Technologist - R&D

ON.energy   is setting the standard for large load interconnection. ON’s patented AI UPS™ is a medium-voltage UPS that serves as a firewall, protecting the data center from the grid, and the grid from the data center. With multiple gigawatts currently under construction, we are enabling grid-safe data centers.  The Technologist will serve as a senior technical advisor, technology scout, and innovation strategist for ON.energy’s Research & Development organization. This role is responsible for identifying and evaluating emerging technologies, building repeatable technology evaluation rubrics, advising leadership on innovation opportunities, and translating ambiguous technical options into defensible recommendations. Residing within the R&D team, the position ensures that ON.energy’s technology roadmap is grounded in rigorous systems thinking, practical techno-economic analysis, supplier diligence, and clear decision criteria.   Key Responsibilities   Technology Evaluation Rubrics   Develop structured evaluation frameworks for technologies, vendors, product concepts, and partner capabilities. Define weighted criteria covering technical performance, maturity, manufacturability, safety, compliance, reliability, lifecycle value, integration complexity, and commercial fit (partnering with ON's supply chain team) to identify engineering-adjacent metrics and scoring rubrics.   Create minimum thresholds and stage-gate decision criteria for concept screening, supplier down-selection, proof-of-concept approval, pilot execution, and product adoption.   Thoroughly document assumptions, scoring rationale, evidence gaps, risk registers, and recommendations so technology decisions can be reviewed, challenged, and reused across projects.   "Toolify" or "systematize" approaches wherever possible, leveraging agentic AI to develop repeatable, automatic process for technology evaluation and reporting to ensure broad, easily-accessible knowledge transfer internal to ON.   Technology Scouting and Market Intelligence   Monitor OEM roadmaps, supplier activity, academic research, national laboratories, standards bodies, customer requirements, market participation trends, and adjacent industries to identify technologies relevant to ON.energy’s product strategy.   Maintain a prioritized pipeline of emerging technologies, companies, architectures, and research topics. Recommend which opportunities merit deeper diligence, proof-of-concept work, or executive review.     Translate scouting findings into concise briefs that explain relevance to energy storage, power conversion, controls, grid integration, data center power, UPS applications, and future product architectures.   Innovation Advisory and Product Strategy Support   Advise R&D and company leadership on technology trends, build/buy/partner tradeoffs, supplier claims, integration risks, product roadmap implications, and recommended next steps.   Convert unclear or early-stage ideas into decision-ready concept summaries, including value proposition, technical approach, target use cases, risks, proof points, and resource requirements.   Support product, engineering, supply chain, commercial, and executive teams by providing technical diligence and structured recommendations for technology-related decisions.   Techno-Economic and Systems Analysis   Model-Based Evaluation: Build or supervise practical models that compare lifecycle value, augmentation impacts, efficiency, auxiliary loads, availability, reliability, warranty exposure, CapEx/OpEx, and operational constraints.   Systems Integration Review: Assess interfaces across batteries, PCS/inverters, EMS/SCADA, BMS, thermal systems, protection, controls, metering, communications, and grid interconnection requirements.   Risk and Sensitivity Analysis: Identify technical, commercial, compliance, and implementation risks. Where useful, apply sensitivity analysis, optimization, probability-based methods, or scenario comparisons to clarify decision quality.   Vendor, Partner, and Laboratory Diligence   Frame the right technical questions for OEMs, EPCs, consultants, laboratories, and technology partners. Validate claims against data, test evidence, standards, references, and integration realities.   Create supplier and technology scorecards that compare fit to ON.energy requirements, technical maturity, cost-risk profile, validation burden, serviceability, and implementation schedule.   Own and manage technology pilot programs that reduce adoption risk through disciplined component-level and system-level validation. Define pilot objectives, success criteria, test plans, integration requirements, instrumentation needs, failure modes, decision gates, and exit criteria so pilots produce actionable evidence for product development, supplier qualification, and executive go/no-go decisions.   Tool Development and Knowledge Capture   Develop lightweight tools, templates, Python/Excel workflows, and AI-assisted review approaches that improve repeatability and speed while preserving engineering judgment and human review.   Produce concise technical memos, comparison matrices, market scans, technology briefs, decision records, and executive summaries that can become part of ON.energy’s R&D reference library.   Codify lessons learned from technology evaluations, supplier discussions, pilots, and project outcomes so later product decisions start from a stronger evidence base.   Experience & Requirements   Education: B.S. in Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, Power Engineering, Physics, Materials Science, Controls, Energy Systems, or a related technical field required. M.S. or Ph.D. preferred where paired with applied product, project, or technology evaluation experience.   Experience: 10+ years of relevant experience in energy storage, power electronics, grid integration, controls, DERs, data center power, UPS systems, battery systems