Senior Manager, Physical Solutions - Data Center Thermal & Hybrid Origination

AES•Houston, TX

About The Position

At AES Clean Energy, we are accelerating the future of energy by delivering innovative, reliable, and customer-centric solutions. We are seeking a Senior Manager, Physical Solutions (Data Center Thermal & Hybrid Origination) to join our Commercial Origination organization. This role is highly customer-facing and will lead the origination, structuring, and commercialization of physical energy and reliability solutions for large-load customers—particularly data center operators and other mission-critical C&I clients. The role leverages deep thermal and power systems expertise (reciprocating engines, gas turbines/CCGT, and backup generation, natural gas supply and pipeline systems, and contracting) while integrating renewables, BESS, and grid/interconnection strategies to meet customer requirements for reliability, speed-to-power, cost, and a path to decarbonization.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Finance, Economics, Business, or related field; advanced degree preferred.
Typically 10+ years of relevant experience with demonstrated success in customer-facing origination, commercial development, structured energy products, or power infrastructure solutions.
Strong understanding of U.S. wholesale power markets and RTO/ISO frameworks; working knowledge of tariff and regulatory processes impacting large loads.
Deep thermal/power background (reciprocating engines and/or gas turbine/combined cycle) including economics and reliability applications; ability to integrate thermal, renewables and storage in hybrid architectures.
Proven ability to lead complex negotiations and influence cross-functional stakeholders; strong executive communication and presentation skills.
High ownership and results orientation; ability to operate independently while coaching and developing others.

Nice To Haves

Experience serving data centers or other high-reliability C&I loads, including utility engagement and site-level power strategy.
Familiarity with load management, energy optimization, and retail/bilateral utility arrangements.

Responsibilities

Work directly with internal owners of strategic customer relationships for data center and other large-load customers, acting as the primary AES interface for thermal/hybrid physical solutions.
Originate and advance opportunities by translating data center load growth, reliability targets, and site/timing constraints into executable power solutions.
Lead and deliver customer proposal presentations (solution narrative, commercial construct, execution approach) and manage the bid-to-close process.
Structure and negotiate physical solutions and long-term contracts (energy + capacity/reliability products, gas supply and transport), partnering with Legal, Finance, Trading/Market Operations, Development, and Engineering.
Define, evaluate, mitigate bankable risk allocation (fuel, basis/shape, performance/availability, outages) and ensure alignment with internal investment and risk frameworks.
Prepare internal materials for approvals; support diligence and handoffs into execution and/or operations.
Originate solutions combining thermal generation, renewables, and BESS to meet data center reliability and ramp timelines, including staged “speed-to-power” pathways.
Coordinate large-load interconnection and utility strategy; stay current on tariffs, market rules, and compliance requirements that impact large-load service.
Partner with Market Operations and Structured Trading to develop risk reduction strategies and optimize commercial performance over the contract term.
Lead multi-functional deal teams across Market Ops, Structured Trading, Development, M&A, Finance, Legal, Engineering, and Regulatory to progress opportunities with minimal oversight.
Serve as internal SME on thermal reliability products for data centers; build repeatable solution playbooks and contribute to product evolution.
Identify market signals and customer needs to inform the go-to-market strategy for Physical Solutions.