Performance Engineer

AES•Salt Lake City, UT

3d•$87,000 - $104,550

About The Position

AES Clean Energy is seeking a Performance Engineer to support its O&M Engineering team in analyzing and optimizing the performance of photovoltaic and battery storage projects. The role helps ensure assets meet high standards for reliability, safety, and performance, and includes implementing programs and processes that support reliable, safe, and optimal generation. The Performance Engineer analyzes operating performance, leads performance testing, investigates energy losses, configures and validates data-acquisition-system alerts, reviews reporting and system designs, and evaluates asset performance against KPIs and forecasts. The role also supports the transition of projects into operations, troubleshoots operating systems, reviews production estimates and meteorological data, prepares periodic performance reports, and performs or reviews capacity and performance-ratio tests. The position coordinates with field service, asset management, Operations, and Engineering teams to identify and address underperformance, communicate design improvements, and lead operations engineering coordination. It contributes to process improvement and growth planning, develops safe and high-performance project processes, and shares knowledge about technology trends, best practices, and safety. The engineer serves as a technical subject matter expert for photovoltaic plants and grid-scale battery storage systems and may travel up to 10–15% to project locations and partner offices.

Requirements

Undergraduate degree in Engineering or an equivalent technical field.
Strong understanding of industry trends in production tools and processes.
Proficiency with advanced analysis and database tools for developing metrics and dashboards.
Ability to use Microsoft software programs, including Excel, Outlook, Word, and PowerPoint.
Demonstrated ability to read and comprehend equipment and facility schematics.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
Strong commitment to a quality safety culture and an incident-free work environment.
Willingness to travel within the U.S. to support the company's photovoltaic solar and battery storage assets.
Personal values consistent with AES values: Safety, Integrity, Excellence, Agility, and Fun.

Nice To Haves

Professional Engineer qualifications or progress toward qualification.
Master's degree in Engineering.
Experience with photovoltaic and battery energy storage system design and interconnection.
Proficiency with Power BI, machine learning, or advanced analysis tools.
Professional engineering experience focused on measuring and maintaining system performance.
Experience with data acquisition and SCADA systems.
Spanish language skills.

Responsibilities

Analyze operational performance and trends at solar-plus-storage sites.
Lead execution of performance tests in accordance with production and capacity commitments.
Remotely investigate site performance and review system design to identify root causes of lost energy.
Configure and validate performance alerts in data acquisition systems.
Review third-party reporting to inform performance analysis.
Support the transition of projects under construction to operating assets.
Troubleshoot operating systems and review performance data to identify issues.
Perform or review capacity and performance-ratio tests for operating projects.
Review production estimates and meteorological data sources for accuracy.
Measure fleet performance against established KPIs and compare actual results with forecasts.
Produce monthly, quarterly, and annual performance reports with detailed variance analysis.
Seek and evaluate proposals for analysis services and consultants as needed.
Perform job safety assessments and safety walks to identify job-site hazards.
Coordinate with field service and asset management teams to improve site performance.
Collaborate with Operations and Engineering teams to identify underperformance and recommend improvements.
Record and communicate operational issues that could be mitigated through improved design.
Use technologies such as drones, LiDAR, thermal imaging, and 3D modeling to reduce field labor and improve performance.
Lead operations engineering coordination with field service and asset management teams.
Contribute to growth planning, process-improvement task forces, and strategic planning activities.
Improve and develop processes for safe, quality, high-performance projects.
Educate the team on changing technology trends, best practices, and safety.