Principal Power Generation Engineer - Gas Cost & Growth

NextEra Energy•Palm Beach Gardens, FL

1d•Onsite

About The Position

As a member of the Power Generation Division’s Cost & Growth team, this role plays a central role in development and contracting decisions for new gas generation projects, while also supporting M&A and acquisition diligence activities across the portfolio. The position contributes directly to capital investment decisions, power purchase agreement structuring, and long-term financial planning by translating operational realities into financial, contractual, and risk-adjusted outcomes. This role is intentionally designed for a hybrid professional with hands-on gas generation operations and maintenance experience combined with strong financial modeling, commercial, and contract support capabilities. The Principal Engineer will develop and own long-term O&M cost models, support negotiation of operational and availability-related PPA terms, and provide disciplined analytical input to inform PGD’s financial strategy. While the role supports acquisition diligence and transaction underwriting, the primary current focus is on development-stage projects and PPA contracting.

Requirements

Bachelor’s - Engineering from an ABET-accredited engineering program or PE licensure in lieu of an ABET-accredited degree
6+ years of experience

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s degree in engineering or finance
MBA or equivalent experience in financial modeling, valuation, investment analysis, or corporate finance
5+ years of hands-on gas power plant operations and maintenance experience
Demonstrated ability to translate operational experience into development pro formas, PPA support, or acquisition diligence
Experience with long-term cost modeling, scenario analysis, and assumption development for capital projects or M&A.

Responsibilities

Translate plant-level operational considerations, technical risks, and market dynamics into financial, contractual, and valuation impacts for development, PPA, and acquisition decisions
Build, own, and maintain long-term O&M cost forecast models supporting development-stage pro formas, PPA pricing, investment committee materials, and acquisition underwriting
Develop and maintain key O&M, outage, staffing, and lifecycle cost assumptions used in financial models, sensitivities, and downside cases
Actively support power purchase agreement negotiations, evaluating and shaping operational, availability, performance, and cost-recovery provisions in collaboration with development, finance, and legal teams
Serve as a technical–commercial bridge between operations, finance, development, and legal stakeholders to ensure operational risks are appropriately reflected in pricing, contracting, and financial structure
Support M&A and acquisition diligence, including review of operating data, assessment of O&M cost profiles, identification of operational risks, and integration of findings into valuation and risk analysis
Evaluate new and emerging generation technologies from an operability, cost, and financial risk perspective, particularly as they relate to development-stage projects
Identify, quantify, and propose mitigations for operational and technical risks across the project lifecycle, with explicit linkage to financial exposure and contract structure
Lead the annual update of O&M pro forma assumptions, incorporating operating experience, outage history, vendor pricing, inflationary impacts, and labor market conditions
Perform ad hoc financial, operational, and contract-related analyses in support of executive decision-making, development prioritization, and transaction evaluation
Demonstrates a high degree of creativity, foresight, and mature judgment in planning, organizing, and guiding extensive engineering programs and activities
Manages one or more programs of complex diversity and scope which are of critical importance to overall company objectives
Acts as a subject matter expert
Performs other job-related duties as assigned