Engineering Manager

New Energy Equity•Annapolis, MD

12d•$135,000 - $160,000•Onsite

About The Position

New Energy Equity, a subsidiary of ALLETE, is seeking an Engineering Manager to provide strategic leadership to their development engineering team. This role involves fostering a high-performing work environment, overseeing recruitment and talent acquisition, and implementing development programs for team growth. The manager will also serve as a technical mentor, guide design processes, and assist in developing engineering workflows. Key responsibilities include managing technical strategy throughout the development lifecycle, establishing engineering standards, standardizing workflows, and collaborating with internal teams. The role also involves managing team workload, forecasting resource needs, defining and reporting KPIs, overseeing project transitions, and managing external engineering consultants and interconnection support. Additionally, the position will drive innovation through knowledge of battery storage systems, process optimization, automation, value engineering, research into new technologies, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement and learning.

Requirements

8 years or more of directly related experience in engineering, engineering management, and/or related field required.
Bachelor’s degree in engineering, or related field.
Requires a high level of interpersonal skills to establish and maintain positive and productive working relationships with both internal and external stakeholders.
Analytical, investigation, and problem-solving skills.
Excellent leadership and communication skills.
Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the U.S. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of employment visas at this time.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree preferred.
NABCEP Certification is preferred.
AutoCAD (Any Version)
PVsyst
HydroCAD (or similar stormwater BMP program)
AutoCAD Civil 3D
AutoTurn
PVcase
Knowledge of battery storage systems and experience integrating BESS into layouts, SLDs, equipment selection, and interconnection strategy.

Responsibilities

Provide strategic leadership to the development engineering team, fostering a collaborative, organized, and high-performing work environment.
Oversee the hiring process to build a team of skilled and qualified engineering professionals.
Identify training needs and implement development programs to enhance team capabilities and support career progression.
Identify and develop high-potential team members for future leadership roles, ensuring continuity and long-term team strength.
Conduct regular “check-ins” with team members as well as semi-annual performance evaluations, offering constructive feedback and identifying opportunities for improvement.
Organize and lead quarterly on-site gatherings to strengthen team cohesion and align departmental goals.
Serve as a technical mentor and subject matter expert, offering hands-on design guidance, coaching, and support to ensure engineering excellence and professional growth.
Assist in the development of workflows for the engineering team and company.
Manage technical strategy throughout the development lifecycle balancing design, energy production, CapEx, constructability, permitting, interconnection, schedule, and overall project economics.
Establish and maintain design standards for development drawings and production models to ensure quality and alignment with company objectives.
Develop and implement standardized workflows and documentation practices (SOPs) to ensure consistency and efficiency across engineering projects.
Work closely with internal teams—including land acquisition, interconnection, permitting, real estate, and finance—to deliver critical engineering inputs.
Oversee team workload by assigning tasks, setting priorities, and ensuring timely delivery of high-quality outputs, while empowering engineers to share task delegation and project oversight to promote ownership and leadership development.
Forecast and manage resource needs—including personnel, tools, and budget—to support current and future project demands.
Define, track, and report key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure team effectiveness and communicate progress to leadership.
Ensure seamless handoff of projects from development engineering to project management/construction, supporting long-term project success by checking the design basis, permitting conditions, interconnection requirements, equipment assumptions, constructability, and outstanding technical risks.
Develop and manage preferred external engineers, manage scopes, budgets, schedules, quality, and deliverables for outside civil, electrical, structural, geotechnical, or other engineering consultants as needed.
Manage technical requirements and risks coming out of the interconnection process and ensure they are incorporated into the design.
Champion continuous improvement initiatives by integrating new technologies and best practices to enhance efficiency, sustainability, and project outcomes.
Evaluate and implement software, automation tools and workflows to reduce manual effort, improve accuracy, and accelerate project deliverable timelines.
Lead initiatives focused on applying value engineering principles early in development, optimizing equipment selection, evaluating decisions based on CapEx, and refining design strategies to achieve cost savings in EPC project execution based on production data, constructability, schedule, and long-term project value.
Research new technologies in racking, solar panels, inverters, and batteries to ensure the company is using the best possible equipment for the job.
Establish a feedback loop from completed projects to capture lessons learned and apply insights to future development efforts and share them with construction team paying special attention to constructability issues, change orders, field experience, and operating performance.
Foster a culture of innovation within the team by encouraging experimentation, creative problem-solving, and cross-functional idea sharing.
Conduct regular benchmarking against industry standards and competitors to identify areas for improvement and adopt best practices.
Coordinate site visits with team members throughout various stages of project development and construction to provide hands-on exposure to solar design principles and industry best practices.
Other duties and responsibilities as requested.