cause investigations.  

Verification, Qualification, and Product Execution  

• Direct system-level verification and validation linking requirements to analysis, simulation, inspection, hardware testing, and field evidence.  

• Define acceptance criteria, evidence plans, review readiness, and qualification strategy early in the product lifecycle.  

• Coordinate qualification across laboratory, factory, national lab, supplier, and field environments.  

• Align product intent, technical scope, schedules, and release criteria with Product Management, Program Management, discipline engineering, Supply Chain, Operations, Deployment, and Service.  

• Set expectations for supplier technical deliverables, reviews, interface compliance, and qualification evidence; ensure validated designs transition effectively into manufacturing, commissioning, and service.  

Stakeholder Communication  

• Present architecture, decisions, risk, requirements maturity, verification status, interface dependencies, and review readiness clearly to leadership and cross-functional stakeholders.  

• Coordinate communications and engineering efforts across integrated product teams of disciplinary subject matter experts and product managers who report into other functional leaders  

• Represent Systems Engineering in strategic customer, partner, supplier, standards, and technical due diligence discussions.  

Experience and Requirements  

• B.S. in Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a closely related field; M.S. or Ph.D. preferred.  

• 12+ years in complex power, energy, industrial, or electromechanical product development, including significant systems engineering responsibility and leadership of technical teams.  

• Demonstrated success managing and developing Systems Engineers or multidisciplinary teams, including resource planning, hiring, performance management, and capability development.  

• Proven success leading products through concept, requirements, architecture, detailed development, qualification, production release, and field deployment.  

• Direct experience with grid-scale BESS, power conversion systems, uninterruptible power supplies, or adjacent power and energy hardware is strongly preferred.  

• Strong command of requirements engineering, architecture, interface control, trade studies, technical risk, verification and validation, configuration management, and design review governance.  

• Working knowledge of relevant grid, safety, product, and reliability standards, with the ability to resolve complex issues and communicate clearly with engineers, executives, suppliers, and customers.  

Work Environment  

This role is based in Denver, Colorado or Houston, Texas, or remote with regular travel between ON.energy offices, vendor facilities, national lab partners, and customer project sites to support product development, qualification, and deployment.  

For US-based roles - What you’ll get:

• Competitive salary + annual performance-based bonus eligibility
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) with company match
• Paid time off and company holidays 

For Mexico-based roles - What you’ll get:

• Competitive salary + annual performance bonus eligibility
• Christmas Bonus (Aguinaldo): 30 days
• Major medical expenses and life insurance
• Paid time off and holidays (per local policy)

For all roles:

• Professional development and growth opportunities
• Opportunity to grow with a mission-driven team shaping the future of clean energy
• Equal Opportunity: ON.energy is committed to equal employment opportunity and to maintaining a work environment free of harassment, discrimination, or retaliation.
• Benefits vary by role and location and are subject to change.

Agency Notice:   ON.energy does not accept unsolicited resumes from staffing agencies, search firms, or third-party recruiters. Resumes submitted without a fully executed Master Services Agreement (MSA) and a written request from an authorized member of our Talent Acquisition team will be considered the property of ON.energy. No placement fees or compensation will be paid for unsolicited candidate submissions.