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).
• Familiarity 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.