Remote Solar O&M Technician – Field Troubleshooter Job Wood Dale area,Illinois USA,Energy/Power Generation

Role: Solar Technician, Operations & Maintenance (O&M)
Location: Illinois and Wisconsin. Field-based, home-deployed. Ideal home base is the Chicago-to-Rockford-to-Milwaukee corridor. Company vehicle provided.
Reports to: Kyle, Director of Operations & Maintenance, who reports to the Chief Operating Officer.
Team size: Small and rebuilding. Two technicians and an operations coordinator today, growing to five-plus technicians over the next 12 months.
Why it exists now: The O&M line is behind on a growing site backlog and is being rebuilt to stand on its own. Kyle needs working technicians who can restore downed sites and grow with the operation.

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Job Description - See the Leader Before You Apply:

Why This Role Matters

"If I got two quality techs, that would just dig us out fast and we would start really generating some real growth."

Rethink Electric maintains commercial, distributed-generation, and light-utility solar across Illinois and Wisconsin. The portfolio runs from warehouses, churches, and high schools to industrial sites like the Harley-Davidson plant in Milwaukee and ground-mount utility fields. The O&M line is in a deliberate rebuild. Kyle inherited a team that looked good on paper and did not produce, and he cleared it. He is now hiring for output, not pedigree.

Every day a site sits down is a day it does not make money, so the person in this seat directly protects revenue and customer trust. There is a real fork in the road that Kyle named plainly. Hire well, and the line grows into an independent business with its own external clients. Fail to hire, and the operation contracts into a Sun Vest-only shop.

This hire helps decide which way it goes.

The Mission

In the first year, become the technician Kyle can send to a broken site and trust to figure it out. He is not looking for the person swinging for the grandstands. In his words, he wants "the guy who gets on base reliably," because when you put people on base you bring runs home. That means showing up to a site where something is down, diagnosing what is actually wrong, restoring production safely and efficiently, and moving to the next job without needing the answer handed to you.

You will start with a guide and support on the phone. You will grow into someone who works the fault with your own troubleshooting mind.

Performance Objectives

Restore downed C&I, distributed-generation, and light-utility sites to production safely and efficiently, minimizing revenue lost to downtime. Measured by dispatch-to-restoration time and repeat-dispatch rate.

Diagnose faults across a mixed inverter fleet spanning multiple OEM platforms, using HMI diagnostics, insulation-resistance testing, DC string isolation, and voltage and current analysis. Reach independent Level 1 troubleshooting within the first 90 days.

Deploy from home as a self-directed operator, out the door between 7:00 and 7:30, running your own day with minimal oversight.

Reduce unnecessary truck rolls by restoring sites remotely where the site allows, before driving out.

Progress from Level 1 to Level 2 technician within 12 months, taking more sites solo and helping dig the O&M line out of its backlog as the team scales.

Carry a share of the weekend on-call rotation once the team reaches roughly five technicians, restoring remotely wherever possible.

Fit Traits

Troubleshooting Mind. Signal: "They can start using their own troubleshooting mindset, their own curious mind to find the solution." Kyle can teach solar. He cannot teach curiosity. The hire has to want to solve the broken thing.

Self-Starter. Signal: "The guys deploy out of their houses, so they gotta be self-starters," and, "If you're still waiting for the reveille bell every morning, this ain't the job for you." Nobody is watching you leave the…