Staff Project Engineer - Grid Scale
Mainspring EnergyAbout Mainspring Mainspring Energy manufactures and delivers fuel-flexible, low-emissions local power solutions that rapidly add new capacity and deliver reliable, affordable, and sustainable electric power. The company began commercial shipments of its Mainspring Linear Generators in 2020 and today has hundreds of megawatts in advanced development and field operations for leading Fortune 500 companies, data centers, and utilities. Mainspring also partners with global energy leaders including AEP, NextEra Energy Resources, Schneider Electric, and more. The core values that ground our work, guide our decisions, and connect us together: Pragmatic Optimism Excellence without Ego Proactive Collaboration Job Overview Project Engineers report to the Project Engineering Manager within the Project Delivery department. A key enabler of Mainspring’s mission is the ability of its team to deliver solutions based on our linear generator technology that solve customer problems in the cross-section of resiliency and clean power supply. The project engineering team provides the technical expertise, guidance, and support to deploy linear generators into the field efficiently—building customer confidence and enabling future scalability. This role focuses on our largest deployments: sites of 10MW and above that either connect directly to the grid or serve large load sites such as data centers. Responsibilities This role will be responsible for: Leading the overall technical definition and direction of assigned projects, including site layouts, single-line diagrams, equipment selection, sequences of operation, plant controls, communication, and network security schemes, protection and metering schemes, grounding, code and grid code compliance, fuel systems, and safety systems Serving as the technical integrator across electrical, mechanical, civil, controls, fuel, and utility scopes: providing design coordination, value engineering, and interface reviews so all disciplines come together into one buildable, compliant project, and collaborating with project managers, development, procurement, and other stakeholders within timelines and budgets Providing technical support to the interconnection team: supplying plant data, single-lines, and equipment models for applications, reviewing Feasibility, System Impact, and Facility Studies, and advising on technical terms in interconnection agreements For large-load and data center sites, defining how the plant serves and protects the load, including islanding, load-following, and transfer schemes Guiding selection and specification of medium-voltage and plant interconnection equipment such as switchgear, breakers, transformers, protective relays, revenue meters, reclosers, and PPC/SCADA hardware, plus fuel equipment such as gas regulators and valves; developing specifications, sequences of operation, EPC scopes of work, design standards, and testing procedures; and supporting procurement and proposal requests Working directly with clients & engineering partners to translate project requirements into official plan sets using best practices, QA/QC standards, and due diligence; answering RFIs, approving submittals, and reviewing documents and designs to close gaps in function, performance, scope, and responsibility from initial design through commissioning Approving design variances, independently resolving engineering modifications to maintain design intent and schedules Conducting engineering reviews of site assessments, inspections, and power system studies (load flow, short circuit, coordination, arc flash), and ensuring plant controls and protection settings meet utility, ISO/RTO, IEEE 1547/2800, and applicable NERC/FERC requirements, including ride-through, reactive power, and telemetry Monitoring changes to regional grid codes, utility interconnection handbooks, and IEEE/NERC standards, proactively compiling compliance risks and necessary product adaptations Supporting permitting for large …