Senior Distribution Planning Engineer

About Us

GridCARE is the pioneer of Power Acceleration - a new category solving the most critical constraint in AI's growth trajectory: immediate access to power . As demand for computing skyrockets, access to energy has become the defining bottleneck in the AI infrastructure race. While leading tech companies invest billions in speculative, long-term solutions that may take decades to arrive, GridCARE's Energize™ platform uses physics-based AI to identify and activate gigawatts of hidden capacity in today's electric grid - enabling hyperscalers, data center developers, and utilities to power AI infrastructure years sooner than conventional approaches and without costly upgrades.

Founded at Stanford's Doerr School of Sustainability, GridCARE has assembled a world-class team spanning power systems, AI, and infrastructure, and is backed by leading climate-tech and deep-tech investors.

At GridCARE, you will:

Work at the intersection of AI, energy, and infrastructure - the foundation of the next industrial revolution.

Partner with hyperscalers, developers, and utilities on high-impact, real-world deployments.

Help shape a more abundant, efficient, and resilient energy future for the digital era.

Join a company defining a new category - Power Acceleration for AI.

Receive competitive compensation, equity, and benefits in a fast-growth, mission-driven environment.

Learn more about GridCARE:

• TechCrunch: GridCARE thinks more than 100 GW of data-center capacity is hiding in the grid

• Utility Dive: Portland General Electric invests in AI-powered flexibility to speed data-center connection

• GridCARE Raises $64 Million Series A to Create a New Category: Power Acceleration

• GridCARE Named a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer for AI Power Innovation

The Role

We're hiring a Senior Distribution Planning Engineer to own GridCARE's distribution planning workstreams.

You'll perform distribution power system analyses - power flow studies in CYME and equivalent tools - and build out the planning workflows behind them, aligning distribution results with GridCARE's analyses and platform. You'll have engineering support, but you own the discipline: the methodology, the standards, and execution with utility engagements. Potential to build out a team of distribution engineers as the company and engagements grow.

Responsibilities

• Perform distribution and subtransmission power system analyses: power flow, hosting capacity and load-serving studies, contingency and reconfiguration analysis, voltage and thermal limits, and protection considerations.

• Build out GridCARE's distribution planning workflows end to end - model setup, data intake standards, study criteria, QA, and deliverables.

• Align distribution analyses with GridCARE's tools, analyses, and platform, including how distribution findings connect to transmission-level work.

• Assess which flexibility resources can be credited as capacity at the distribution level - batteries, on-site generation, volt/VAR control, feeder reconfiguration.

• Establish planning criteria, documentation, and validation practices that align with utility distribution planning processes.

• Partner with Product and AI/ML teams to translate distribution planning methodology into repeatable and scalable platform capability.

• Lead technical review sessions with utility planners and address utility concerns on data, criteria, and methodology.

• Travel at least several times a year for in-person utility engagements and conferences.

Qualifications

Required

• 6-8+ years work experience, including distribution or subtransmission planning.

• Experience inside a utility distribution planning department.

• Hands-on ownership of distribution planning studies: power flow, capacity and load forecasting, contingency and reconfiguration analysis, hosting capacity, voltage and protection studies, and capital planning justification.

• Strong working fluency in CYME or Synergi

• Working knowledge of DER interconnection standards and state interconnection rules (IEEE 1547, CA Rule 21 or equivalent).

• Familiarity in Python, and comfort working directly with large, imperfect datasets using power system tool APIs and scientific computing packages (pandas, numpy, etc.).

• BS in Electrical Engineering.

Preferred

• MS in Electrical Engineering; PE license.

• Experience with large-load or data center interconnection at distribution or subtransmission voltages.

• Experience with multiple distribution modeling tools (CYME, Synergi, WindMill, OpenDSS, ETAP) and GIS-based network models.

• Experience working across multiple utility territories and regulatory environments.

• Demonstrated use of AI tools in technical engineering work, with sound judgment about their limits.

• Familiarity with machine-learning approaches to power system analysis and how to validate them.

• Experience building planning methodology or standards from scratch.

Location

• Redwood City, CA - hybrid, 3 days/week in office.

What We Offer

• Competitive salary, performance bonus, and equity.

• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage.

• Lunch provided three days a week in office.

• Hybrid schedule: 3 days in office for collaboration, 2 days remote for focused work.

• Access to leading academic, industry, and government partners in the AI-energy ecosystem.

• A mission-driven team focused on shaping the future of the energy transition.

Salary Range

$140,000-$210,000 Total (Base & Bonus)

Join us in tackling one of the most important infrastructure challenges of our time - enabling the energy foundation for the AI era.