Optimization Engineer, Grid Systems

GridCARE • Redwood City, CA

3d • $140,000 - $220,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

GridCARE is a leading venture-backed startup solving the most critical constraint in AI’s growth trajectory: immediate access to power. As demand for computing skyrockets, access to energy has become the defining bottleneck in the AI infrastructure race. While leading tech companies invest billions in speculative, long-term solutions that may take decades to arrive, GridCARE’s pioneering physics-based generative AI platform unlocks gigawatts of hidden capacity in today’s electric grid — enabling hyperscalers, data center developers, and utilities to power AI infrastructure years sooner than conventional approaches and without costly upgrades. Founded at Stanford’s Doerr School of Sustainability and backed by leading investors, GridCARE has assembled a world-class team spanning power systems, AI, and infrastructure. At GridCARE, you will: Work at the intersection of AI, energy, and infrastructure — the foundation of the next industrial revolution. Partner with hyperscalers, developers, and utilities on high-impact, real-world deployments. Help shape a more abundant, efficient, and resilient energy future for the digital era. Join a company defining a new category — capacity acceleration for AI. Receive competitive compensation, equity, and benefits in a fast-growth, mission-driven environment.

We're looking for an engineer in the early stages of their career who has demonstrated the ability to solve difficult technical problems in a professional or research setting to work on hard computational problems in the electric grid. This role is ideal for someone who enjoys solving difficult optimization problems and building software that has a direct impact on critical infrastructure. You’ll work closely with experienced engineers and researchers to build tools that help make the grid more flexible, efficient, and resilient as data centers, renewables, storage, and new regulations reshape how electricity systems operate.

Requirements

• A Master's degree or equivalent experience in a quantitative field such as engineering, computer science, applied math, physics, or operations research.
• Strong fundamentals in math, algorithms, and software engineering.
• Experience writing production-quality code in a language such as Python or Julia.
• Experience with optimization solvers, simulation tools, and large-scale numerical workflows.
• Ability to reason from first principles and learn unfamiliar technical areas quickly.
• Strong debugging, communication, and collaboration skills.
• Effectively leverage modern AI tools and workflows to accelerate model development, experimentation, and software engineering.
• 1–5 years of industry experience, or equivalent applied research experience, in optimization, modeling, simulation, or scientific software development.

Nice To Haves

• Exposure to power systems, energy markets, or the utility industry.
• Exposure to optimization, operations research, numerical methods, scientific computing, or large-scale infrastructure systems.
• Interest in electricity infrastructure, climate, energy, or industrial AI.

Responsibilities

• Build optimization and simulation software for large-scale electric grid planning and operations problems.
• Develop models and algorithms for resource scheduling, network constraints, system reliability, and large-scale operational planning.
• Translate mathematical ideas into clear, tested, maintainable code.
• Analyze computational performance, identify bottlenecks, and improve reliability.
• Learn, customize, and fine-tune optimization algorithms.
• Work with real-world data and constraints from large physical systems.
• Collaborate across software engineering, applied AI, and power systems.
• Take ownership of important modeling and optimization challenges.

Benefits

• Competitive salary
• performance bonus
• equity
• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage.
• Lunch provided three days a week in office.
• Access to leading academic, industry, and government partners in the AI-energy ecosystem.
• A mission-driven team focused on shaping the future of the energy transition.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level