Senior SCADA / PPC-EMS Systems Engineer

TAR•Austin, TX

About The Position

TAR is building an off-grid power plant for data centers using renewable technologies and is working with a major compute provider to scale and deploy 5 GW by 2028. The Senior SCADA / PPC-EMS Systems Engineer bridges current plant implementations with TAR’s future software product. The role owns PPC/EMS roadmap requirements, device-driver integration and validation, system-level acceptance criteria and test automation, and data collection, logging, and telemetry requirements. It is not a point-to-point mapping role; the engineer will help rethink SCADA, EMS, and plant network architecture from first principles. The engineer partners closely with Applications Engineering, Project Engineering, and software and controls teams while retaining ownership of requirements, pass/fail criteria, and test suites. Software implementation belongs to the software and controls teams, while project-level performance-test scope and sign-off are agreed jointly with Project Engineering. The goal is to turn project-specific networking, protection, SCADA, and PPC details into repeatable software features so each new plant requires less custom engineering and can go live faster.

Requirements

At least 7 years of experience in utility-scale solar, BESS, wind, or hybrid plants across SCADA, PPC/EMS, controls, or commissioning.
Hands-on field experience commissioning plants, running performance tests with utilities, and debugging failures on site.
Experience with commercial PPC/EMS platforms, including Ignition, Inductive Automation, or RTAC, and a clear understanding of their limitations.
Strong command of industrial protocols, including Modbus TCP/RTU, DNP3, and IEC 61850, with working knowledge of IEC 60870-5-104 and OPC UA.
Solid plant networking knowledge, including VLANs, ring topologies, redundancy (RSTP, PRP/HSR), fiber, time synchronization (PTP, NTP, IRIG-B), and latency budgeting.
Grid interconnection knowledge covering active and reactive power control, voltage and frequency regulation, ramp-rate limits, and utility-required tests such as IEEE 2800 and NERC MOD/PRC.
Experience writing testable requirements and pass/fail criteria and working with software teams on test automation.
Comfort with scripting for test automation, data analysis, or tooling; Python is preferred.
Clear written and verbal communication across Applications, Project, and Software Engineering, and directly with customers.

Nice To Haves

Power-plant cybersecurity experience, including NERC CIP, IEC 62443, network segmentation, secure remote access, and security testing in OT environments.
Hardware-in-the-loop testing experience with tools such as RTDS, OPAL-RT, or Typhoon HIL.
Experience with time-series data and observability stacks such as historians, InfluxDB/TimescaleDB, Grafana, MQTT, or Kafka.
Protection coordination and relay-settings knowledge, including SEL, GE, ABB, or Siemens equipment.
Background in a product company where field knowledge was translated into software features.

Responsibilities

Own PPC/EMS roadmap requirements, translating field needs, customer requirements, and grid-code obligations into prioritized product requirements for software and controls teams.
Own requirements for integrating new device drivers, including inverters, BESS/PCS, meters, relays, meteorological stations, and RTUs, and validate each driver in TAR’s test lab before project deployment.
Define pass/fail acceptance criteria for PPC/EMS features, including active and reactive power control, voltage and frequency response, ramp rates, curtailment, and setpoint tracking.
Build and own automated system-level test suites, including hardware-in-the-loop and lab rigs, to identify regressions before field deployment.
Define PPC/EMS performance testing with Project Engineering for each project, from factory acceptance testing through site acceptance testing and commissioning; ensure tests meet utility and interconnection requirements and feed results back into the product.
Architect next-generation SCADA, EMS, and plant network solutions with Project Engineering, addressing control hierarchy, communication protocols, redundancy, latency, and failover while accounting for legacy field limitations.
Own data collection, logging, and telemetry requirements for control, compliance, and diagnostics, including collection resolution and retention, and requirements for third-party O&M platforms, alerting, and dashboarding tools.
Turn customer and site requirements from Applications Engineering into product features rather than one-off project work.
Work directly with customers, utilities, and O&M partners to understand their needs and help shape industry standards.