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Physical Engineering & DesignAustin, TXFull Time

Generation Lead, Fuel-Based Generation

Austin, TXOnsite

About Fluidstack

Technology is the most important tool humans have found for improving the human condition, but it is not a default good. It is a lever for ideology.

Today the most powerful technology in history is being built: machines that solve problems better than humans can. The most important mission of our generation is to imbue AI with democratic values: error-correcting institutions, freedom of speech, individual liberties. AI trains and runs on massive compute clusters. Whichever ideology builds the infrastructure the fastest is the ideology that will endure. Democracy is delicate and won't survive this technology by default.

We hire people who care deeply about this problem space. If that is you, please apply!

How We Operate

  • Be a barrel. Full autonomy. Own things end to end, take on scope without being asked, no permission required to operate outside your core role.

  • Insane urgency. We drive everything forward as fast as possible.

  • Reason from first principles. Challenge every assumption. Zero analogy thinking, no egos, the best idea wins.

  • Love of the game. The frontier of AI is the most interesting problem of our time. We put in long hours at high intensity to push the frontier forward.

  • Build something that actually matters. If you're going to spend your time, spend it on something that matters to the world.

The Power Generation Team

Examples of key problems the team is working on

  • Build an islanded grid at gigawatt scale, from a blank sheet. Generation, storage and compute running with no utility behind them, where the machine you design is the only thing holding voltage. No playbook exists at this size, so the architecture you set becomes the reference.

  • Get power online in months, not years. Interconnection queues are measured in years and we do not have them. Generating our own power is how a site goes from signed lease to live compute inside six months, and the power system is the long pole in that plan.

  • Make one power block, then build it a thousand times. A repeatable block and cluster unit, validated once and stamped across the fleet, is the only route to the scale we are targeting. Every bespoke site is schedule we do not get back.

  • Design a grid whose largest load answers back. Compute is not passive demand here. Load behaviour, curtailment and shedding are design variables you negotiate and specify, a lever almost no power system engineer has ever been handed.

Role Scope

  • Assess and qualify every fuel-oxidation generation technology worth considering for our blocks, from reciprocating engines and turbines to linear generators, and build the qualified technology and supplier list Fluidstack buys from.

  • Set the standard interface that turns any engine, turbine or fuel cell into one interchangeable node in the site's decentralized generation array, with a defined electrical connection, control signals, telemetry and operating envelope, so the plant controller dispatches it alongside PV and BESS without bespoke integration.

  • Decide how much fuel-based capacity each block carries, in what unit sizes and with what redundancy, for its firming and backup role, and hold that decision against cost, fuel use and uptime as the block design evolves.

  • Write the technical specification and acceptance tests for each qualified unit, covering step-load acceptance, ramp rate, minimum load, start reliability, heat rate across the load range and emissions, and witness factory and site acceptance before a unit is accepted.

  • Own installation and commissioning of the generation fleet through first fire, load testing against real AI load profiles and handover, and fold every field finding back into the specification.

  • Run the fleet for the longest life and lowest fuel burn, tracking heat rate, availability and maintenance cost per unit, setting overhaul intervals and operating strategy, and feeding what you learn into the next qualification round.

  • Hire the rotating equipment engineers who extend the qualification, commissioning and operations work across the fleet.

What We're Looking For

The below is a starting point. We always make space for exceptional people, so if you don't fit this role exactly, tell us where you would.

  • You've evaluated competing prime movers from several OEMs for a real project, engines, turbines or fuel cells, and the unit you chose is running today; you can explain why the others lost.

  • You've written an equipment specification and acceptance test procedure, witnessed factory and site acceptance against it, and rejected or held a unit that did not meet it.

  • You've owned distributed generation in operation, in oil and gas, mining, island utilities, CHP or data centers, tracked heat rate, availability and maintenance cost unit by unit, and changed how the units were run to extend overhaul intervals or cut fuel burn.

  • You've integrated fuel-based generation with inverter-based resources on the same bus or in an islanded system, and you can say exactly what the engine needs from the controller and what the controller needs from the engine.

  • You've commissioned generation through first fire and load testing, and you were on site when a unit tripped on a load step and worked out why.

  • You've worked across more than one generation technology or fuel, and you can explain which of your experience transfers to the next one and which does not.

  • You write clearly enough that an OEM application engineer, a site technician and a CEO each get the decision they need from the same document.

  • Bonus: Islanded or weak-grid operation with large load swings (mining, offshore, island utilities). Alternative and blended fuels (hydrogen blends, methanol, dual-fuel diesel). Electrochemical generation (solid oxide fuel cells, Bloom Energy). Condition monitoring and predictive maintenance (vibration analysis, oil analysis, borescope inspection). Emissions controls and their interplay with air permits (SCR, oxidation catalysts).

We are committed to pay equity and transparency.

Fluidstack is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability and protected veterans’ status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Fluidstack will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records pursuant to applicable law.

You will receive a confirmation email once your application has successfully been accepted. If there is an error with your submission and you did not receive a confirmation email, please email careers@fluidstack.io with your resume/CV, the role you've applied for, and the date you submitted your application-- someone from our recruiting team will be in touch.

Compensation

$250K – $330K • Offers Equity

Ready to help build civilization-scale infrastructure for AI?

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