Data Center Substation/Utility Engineering - Electrical

Lambda, The Superintelligence Cloud, is a leader in AI cloud infrastructure serving tens of thousands of customers. Our customers range from AI researchers to enterprises and hyperscalers. Lambda's mission is to make compute as ubiquitous as electricity and give everyone the power of superintelligence. One person, one GPU.

If you'd like to build the world's best AI 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 in HV Substation & Transmission Systems

• Provide technical oversight and governance for all HV substation designs (69kV–500kV), including bus configurations, breaker schemes, transformer sizing, reactive compensation, protection systems, SCADA integration, and grounding. Also provide guidance with large-scale diesel and natural gas generator plants (microgrid).

• Possess a strong understanding of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) and renewable resource integration (solar, fuel cells, etc.). Supporting site selection with powered land, as well as self-build infrastructure.

  • Oversee the design and performance criteria for:

  • Generator control systems

  • Load sharing, load shedding, and black start capabilities

  • Generator transient response and dynamic stability

  • Emissions systems (SCR, DEF, CO/NOx compliance)

  • Utility parallel operation

  • Demand response and curtailment strategies

• Determine technical standards for:

  • Transmission interconnections and line tap arrangements

  • Relay protection and control philosophies

  • Metering schemes and revenue-quality instrumentation

  • Insulation coordination and equipment BIL requirements

  • Substation communication protocols (IEC 61850, DNP3, Modbus)

  • Arc-flash, fault current, and short-circuit design considerations

• Lead the review and approval of all major engineering deliverables, such as:

  • One-line diagrams

    • Physical, Civil, and Protection & control schematics

  • Relay settings and coordination studies

  • HV switching, grounding, and lightning protection plans

• Guide technical investigations and root-cause analysis for power system events, outages, and equipment failures.

Transmission & Utility Interconnection Strategy

• Establish and maintain relationships with utilities, ISOs/RTOs, and transmission owners; lead interconnection negotiations and technical discussions.

• Oversee all aspects of utility interconnection from feasibility through energization, including:

  • Load flow and stability studies

  • Short circuit and protection coordination

  • Transmission planning requirements

  • Interconnection application strategy and milestone tracking

• Ensure that program decisions align with utility standards, NERC/FERC requirements, and state regulatory frameworks.

Program Planning, Delivery & Execution

• Direct the execution of multiple HV substation and transmission projects, ensuring engineering integrity, equipment standardization, and construction quality.

• Oversee:

  • EPC contractor selection (behind the meter or traditional utility interconnection)

  • Factory acceptance testing (FAT) for HV equipment

  • Field acceptance testing (FAT/SAT) for protection and control systems

  • Commissioning procedures and energization plans

• Ensure long-lead equipment procurement strategies for transformers, breakers, relays, controls, GIS/AIS gear, and transmission structures.

Construction & Field Oversight

• Provide executive and technical oversight for construction sequencing, clearance planning, switching coordination, and commissioning safety.

• Ensure adherence to construction standards related to:

  • High-voltage safety and switching procedures

  • Transmission structure erection and conductor installation

  • Ground grid installation, testing, and validation

  • Relay testing (end-to-end, point-to-point, functional)

  • Permitting

• Resolve complex field issues with EPCs, utilities, and commissioning teams.

Senior/Executive-Level Duties

• Lead substation program standards, templates, modular designs, and equipment specifications to ensure repeatability and scale across core markets.

• Drive decision-making related to transformer sizing, redundancy (N-1, N+1), load growth, and grid capacity planning.

• Approve acceptance criteria for protective relay settings, verifying alignment with utility and internal standards.

• Orchestrate system modeling and analytical studies for AI load support (ETAP, SKM, ASPEN, PSLF, PSS/E).

• Provide executive reporting on technical risk, system reliability, NERC compliance impacts, and substation performance KPIs.

You

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering.

• 8+ years in HV substation, transmission engineering, EPC leadership, or power delivery program management. Power generation experience is a plus.

• Extensive knowledge of HV electrical systems.

• Understanding of utility interconnection processes, NERC requirements, RTO/ISO rules, and state regulatory protocols.

• Demonstrated experience delivering large-scale, multi-site, mission-critical HV infrastructure projects.

• Prior responsibility for technical approval of designs, engineering packages, relay settings, FAT/SAT, and energization.

Nice to Have

• Ability to translate highly technical concepts for executive audiences.

• Strong commercial acumen with experience negotiating EPC agreements, equipment contracts, and utility service arrangements.

• Excellent leadership, risk-management, and cross-functional communication skills.

• Proficient in reading, analyzing, and interpreting technical specifications, financial reports, and legal documents

• Combination of PE, MS, PMP or PgMP preferred.

Salary Range Information

The annual salary range for this position has been set based on market data and other factors. However, a salary higher or lower than this range may be appropriate for a candidate whose qualifications differ meaningfully from those listed in the job description.

About Lambda

• Founded in 2012, with 500+ employees, and growing fast

• Our investors notably include TWG Global, US Innovative Technology Fund (USIT), Andra Capital, SGW, Andrej Karpathy, ARK Invest, Fincadia Advisors, G Squared, In-Q-Tel (IQT), KHK & Partners, NVIDIA, Pegatron, Supermicro, Wistron, Wiwynn, Gradient Ventures, Mercato Partners, SVB, 1517, and Crescent Cove

• We have research papers accepted at top machine learning and graphics conferences, including NeurIPS, ICCV, SIGGRAPH, and TOG

• Our values are publicly available: https://lambda.ai/careers

• We offer generous cash & equity compensation

• 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.