VP Engineering

Position: Vice President, Engineering
Location: Houston, Texas (hybrid, with regular travel to project sites)

Who are we recruiting for?
Executive Integrity is partnering, on a confidential and retained basis, with a US independent power producer backed by one of the world’s largest infrastructure investors to appoint a Vice President, Engineering. The business develops, builds and operates utility-scale solar and battery storage projects. It is now building a new venture focused on industrial waste heat recovery: a technology-agnostic approach to decarbonising industrial process heat.

What will you be doing?
As VP Engineering, you will take a completed front-end engineering design package and own everything needed to turn it into a delivered, commissioned project: procurement, construction and commissioning. At the same time, you will build the in-house capability to do this faster and more cost-effectively over time. Today, delivery runs through a third-party EPC contractor. This role exists to bring that capability in-house and improve project economics from day one.
Key responsibilities include:

• Negotiating directly with equipment manufacturers and building a multi-vendor roster, reducing reliance on third-party EPC margin.
• Challenging and improving engineering design packages.
• Managing modular fabrication and on-site integration.
• Owning construction and commissioning through to handover, across a varied mix of projects and delivery models.
• Choosing the right delivery model for each project and host site.
• Developing an in-house cost-estimation and cost-basis method, reducing dependence on external EPC quotes.
• Building a repeatable, scalable delivery playbook and the function’s own team as project volume grows.
• Acting as a technical thought partner to the venture’s leadership on delivery risk and trade-offs, and explaining that risk credibly to investor stakeholders.

Are you the ideal candidate?

• 15+ years of engineering experience (20+ preferred), with a chemical or mechanical engineering background.
• Direct, hands-on experience with heat integration or heat recovery projects.
• A demonstrated track record taking late-stage engineering designs through procurement, construction and commissioning.
• Direct experience negotiating with manufacturers across major equipment categories, ideally including compressors and heat exchangers.
• Exposure to modular, off-site fabrication and on-site integration delivery models.
• Entrepreneurial and comfortable working with limited structure and few established playbooks.
• Pragmatic rather than perfectionist: focused on projects that work commercially, not gold-plated engineering.
• Able to communicate technical and delivery risk clearly to non-technical and investor audiences.
• International project delivery experience is a plus, but not required.

What’s in it for you?

• The chance to build a delivery function from scratch inside a fully funded new venture. The first projects you deliver will set the standard for everything that follows.
• Backing from patient, long-term infrastructure capital, with exposure to the investor’s technical diligence team as the pipeline grows.
• A competitive base salary, with an annual bonus confirmed individually.
• Participation in a management incentive pool for the new venture, with both time-based and outcome-based vesting.
• Unlimited PTO, hybrid working, a cell phone stipend, life insurance and a 401(k).
• Regular travel to project and host sites across the US, mainly the Midwest and Gulf Coast.

Who are Executive Integrity?
Executive Integrity is a global executive search and recruitment consultancy for a more sustainable world with a focus on talent within the Maritime and Renewable Energy sectors. We give a proportion of all our profits to Renewable World, a charity that develops affordable and innovative renewable energy solutions to poverty-stricken communities.