Senior Director, Testing & Commissioning

SOLV Energy • San Diego, CA

56d • $184,414 - $239,739 • Remote

About The Position

SOLV Energy is an engineering, procurement, construction (EPC) and solar services provider for utility solar, high voltage substation and energy storage markets across North America. Job Description Summary: The Senior Director will build and lead a centralized Testing & Commissioning (T&C) Department, bringing together project- and business-unit–specific commissioning efforts into a unified operational shared service structure. This role will oversee utility-scale PV, BESS, HV, Technical Service, and SCADA commissioning activities across North America to ensure safe, consistent, and high-quality project delivery. Through centralization, the Senior Director will drive scalability, standardization, and efficiency while enabling SOLV Energy’s growth and delivering stronger outcomes for clients and utility partners. Job Description: This job description reflects management's assignment of essential functions; it does not prescribe or restrict the tasks that may be assigned

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, related technical field or equivalent work experience.
• 15+ years of experience in commissioning, design, or operations of utility-scale PV, BESS, and/or HV substations
• 5-10+ years in leadership roles with growing responsibilities (managing multiple teams / regions / projects)
• Deep technical knowledge of: PV generation systems (DC collection, inverters, IV cruising, LV/MV collections) Battery Energy Storage Systems: control & protection schemes, PCS/EMS, charge/discharge & performance validation HV substation equipment: transformers, breakers, relay protection, SCADA/RTU integration
• Strong familiarity with interconnection and grid code requirements (e.g. IEEE 1547 & 1547.1, UL 1741 SB, NFPA 855, UL 9540(A), NEC, ANSI/NETA ATS)
• Solid understanding of safety regulations, policies, and work practices (e.g. OSHA 1910.269, arc flash safety, lockout/tagout, energized work)
• Proven ability to build, maintain, and execute commissioning strategy, schedules, and resource plans across overlapping large-scale projects
• Experience with QA/QC: oversight of test plans, pre-energization checks, protection setting reviews, performance documentation, first-time energization yield, punch list closure
• Proven experience overseeing or managing ANSI/NETA ATS–compliant HV acceptance and functional testing
• Strong communication, stakeholder management, and vendor/OEM/utility interface skills
• Track record of driving continuous improvement, lessons-learned capture, and integrating innovation or tools to improve efficiency and reliability
• Budgeting, risk management, and decision-making skills in a multi-project and multi-region.
• Willingness to travel and/or spend time in field / construction / energization sites as needed

Nice To Haves

• NETA certification (Level II/III/IV) is valued but not required.

Responsibilities

• Set the vision and multi-year roadmap for a centralized T&C organization covering PV, BESS, nd HV substation, and SCADA scopes; aligning with corporate goals and BU delivery plans.
• Establish and reinforce a safety-first culture across all commissioning activities, ensuring compliance with OSHA, NFPA, and company safety policies, and holding teams and partners accountable for safe work practices.
• Lead recruiting, hiring, and development of a high-performing commissioning organization, building technical and leadership bench strength across regions.
• Establish governance for commissioning phases (design-phase Cx planning, FAT, SAT, site Cx, performance testing, PAC/FAC) including RACI and handoffs within Operations, Field Personal, Engineering and Services / O&M.
• Institutionalize and maintain compliance with key codes/standards affecting grid-tied solar+storage and substations, including IEEE 1547/1547.1 for interconnection, UL 1741 SB for advanced inverters, NFPA 855 for ESS installations, UL 9540(A) for BESS, and OSHA 29 CFR 1910.269 for electric-power work practices.
• Ensure HV acceptance/functional testing aligns to ANSI/NETA ATS (latest edition) and utility interconnection requirements; own the corporate interpretation and application of ATS across regions.
• Build and maintain the enterprise commissioning portfolio plan and capacity model (people, partners, test gear) to meet regional needs and optimize when overlapping schedules; escalate risk early.
• Stand up regional Cx leadership and scalable delivery teams (e.g., PV/BESS Cx engineers, HV relay/test leads, on-site SCADA techs).
• Develop and standardize an enterprise commissioning playbook: PV block/collection, inverter/PCS, MV/HV equipment, relay/protection, network/SCADA, BESS functional and performance.
• Ensure rigorous test documentation: procedures, pre-energization checks, protection settings, point-to-point/SCADA, BESS functional (charge/discharge, EMS controls), and performance tests aligned to interconnection and PPA metrics. (EPRI BESS lifecycle guidance.)
• Drive root-cause analysis for commissioning defects and systemic fixes; maintain lessons-learned libraries and standards updates.
• Serve as executive liaison with customers, utilities and owners’ engineers on energization plans, relay/SCADA cutovers, grid support functions (e.g., ride through, Volt/VAR, frequency-Watt) and test acceptance. (Advanced inverter/UL-1741-SB & IEEE-1547 feature set.)
• Track and publish KPIs: schedule adherence to Cx milestones, NCR and rework trends, first-pass yield on energizations, protection mis-ops, punch-list aging, and utility acceptance cycle time. (Metrics themes consistent with commissioning leadership roles.)
• Qualify and manage specialty Cx vendors (NETA test firms, relay labs, HV terminations) against ATS and OEM guidance; maintain bench depth for peaks.
• Evaluate and deploy new methods and tools (digital test forms, automated relay test sets, site data historians, IV-curve/PQA analytics) to improve commissioning throughput and quality. (Industry best-practice evolution reflected in public BESS & HV sources.)

Benefits

• Employees (and their families) are eligible for medical, dental, vision, basic life and disability insurance.
• Employees can enroll in our company’s 401(k) plan and are provided vacation, sick and holiday pay.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Number of Employees: 1,001-5,000 employees