Head of Microgrid Controls

The Head of Microgrid Controls is the technical owner of Box Power's controls platform and the future leader of Box Power's controls engineering team. This role has two interlocking arcs: a hands-on individual-contributor phase now, and a player-coach leadership phase over the next 12-18 months as Box Power scales the controls function and hires additional engineers under this role's direction.

In the near term, you will operate primarily as an IC - owning the architecture, software design, and evolution of the controls systems that run every Box Power microgrid. You will translate scope documents, control narratives, and state machine definitions into working control logic and validated systems. You will define and evolve the software architecture, evaluate and select compute platforms, build simulation and testing environments, and integrate emerging AI-driven development practices into the controls engineering workflow.

Your work spans from factory acceptance testing at Box Power's facility through on-site commissioning and startup of utility-grade microgrid systems.

Over the medium term, you will build and manage a controls engineering team - hiring, mentoring, and developing direct reports as project volume grows. You will set technical direction for the discipline, partner with the VP of Technology on roadmap decisions, and represent the controls function in cross-functional planning. Project sizes range from 100 kW to 20 MW and include solar PV, BESS, generators, and other distributed energy resources.

You will work closely with the Applications Engineer (who owns broad design and analysis work) and the Senior Field Commissioning Engineer (who owns physical-plant commissioning), with the Head of Microgrid Controls owning the controls platform and integration end-to-end.

Box Power's engineering culture integrates AI tools (Copilot, Claude, ChatGPT, and others) throughout our workflow for code, documentation, analysis, and design assistance. As Head of Controls, you will help shape how Box Power's engineering org uses AI in production controls work.

Key Responsibilities

Platform Architecture and R&D

• Define and evolve Box Power's controls software architecture for scalability, maintainability, and reuse across project types.
• Architect a modular, reusable code base that accelerates deployment across Box Power's standard and custom products.
• Evaluate, select, and develop on SEL RTAC/PLC, industrial PCs, embedded PCs, and other compute platforms for controls applications.
• Develop and maintain integration libraries for batteries, solar PV inverters, generator controllers, fuel cells, wind, and emerging DER types.
• Build simulation and testing environments for validating controls logic across diverse interconnection configurations.
• Integrate AI tools and methods into controls software development, testing, and documentation workflows.
• Develop and enhance remote monitoring, control, and diagnostics capabilities for deployed microgrid assets.
• Build tools and workflows that enable remote commissioning support, reducing on-site time and travel requirements over time.

Controls Engineering and Programming

• Own the design, programming, and configuration of PLC/RTAC-based control systems for microgrid applications.
• Program and configure industrial PCs, HMIs, and SCADA/HMI platforms.
• Develop and implement DER/microgrid control logic including generator paralleling, BESS charge/discharge management, solar PV curtailment, load management, and black start sequences.
• Translate control narratives, state machine documents, and sequences of operation into tested, validated control code.
• Program breaker controls, protective relay settings, and paralleling/synchronization logic.
• Configure communication protocols (Modbus TCP/RTU, DNP3, IEC 61850) and verify addressing, mapping, and data flow between field devices and controllers.

Integration and Commissioning

• Confirm all equipment for controls integration: verify specifications, communication maps, protocols, and addressing prior to programming.
• Align scope documents, control documents, and state machine definitions with actual hardware configurations and project requirements.
• Perform…