Generation Lead - Fuel-Based Generation

About Fluidstack

We exist to make humanity more free. For most of human history, you farmed or you starved. Technology gave people more time for the things they wanted to do, instead of things they had to do. Powerful AI will be the biggest lever for human choice we've ever built - but only if models are aligned with what humanity actually wants. There are groups building AI who don't share these goals. Whoever deploys frontier compute infrastructure fastest will decide whether AI expands human freedom or shrinks it.

We're singularly focused on delivering 10 to 100s of GWs of compute faster than anyone else, rethinking every layer of the stack. We acquire power, design and build data centers, and operate them - with teams spanning hardware and software. Speed and scale are our key differentiators. Come be a part of building civilization-scale infrastructure for AI.

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

The Power Generation team designs and builds the power that runs Fluidstack's AI infrastructure, including grids that stand alone with no utility behind them.

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

• Qualify the technologies. Assess 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 node standard. Define the interface that turns any engine, turbine or other fuel-oxidation unit 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.

• Size fuel-based capacity per block. 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.

• Specify and accept every unit. 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.

• Install, commission and run the fleet. Take the generation fleet through installation, first fire, load testing against real AI load profiles and handover, then run it for the longest life and lowest fuel burn by tracking heat rate, availability and maintenance cost per unit and setting overhaul intervals and operating strategy. Fold every field finding back into the specification and the next qualification round.

• Build the team. 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.

• 10+ years of experience in fuel-based power generation, including prime mover selection, equipment specification and acceptance testing, and operating distributed generation fleets.

• 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.

• You're comfortable with regular travel: expect 25% or more, depending on business needs.

• Most of our engineering team, stakeholders, and work are based in Austin, TX, and we value working in person. We have a strong preference for Austin and run a hybrid model, but we're open to other locations for the right role and candidate.

• Bonus: Islanded or weak-grid operation with large load swings (mining, offshore, island utilities). Alternative and blended fuels (hydrogen blends, methanol, dual-fuel diesel) and electrochemical generation such as solid oxide fuel cells. Condition monitoring, predictive maintenance and emissions controls (SCR, oxidation catalysts) and their interplay with air permits.

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.

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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 [email protected] 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.