Electrical Engineer (Power Generation)

Location: San Francisco, United States. Travel: 50%

Salary: $257K–$327K annually, plus equity.

Company

OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company building products and infrastructure intended to ensure that general-purpose artificial intelligence benefits humanity.

What you will do

• Develop electrical architectures, one-lines, design criteria, specifications, and studies for generation plants and campus interconnections.
• Design and review generators, alternators, transformers, medium- and high-voltage switchgear, protection, synchronization, grounding, station service, DC systems, and black-start capability.
• Perform or review load-flow, short-circuit, arc-flash, protection-coordination, transient, motor-starting, grounding, and reliability studies.
• Coordinate generation controls, microgrid and islanding behavior, utility interconnection, data center load characteristics, and operating modes.
• Evaluate OEM and EPC proposals, equipment ratings, test plans, failure modes, maintenance strategies, and lifecycle tradeoffs.
• Support procurement, factory acceptance testing, construction, energization, commissioning, performance testing, root-cause investigations, and cross-discipline interface resolution.

Requirements

• 8+ years of electrical engineering experience on power generation, utility, industrial, microgrid, or mission-critical projects.
• Deep knowledge of generators, transformers, switchgear, protection and controls, grounding, auxiliary power, and electrical system studies.
• Experience with grid-connected and islanded generation, synchronization, load sharing, and black-start or restoration concepts.
• Ability to interpret OEM data, operating scenarios, failure modes, and data center load requirements.
• Experience carrying designs through construction, commissioning, and operational validation.
• Knowledge of applicable NEC, NFPA, IEEE, NERC, and utility requirements.
• Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering or a related field.

Nice to have

• Professional Engineer license.
• Experience with gas turbines, reciprocating engines, battery systems, microgrids, or hybrid generation plants.
• Proficiency with ETAP, PSCAD, PSS/E, SKM, EasyPower, or equivalent analysis tools.
• Experience supporting high-density data center loads and fast-changing AI compute demand.

Culture & Benefits

• Work on infrastructure supporting frontier AI systems and large-scale data center campuses.
• Collaborate across data center facilities, power generation, compute infrastructure, construction, procurement, and operations.
• Full-time employment with equity offered in addition to salary.
• Equal opportunity employment, reasonable accommodation support, and legally compliant background checks.