T

TAR

Off-grid power plants for AI data centers

Applications Engineer

Power Systems EngineeringUpdated on Nov 12
Full-timeAustin, TX, USANo salary listed

About the Job

Requirements

  • A bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, or a related engineering degree backed by deep, hands-on electrical power experience.
  • At least 10 years of engineering experience, including significant experience in applications, solutions, or pre-sales engineering, owner's engineering, or project development for data centers, PV/BESS/NG power, or other critical infrastructure.
  • Exposure to PV and BESS storage.
  • A strong electrical power systems background, including medium- and low-voltage distribution, single-line diagrams, utility service, protection and redundancy topologies, and applicable codes and standards such as NEC and IEEE.
  • Working fluency across thermal and cooling, civil and site work, and construction and deployment sufficient to identify fatal flaws and estimate cost and schedule impacts without a specialist present.
  • A track record of translating technical conditions into capex, dollars per megawatt, and schedule impact, and making or shaping go/no-go decisions on deals or projects.
  • Ability to make sound decisions quickly using incomplete information and clearly state assumptions, risks, and confidence levels.
  • Clear written and verbal communication with engineers, developers, commercial teams, partners, and executives.
  • Ability to travel regularly for site walks and partner meetings.

Responsibilities

  • Build and own TAR's technical qualification framework for non-standard opportunities, including criteria, screening tools, and decision gates that determine whether a site or deal is viable across power, civil, and deployment constraints.
  • Make final technical fit/no-fit decisions on sites and deals, often using incomplete information, and deliver defensible recommendations within days with assumptions, risks, and conditions to proceed stated plainly.
  • Connect every technical recommendation to its commercial consequences, including dollars per megawatt, capex, and deployment schedule, so business development and leadership can price, structure, and commit to deals transparently.
  • Serve as the technical escalation point for development, business development, and partner teams on opportunities outside the standard playbook, defining what edge sites, distributed energy assets, co-located industrial facilities, and first-of-kind configurations require beyond TAR's standard approach and what they would cost.
  • Conduct first-hand site walks with development teams and translate field conditions—including power availability, land and solar resources, heat rejection and water, soils, access, and permitting constraints—into technical and execution requirements.
  • Assess electrical fit end to end, from photovoltaic generation, battery energy storage system storage, and islanded operation through medium- and low-voltage distribution, power quality, redundancy, and protection, alongside thermal and civil interfaces that determine whether data center load can be deployed and operated at a site.
  • Test opportunities against TAR's execution capabilities, including equipment lead times, supply chain, construction capacity, and partner capabilities, and identify when execution rather than engineering is the binding constraint.
  • Feed field and deal learnings back into TAR's standard designs, equipment standards, and execution playbook; identify recurring gaps that cost deals, margin, or schedule and drive them to resolution with engineering and project delivery teams.

Desired Qualifications

  • Experience with data center electrical and mechanical infrastructure, including liquid cooling or modular and prefabricated deployments.
  • Background in solar, battery storage, behind-the-meter generation, microgrids, or off-grid power systems.
  • Experience qualifying edge, co-located industrial, or other non-traditional sites.
  • EPC, construction, or project delivery experience that strengthens judgment about what can be built and how quickly.
  • Experience building qualification frameworks, screening tools, or cost models used by commercial teams.
  • Professional Engineer licensure.

About the Company

TAR

Off-grid power plants for AI data centers

TAR builds and operates behind-the-meter power plants for AI data centers that cannot wait out a utility interconnection queue. The company designs islanded microgrids pairing solar, battery storage, and gas peakers, then manufactures, installs, and runs them, handling power electronics, microgrid controls, dispatch software, and site construction in-house. Compared with grid interconnection, which can take years to clear, an off-grid plant can be sited and energized on the developer's own schedule, and TAR says it is working with a large compute provider and targets 5 GW by 2028. Its goal is to remove power as the constraint on AI buildout by owning generation end to end.

Company size
11-50
Company stage
Series A
Total funding
$147M
Headquarters
Texas, United States
Founded
2025

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