Director, Commissioning & Startup

Koch•Scottsdale, AZ

3d•Onsite

About The Position

DEPCOM Power has an immediate need for a Director, Commissioning & Startup. This role provides strategic leadership for DEPCOM's commissioning, energization, startup, and operational readiness functions across the project portfolio. This leader is responsible for developing the enterprise vision, standards, talent, and operational systems required to safely and predictably transition projects from construction through energization and commercial operation. Through Koch’s Principle Based Management (PBM) business philosophy, this advanced leadership role creates long-term value by building organizational capability, standardizing best practices, improving execution predictability, and driving continuous improvement across all commissioning and startup activities. The Director serves as the enterprise authority for commissioning strategy and is accountable for developing scalable systems, technical excellence, and future leadership capability that support sustainable business growth. This role will be physically based out of our headquarters in Scottsdale, AZ. This role is not eligible for Visa Sponsorship

Requirements

Experience in commissioning, startup, construction, operations, project execution, or related technical leadership roles
Experience leading multi-disciplinary teams in large-scale industrial, energy, utility, renewable energy, EPC, or infrastructure environments
Experience developing commissioning plans, startup procedures, operational readiness requirements, testing protocols, and enterprise standards
Experience managing utility coordination, OEM integration, energization planning, and turnover processes
Experience leading organizational transformation, standardization, and operational excellence initiatives
Experience developing leaders and building high-performing teams
Willing and able to travel up to 50% of the time as business needs permit

Nice To Haves

Professional Engineer (PE) license
Bachelor's Degree or higher
PMP, PMI-SP, Lean, Six Sigma, or equivalent certifications
Utility-scale solar, battery energy storage, power generation, transmission, or electrical infrastructure experience
Experience implementing enterprise operating systems and governance frameworks
Experience with power systems commissioning, grid interconnection, SCADA, controls integration, and operational readiness programs
Experience leading geographically dispersed teams and large project portfolios

Responsibilities

Develop and execute the enterprise commissioning and startup strategy aligned with business objectives and customer commitments.
Provide strategic oversight of cold commissioning, hot commissioning, startup, energization, turnover, and handover activities.
Ensure successful transition of projects from construction to operations with predictable outcomes in safety, quality, schedule, and performance.
Develop, implement, and continually improve standard operating procedures (SOPs), commissioning plans, inspection and test plans (ITPs), test forms, startup protocols, and operational readiness requirements.
Establish governance and quality assurance processes that ensure consistent execution across all projects.
Capture and institutionalize lessons learned to continuously improve enterprise performance.
Recruit, coach, mentor, and develop high-performing leaders and technical professionals.
Establish succession plans and talent pipelines to ensure organizational sustainability.
Foster a culture of ownership, accountability, knowledge sharing, and continuous learning.
Partner closely with Engineering, Project Management, Procurement, Logistics, Construction, Operations, Quality, HSE, OEMs, utilities, and customers.
Align commissioning requirements early in project development to improve execution outcomes and reduce risk.
Establish and monitor leading and lagging performance indicators.
Conduct operational reviews to identify opportunities for improvement and value creation.
Leverage digital tools, automation, analytics, and emerging technologies to improve startup effectiveness and readiness.