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).
- Proficiency 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.