VP of Engineering

Full Time Direct Hire
Salary is ~$240-280k+, 40% target bonus, and phantom equity
San Diego, CA 92128 (hybrid onsite 3 days a week) with ~10% travel 

Summary:

The VP of Engineering is a senior leader responsible for driving the strategy and execution of

engineering and technical development efforts. This role oversees Software Engineering, Hardware Engineering, Data Science, and R&D, ensuring delivery of reliable, profitable, innovative, and scalable solutions.

Working in close partnership with the Product Management team and other members of the executive team, the VP of Engineering translates the Company’s product vision into actionable engineering plans.  This role is accountable for technical execution, organizational leadership, and operational excellence across the full engineering organization.

The VP of Engineering fosters a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement while ensuring our teams deliver high-quality solutions that support our mission in EV charging, solar, and energy storage.

Required:

• Strong experience in engineering leadership, including leading multi-disciplinary technical teams
• Experience with both software and hardware, including software and hardware integration, and a strong emphasis on software
• Proven track record of scaling engineering organizations and delivering complex software and hardware products
• Strong technical background and current strategic and architectural level technical knowledge
• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, computer science, or related technical field required, advanced degree preferred

Preferred:

• Mix of enterprise and startup environment and experience
• Experience in distributed energy, renewable energy, or related industries
• Product management
• Data science / analytics / LLMs

Soft Skills:

• Strong leadership
• Strong communication and collaboration skills with the ability to partner effectively with product, business, and executive stakeholders
• Ability to thrive in dynamic, entrepreneurial environments

Responsibilities:

Team Leadership

• Oversee hiring, performance management, and professional development across the engineering organization.
• Manages through subordinate supervisors, holding leaders accountable for results and alignment with organizational goals.
• Recruit, develop, and mentor top engineering talent, building a strong culture of collaboration, accountability, and technical excellence.
• Establish clear goals and metrics for engineering teams, holding leaders accountable for results.
• Provide engineering perspective to the Executive management team discussions and decisions
• Promote cross-functional collaboration with Product, Strategy, Business Development, and Operations.

Engineering Strategy and Execution

• Lead all aspects of engineering execution across software, hardware, data science, and R&D.
• Translate product roadmaps, developed in partnership with the Product team, into engineering plans and deliverables.
• Ensure timely and high-quality delivery of products, features, and enhancements that align with customer needs and business goals.
• Drive engineering best practices, including code quality, testing, release management, cybersecurity, and documentation.
• Recommend and implement new technologies and practices to accelerate engineering productivity (such as AI).

Unified SW & HW engineering responsibilities

• Platform Leadership: Drive the strategy, development, and integration of our energy management platform, ensuring seamless operation across cloud software, edge computing, communications, and field hardware for solar, storage, and EV charging.
• Product Quality & Reliability: Establish and enforce rigorous quality standards across the entire stack—hardware, firmware, networking, and cloud software. Own QA/QC processes, validation frameworks, and field-performance monitoring to ensure safety, reliability, security, and excellent user experience. Own Cybersecurity compliance and excellence.
• Scalability & Interoperability: Deliver scalable, secure, and standards-compliant solutions (e.g., OCPP, SunSpec, IEEE 2030.5) that unify diverse devices and systems into a cohesive energy management platform.
• Operational Excellence: Implement best practices in testing, release management, and lifecycle support across hardware and software, ensuring consistent delivery, minimized downtime, and operational efficiency.
• Innovation & Futureproofing: Drive the adoption of emerging technologies, including AI-driven analytics, predictive maintenance, and advanced networking, while maintaining uncompromising quality and safety benchmarks.
• Strategic Partnerships: Collaborate with external partners and suppliers to integrate cutting-edge technologies and foster hardware-software

Data Science and R&D

• Guide data science initiatives to improve product performance, customer experience, and business insights.
• Foster innovation through R&D, exploring emerging technologies relevant to energy, EV charging, and storage.

Operations and Budget Management

• Manage engineering budgets and resources efficiently (including cloud spend and third-party software licensing), balancing near-term priorities with long-term innovation.
• Continuously assess “make vs. buy” as we develop new product or new features.
• Ensure effective use of internal and external (including near-shore or offshore) resources to deliver cost-effective outcomes.

Company:

We are a leading national provider of intelligent onsite energy solutions that support carbon-free electrification and transportation.  We deliver integrated solar, storage, EV charging, and microgrid systems, to businesses and organizations. As a single full-service provider, we customize clean technology solutions to help clients achieve their energy and sustainability goals. Our products were developed at Caltech, deployed with research partners like NASA JPL and NREL and are now scaling to customers like Netflix, Adobe, Children’s Hospital LA, and municipalities everywhere.

Benefits:

• Bonus
• Phantom Equity
• Strong Medical
• Matched 401k
• Tuition Reimbursement
• Vacation, Sick Time, and Holidays