Director of Owner’s Engineering
Camelot Energy Group (Camelot) is seeking a senior leader to build, grow, and manage our Owner’s Engineering (OE) team that is helping clients develop and build solar, energy storage, and other clean energy assets. If you have experience building utility scale (10MW+) projects of this type and are intrigued by a chance to “get in at the ground floor” and help build up a new line of business in a small company setting that focuses on people first, then this may be the role for you.
About Us
Camelot, founded in 2022, is a new technical and strategic advisory firm supporting asset owners and investors in the clean energy space. Our clients build, own, and operate solar and energy storage projects and we help them by providing technical due diligence, owner’s engineering, strategic advisory, and other support. Our core values of courage, empathy, integrity, and service are at the heart of our business and support our mission of powering a just and sustainable society with clean energy technologies.
Camelot’s founder, Shawn Shaw, is an 18+ year veteran of the solar and energy storage industry, with experience ranging from supporting state incentive programs to supporting some of the largest banks and financiers on their most challenging project finance transactions. Shawn has built, trained, and nurtured consulting teams throughout his career and founded Camelot to be a human-centric consultancy that values trust, flexibility, and mentorship.
The team at Camelot currently consists of a small group dedicated individuals with backgrounds at larger consultancies, EPC contractors, project developers, and testing laboratories. The team works remotely but has grown close through company events, both online and virtual, and a shared commitment to our mission and values. We have team members across the US, from Massachusetts to California, and look forward to adding more new faces over the coming weeks.
About the Position
The Director of Owner’s Engineering is a senior level position that will work closely with the CEO to solidify the current OE practice and, in due time, grow that practice into a larger free-standing business unit with distinct P&L and personnel management processes. Initially, the role will be a strong mix of “doing” and “leading”, with a bit of “planning” included to help the CEO grow the OE business. Expected duties include:
· Near-term line management of 2-3 staff currently performing OE work on 20-120MWp solar and energy storage projects
· Direct work with clients on OE engagements, typically including tasks such as:
o Negotiation of EPC Agreements
o Design management and review
o Energy yield analyses and site optimization
o Community engagement support
o Schedule development and monitoring
o Construction management
o Site inspections
o Progress reporting
o Interacting with financiers and Independent Engineers
o Overseeing commissioning, testing, and placed in service activities
· Working closely with CEO to craft initial department structure and business plan
· Support CEO on business development activities, such as conferences, proposals, and marketing efforts
· Continuing ongoing efforts to build relevant tools, processes, training materials, and other resources
You will have wide latitude to build and manage Camelot’s OE Department as part of the broader business and the role will feature a mix of independent leadership and coordination with the CEO to ensure consistency with Camelot’s mission and values. You will also coordinate with senior staff focused on Technical Advisory, Supply Chain Services, and other primary business lines. The role will emphasize growth but only based on a solid foundation of mentorship, process, and wellbeing for you and for the team.
During a typical day, you will likely have client meetings, check-ins with colleagues and direct reports, you may find yourself out in the field or otherwise overseeing clean energy projects’ progress, and (of course) being sure to take some time for rest, exercise, and non-work activities. The work can be fast-paced at times but we proactively manage our clients, project intake, workload, and staff to curate a positive working environment that leads to better results.
About You
We are seeking a team member that wishes to step into a leadership and business-building role with a sense of purpose. Specific attributes we are looking for include:
Education: We are seeking a candidate with a 4-year degree from an accredited degree program. Our preference is for candidates with technical educations in engineering, mathematics, or physical sciences but other backgrounds will be considered. Candidates with advanced degrees or specialized training will receive additional consideration. For the right candidate with demonstrated field and leadership experience, we may be willing to forego this requirement, as we recognize the value of real-world experience as education.
Experience: A successful candidate will have 10+ years of experience working in solar and energy storage construction and engineering roles. We are looking specifically for utility-scale project experience in the clean energy sector and a strong background interfacing with project owners and contractors will be important for this role. The ideal candidate will have a mix of client-facing and field experience that allows them to step into an Owner’s Engineer role and quickly identify real-world risks and get them addressed. We also are looking for experience in managing a team and reasonable familiarity with business management concepts. Folks with backgrounds managing projects at EPC contractors, OE firms, and technical asset management firms will likely have the background desired.
Competencies: Given the varied nature of our projects and clients, we seek a candidate with the following competencies:
· Experience in design and construction of utility-scale solar and energy storage assets, with good familiarity of all involved disciplines
· Construction management, including site inspections, schedule monitoring, progress reporting, and similar activities
· Team building and management
· Ability to quickly organize and digest information
· Critical thinking and ability to communicate ideas clearly in written and verbal formats
· Strong proficiency in MS Office suite and relevant industry software, such as PVSYST, Procore, and packages for reviewing construction drawings and documents
Inclinations: The role will involve remote work and the majority of the tasks will be completed in an office setting, with some periodic need for fieldwork, travel for meetings, and similar activities. Comfort with working remotely, interacting over video conferencing platforms, and operating independently will be necessary. This role will also require flexibility in switching between tasks and priorities quickly. We anticipate travel for this role to be required 10%-25% of the time.
Location: This position is open to those permanently residing in the U.S. but work location is remote and completely flexible otherwise. We would love to employ new colleagues in other countries but, unfortunately, are not administratively able to offer employment to non-US residents at this time, nor can we act as Visa sponsors.
Particulars
Camelot is not a typical consulting firm. We are looking for great people and we strongly believe that the main job of our leadership team is to bring in great people, support them, and then get obstacles out of their way. We reject the notion that consulting has to mean unending long days, 24/7 responsiveness, or pointless metrics. Our goal is that you enjoy your work and have a chance to make a real impact on solving the world’s energy challenges with a minimum of pointless activity during your typical day.
Salary: The salary range for this position is $170,000-$190,000 per year. Yes, we put that in the job description. We do this because we dislike haggling over salary as much as you do and because we believe in transparency. For the right candidate that is more, or less, experienced than noted above we will consider an adjusted salary that reflects your experience. Annual raises are indexed to publicly available inflation data, as well as individual merit. We also periodically review market conditions to ensure all staff are fairly compensated for their roles and duties.
Bonuses and Incentives: We offer a base 10% incentive each year, contingent on company financial health and meeting minimum performance expectations. In addition, we offer discretionary additional bonuses based on personal and company performance.
Health Benefits: We offer a selection of health, dental, and vision plans that you can choose from. We also offer access, and encourage the use of, virtual/online mental healthcare services.
Retirement Benefits: We offer a competitive 401(k) program that includes matching and we may make an annual contribution to your account, in addition to any matching you may wish to take advantage of.
Other Benefits: We also offer a range of benefits that employees may participate in if they wish, including legal aid, pet insurance, commuter benefits, and many other options.
PTO: We believe that overly managed schedules are a painful part of business-and an unnecessary one. We offer our team members unlimited PTO and, in fact, require that all team members take a minimum of two weeks’ PTO per year. Rest and recreation are key to wellbeing and, selfishly, to your job performance. We trust our team members to balance their work priorities with time off and if you can accomplish your objectives and take every Friday off, we are delighted to support that.
Putting Our Money Where Our Mouth Is: We work in the clean energy space and are trying to build a better world. Our benefits should reflect that. We offer each team member:
· One-time incentive for installing solar PV at your home
· Annual incentive to perform O&M on a PV system you already own or to purchase energy-saving equipment
· One-time incentive for purchase of an EV or energy storage system
· Opportunities to support, on our time, organizations such as Engineers Without Borders in addressing energy and infrastructure equity challenges
Next Steps
If this role sounds good to you, we would like to hear about it. Please consider submitting an application or contacting us with questions.