Sr. BESS Engineer

Adapture Renewables•Oakland, CA

4d•Remote

About The Position

Adapture Renewables, Inc. develops, finances, engineers, builds, owns, and operates utility-scale photovoltaic and battery energy storage projects. The Senior BESS Engineer is part of the Engineering team and serves as the company’s technical resource for battery energy storage across its portfolio, spanning supplier and technology evaluation, system design, delivery, commissioning, augmentation, and operating performance. The role provides storage-specific expertise to support procurement and design decisions as battery storage becomes a core part of the portfolio. The engineer supports Strategic Procurement through independent technical supplier evaluation, works with Development Engineering on integrated system design, and provides Asset Management with technical input for operating and maintaining the storage fleet. The role works closely with Strategic Procurement, Asset Management, Pre-Construction, Construction, and Development, and reports to the Head of Engineering. The candidate may be based in Oakland, California, or remotely in the United States, with periodic travel to project and OEM/factory sites.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, or a related field.
5–8+ years of experience in utility-scale battery energy storage engineering—design, integration, or technical evaluation—with hands-on exposure to multiple ESS suppliers or technologies.
Deep working knowledge of lithium-ion BESS architecture, including cells, modules, enclosures, PCS, EMS/BMS, augmentation strategy, and degradation behavior.
Demonstrated ability to evaluate and compare ESS OEM offerings on technical merits and defend technical positions with sophisticated suppliers.
Working knowledge of BESS performance guarantees, testing protocols, and warranty structures.
Familiarity with NFPA 855, UL 9540/9540A, and relevant IEEE standards.
Ability to work independently and lead cross-functional technical work with Procurement, Asset Management, and Construction.
Willingness to travel as needed, up to 25% of the time.

Nice To Haves

Professional Engineer (PE) license.
Experience with both solar-plus-storage and standalone BESS configurations.
Familiarity with ISO/RTO market-participation requirements for storage as they affect sizing and dispatch.
Experience developing long-term augmentation and capacity-maintenance strategy.

Responsibilities

Independently evaluate energy-storage suppliers and technologies, including cells, modules, enclosures, PCS, and EMS/BMS.
Define technical specifications and requirements for BESS RFPs and support supplier selection with technical scoring, due diligence, and risk assessment.
Review supplier proposals, datasheets, and technical exhibits, identifying performance, round-trip efficiency, safety, degradation, and warranty risks.
Support contract negotiations on technical terms, including capacity and energy guarantees, degradation and augmentation, round-trip efficiency, availability, and performance-testing protocols.
Review BESS electrical and system designs across projects, including DC and AC architecture, PCS sizing, augmentation planning, auxiliary loading, thermal/HVAC, and fire and safety design.
Coordinate with civil, electrical, and interconnection design teams to integrate storage with the plant and point of interconnection.
Develop and maintain BESS design standards, technical requirements, and evaluation criteria as reusable internal assets.
Support Project Management and Construction with BESS technical issues during factory acceptance testing, site acceptance testing, and commissioning.
Support performance testing and capacity and availability verification at commercial operation.
Support Asset Management with operating-storage performance, including degradation tracking, augmentation timing, availability and performance analysis, and technical substantiation of warranty claims.
Provide technical inputs to the operating-performance framework for the storage fleet.
Ensure compliance with BESS safety requirements, including NFPA 855, UL 9540 and UL 9540A, hazard mitigation analysis, and technical input to emergency response plans.
Coordinate with authorities having jurisdiction on storage safety requirements.