Senior Director, Commissioning and Startup

Senior Director, Commissioning and Startup

Houston; US

About Nscale

At Nscale, we are building the infrastructure for the AI revolution. Nscale is developing cutting-edge, sovereign generative AI solutions powered by a new generation of high-performance, sustainable data centers and GPUs built specifically for AI workloads.

The rapid growth of artificial intelligence is driving unprecedented global demand for compute and GPU infrastructure. Positioned at the heart of this transformation, Nscale is delivering the platforms that will enable the next decade of innovation.

Working closely with the world's most advanced AI technology providers, including Microsoft and NVIDIA, Nscale integrates next-generation compute hardware and GPU clusters across both partner and self-delivered facilities. This is a unique opportunity to join Nscale's journey, play a pivotal role in delivering transformative AI infrastructure, and help shape a company designed to scale rapidly across North America, Europe, and beyond.

About the role

Location: Houston, TX. Remote candidates within the US will be considered, with regular travel to project sites (up to 50% during active startup campaigns).

We are hiring a Senior Director, Commissioning and Startup to own the transition of Nscale's power generation assets from mechanical completion to commercial operation. Nscale's Power & Energy group develops and delivers multi-gigawatt generation colocated with our data center campuses: large reciprocating engine fleets, fuel cells, battery energy storage systems, high-voltage switch gear and substations, and the fuel gas, water, and controls infrastructure that supports them.

Getting these assets from "built" to "running reliably" is one of the highest-leverage phases of the entire program, and this role owns it.

This is not a role that starts when construction ends. You will engage early in pre-construction to shape designs for commissionability and startability: influencing system boundaries and turnover sequencing, energization and first-fire logic, tie-in and temporary utility strategy, and testability of performance guarantees. You will bring an operations perspective into the design process, so that decisions made on paper hold up in the field and in year five of operation.

You will report to the SVP, Technology (Power) and work across the full asset lifecycle: with engineering and technology teams on one side, operations teams on the other, and EPC partners, permitting consultants, and equipment OEMs in between. For equipment with complex commissioning sequences (generator sets, battery energy storage systems, switch gear and protection systems, and plant control systems), you will own the overall delivery and hold them to disciplined, well-sequenced startup execution.

This is a strategic and hands-on leadership role. You will build Nscale's power generation commissioning and startup function, its standards, and its team, while personally driving execution on active projects.

What you'll be doing

Commissioning and startup leadership

• Own end-to-end commissioning and startup strategy, planning, and execution for Nscale's power generation assets, from mechanical completion through performance testing to commercial operation.
• Define the systemization, turnover, and energization philosophy for each project: system and subsystem boundaries, MC and turnover package definitions, energization sequencing, first fire, tuning, performance testing, and reliability run requirements.
• Develop and approve commissioning plans, schedules, procedures, test scripts, and integrated systems testing protocols across mechanical, electrical, controls, and protection scopes.
• Drive punch list discipline, walkdown standards, and completion tracking so that turnover to startup is clean, sequenced, and predictable.
• Own the demonstration of commercial operation: performance guarantee testing, capacity and reliability demonstrations, and the evidence package that supports COD under our commercial agreements.

Design for commissionability

• Engage in pre-construction design development to optimize plants for commissioning, startup, and operation: startup and shutdown paths, temporary utilities and commissioning provisions, isolation and tie-in philosophy, instrumentation needed for testing, and access for construction completion verification.
• Bring operational insight into design reviews, model reviews, HAZOPs, and operability and maintainability reviews, representing the people who will start up and…