Principal Systems Engineer, R&D

ON.energy • Houston, TX

3h • Hybrid

About The Position

ON.energy is building the power infrastructure that makes the AI era possible. As AI demand surges past what the grid and traditional data centers can support, ON.energy provides a new class of power technology proven at gigawatt scale and trusted by the world’s leading cloud and AI companies. Our systems are already deployed across 2.5 GW of hyper-scale campuses, validated by top U.S. national labs, and certified for grid-safe operation by major utilities. With real products in the field, we’re scaling faster than the grid can, transforming power from a bottleneck into a competitive advantage for the companies building the future.

Role Objective
The Principal Systems Engineer will serve as a technical originator and design authority for new ON.energy products. This role is responsible for identifying and shaping new product concepts, leading engineering teams through preliminary design, and supporting the transition from prototype to full productization. The Principal Systems Engineer will own requirements development, drive early-stage prototyping, coordinate with supply vendors on component engineering, and apply structured qualitative decision-making to navigate the trade-offs inherent in grid-scale energy storage system design. Residing within the R&D team, this position ensures that ON.energy’s product pipeline is grounded in sound, agile systems engineering practice.

Requirements

• B.S. in Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a closely related field.
• 10+ years of systems engineering experience in power electronics, energy storage, or adjacent power/energy hardware product development, with demonstrated progression from individual contributor to technical leadership.
• Track record of taking products from concept through production release.
• Direct, hands-on experience with grid-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS) is preferred.
• Deep familiarity with BESS architectures, inverter topologies, DC system design, thermal management, and the regulatory and standards landscape (IEEE 2800, UL 9540, NFPA 855, NERC).
• Proven experience authoring, managing, and flowing down system requirements for complex electromechanical products.
• Experience managing technical relationships with component and subsystem vendors, including specification development, design review, and qualification testing.
• Demonstrated use of structured qualitative decision-making methods to drive design choices in ambiguous or multi-objective environments.
• Exceptional ability to communicate complex systems engineering concepts to diverse audiences. Comfortable leading design reviews and presenting to senior leadership.

Nice To Haves

• M.S. or Ph.D. preferred.

Responsibilities

• Monitor market signals, customer feedback, field performance data, and technology trends to identify opportunities for new products or significant architectural evolution of existing ON.energy platforms. Translate unmet needs into preliminary product concepts with clear value propositions.
• Conduct early-stage technical feasibility studies, evaluating product suppliers, novel topologies, and control strategies to down-select concepts before committing engineering resources. Coordinate internal and external subject matter expertise review and feedback into all evaluations.
• Author concept proposals that articulate the technical approach, target specifications, competitive differentiation, key risks, and resource estimates. Present concepts to R&D leadership and cross-functional stakeholders for stage-gate review.
• Develop and maintain system-level requirements documents that capture functional, performance, environmental, safety, and regulatory requirements for new products. Ensure requirements are traceable, testable, and aligned with customer and grid code obligations.
• Decompose system requirements into subsystem and component specifications. Coordinate with discipline engineers to ensure consistent interpretation and compliance.
• Lead the definition of system architectures for new products, including power conversion topology, DC bus design, protection and isolation strategy, control hierarchy, and mechanical/thermal layout. Produce system block diagrams, interface control documents, and preliminary design packages.
• Plan and oversee prototyping activities to retire key technical risks early in the design cycle. Define prototype scope, success criteria, and test plans. Coordinate rapid-build efforts across hardware, firmware, and test teams.
• Organize and lead preliminary design reviews (PDRs).
• Serve as the primary engineering point of contact with component and subsystem vendors. Communicate technical requirements, review vendor design proposals, and negotiate specification compliance.
• Lead technical evaluation of prospective vendors through design audits, capability assessments, and prototype sample testing. Provide engineering input to make/buy decisions and vendor selection trade studies.
• Align early stage reviews of supplier readiness with supply chain team.
• Design and facilitate trade studies that weigh product success criteria.
• Maintain a living technical risk register for each product development program. Prioritize risk-retirement activities based on consequence and likelihood, and ensure mitigation plans are resourced and tracked.
• Facilitate decision-making across engineering, product management, operations, and supply chain stakeholders.
• Support the transition of validated designs from R&D into product engineering.
• Provide systems-level engineering support during initial product deployment. Triage integration and commissioning issues, lead root-cause investigations, and implement design corrections with the help of other R&D verticals.
• Feed field performance data and production lessons-learned back into the design process.

Benefits

• Competitive salary + annual performance-based bonus eligibility
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) with company match
• Paid time off and company holidays
• Christmas Bonus (Aguinaldo): 30 days
• Major medical expenses and life insurance
• Paid time off and holidays (per local policy)
• Professional development and growth opportunities
• Opportunity to grow with a mission-driven team shaping the future of clean energy

What This Job Offers

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