Data Center Substation/Utility Engineering

Lambda, The Superintelligence Cloud, builds Gigawatt-scale AI Factories for Training and Inference. Lambda's mission is to make compute as ubiquitous as electricity and give every person access to artificial intelligence. One person, one GPU.

If you'd like to build the world's best deep learning cloud, join us.

• Note: This position prefers presence in our Bay Area office locations, but is open to remote presence for the right candidate.

About the Job

Lambda is seeking a Data Center Substation/Utility Electrical Engineer who provides strategic, technical, and executive leadership for Lambda's high-voltage substation, transmission, and power-generation programs across North America. This role oversees multi-site, multi-state programs involving 69kV–500kV substation development, transmission line interconnections, grid integration, protection and control systems, and utility interface management critical to Lambda's AI/Cloud power infrastructure.

This key role works heavily with the Energy team and sets program strategy, defines engineering and construction standards, ensures regulatory and utility compliance, and drives the delivery of complex power infrastructure safely, on time, and within budget. This position requires a deep command of HV electrical systems, utility coordination, EPC oversight, and lifecycle management for mission-critical substations supporting Lambda or developer data centers.

What You'll Do:
Technical Leadership – HV Substations, Transmission & Generation

• Provide technical governance for HV substations (69–500 kV), including bus/breaker schemes, transformer sizing, reactive compensation, grounding, protection, SCADA, and communications.
• Guide design and operation of large diesel/natural-gas generation plants, microgrids, and BESS/renewables integration.
• Define standards for transmission interconnections, relay protection philosophies, metering, insulation coordination/BIL, communications (IEC 61850, DNP3, Modbus), and fault/arc-flash requirements.
• Approve all major engineering deliverables: one-lines, civil/physical layouts, P&C schematics, relay settings, grounding/switching/lightning plans.
• Lead technical investigations for outages, failures, and power-system events.

Utility Interconnection & Transmission Strategy

• Own relationships with utilities, ISOs/RTOs, and transmission owners; lead interconnection negotiations and technical reviews.
• Oversee interconnection from feasibility to energization: load flow, stability, protection, short-circuit, planning requirements, and milestone management.
• Ensure compliance with utility standards, NERC/FERC rules, and state regulatory requirements.

Program Planning, Delivery & Execution

• Direct multi-site HV substation and transmission programs, ensuring engineering quality, standardization, and constructability.
• Manage EPC selection, long-lead procurement (transformers, breakers, relays, GIS/AIS, structures), FAT/SAT, commissioning, and energization.
• Provide oversight for construction sequencing, switching/clearances, HV safety, structure erection, conductor installation, grounding installation/testing, and relay verification.
• Resolve complex field issues with EPCs, utilities, and commissioning teams.

Senior/Executive Responsibilities

• Develop program standards, modular designs, and equipment specifications for scalable deployment across markets.
• Set strategy for transformer sizing, redundancy (N-1/N+1), and grid capacity planning.
• Approve relay setting criteria and major analytical/modeling studies (ETAP, SKM, ASPEN, PSLF, PSS/E).
• Deliver executive reporting on reliability, risk, compliance, and system performance.

What you'll bring:

• Deep expertise in HV systems: substation design (69–500 kV), breaker-and-a-half/ring/GIS schemes; transformers/LTCs; breakers, disconnects, CT/VT/CCVTs; grounding; transmission (OH/UG); and relay protection (distance, differential, bus, line, transformer).
• Strong capability in load flow, short-circuit, coordination, arc-flash, and grounding studies.
• Experience with turbines or reciprocating engines for bridging/backup generation.
• Solid understanding of utility interconnection, NERC compliance, and ISO/RTO processes.
• 8+ years in HV substation/transmission engineering, EPC leadership, or power-delivery program management.
• Proven delivery of large, mission-critical HV projects, including design approval, relay settings, FAT/SAT, and energization.
• Bachelor's in Electrical Engineering.

Nice to Have

• Ability to distill complex power-system concepts for executives.
• Strong commercial skills (EPC contracts, equipment procurement, utility agreements).
• Excellent leadership, risk management, and cross-functional communication.
• Skilled in interpreting technical specifications, financials, and legal documents.
• PE, MS, PMP, or PgMP preferred.

About Lambda

• Founded in 2012, ~400 employees and growing fast
• We offer generous cash & equity compensation
• Our investors include Andra Capital, SGW, Andrej Karpathy, ARK Invest, Fincadia Advisors, G Squared, In-Q-Tel (IQT), KHK & Partners, NVIDIA, Pegatron, Supermicro, Wistron, Wiwynn, US Innovative Technology, Gradient Ventures, Mercato Partners, SVB, 1517, Crescent Cove.
• We are experiencing extremely high demand for our systems, with quarter over quarter, year over year profitability
• Our research papers have been accepted into top machine learning and graphics conferences, including NeurIPS, ICCV, SIGGRAPH, and TOG
• Health, dental, and vision coverage for you and your dependents
• Wellness and Commuter stipends for select roles
• 401k Plan with 2% company match (USA employees)
• Flexible Paid Time Off Plan that we all actually use

A Final Note:

You do not need to match all of the listed expectations to apply for this position. We are committed to building a team with a variety of backgrounds, experiences, and skills.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Lambda is an Equal Opportunity employer. Applicants are considered without regard to race, color, religion, creed, national origin, age, sex, gender, marital status, sexual orientation and identity, genetic information, veteran status, citizenship, or any other factors prohibited by local, state, or federal law.

Compensation Range: $185K - $327K

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