Data Center Power Generation and Microgrids Engineer

About the role

Training and serving frontier AI models requires compute infrastructure at a scale and density that pushes past what conventional data center designs were built to handle. The loads involved are large enough — and arrive fast enough — that utility supply alone often can't meet the need on the timeline required, and the step-load behavior of large accelerator clusters creates power-quality and ride-through demands that conventional backup-generation designs weren't built for. Anthropic's Data Center Infrastructure team is responsible for solving that problem: delivering facilities that can be energized early, ride through grid disturbances, and present a well-behaved load at the point of interconnection (POI).

As a Data Center Power Generation & Microgrids Engineer, you'll own the behind-the-meter generation and storage architecture for Anthropic's data center portfolio. That means the on-site generation fleet — reciprocating engine gensets, gas turbines, fuel cells — and the battery energy storage systems that buffer load steps and provide ride-through. It means the microgrid layer that ties them together: islanding and resynchronization, black-start, load-shedding, and generation dispatch. And it means the grid side: interconnection studies and agreements, IEEE 1547/2800 compliance, and power quality at the point of interconnection. You'll also own our temporary- and bridging-generation strategies — the plans that let a site energize and start serving load before permanent utility service is available, and transition cleanly once it is.

This is a deeply cross-functional role. You'll work closely with colleagues across the infrastructure team on where and how generation and storage tie into the site electrical distribution, controls, and SCADA, and with our hardware and compute teams to understand the load characteristics you're designing against. You'll be Anthropic's technical counterpart to on-site generation providers, BESS integrators, utilities, and ISOs/RTOs. Expect roughly 20–35% travel for design reviews, factory witness testing, and site startup.

Responsibilities

On-site generation engineering

• Own Anthropic's behind-the-meter generation architecture across the portfolio — prime-mover selection and sizing (reciprocating engines, gas turbines, fuel cells), paralleling topology, redundancy, fuel systems, and emissions controls — and maintain the generation basis of design and technical specifications that build partners and generation providers design against

• Set the day-one vs. day-N plant sizing and expansion strategy — what the plant needs on day one so it can be expanded or augmented later, and how to add units, storage, or a grid tie to a system already running

• Characterize the data center load for external generation partners — step changes, ramps, oscillation, fault behavior, and non-IT load — so providers can size and tune their plant against the real duty

• Model generation response against the load profile of large-scale ML training — step-load acceptance, block loading, transient frequency and voltage response, load rejection — and set the acceptance criteria (e.g., per ISO 8528-5) that generation packages are tested against

• Develop temporary- and bridging-generation strategies that deliver early site energization ahead of permanent utility service, including the sequencing, protection, and controls changes needed to transition from temporary to permanent power without stranding equipment or capacity

• Ensure generation designs meet NFPA 37, NFPA 110 where the plant provides emergency or legally required standby power, fuel-gas and fuel-storage codes (e.g., NFPA 54, NFPA 30), and applicable emissions requirements, and coordinate with environmental and permitting counterparts on the technical inputs to air permits

Energy storage & microgrid architecture

• Size and specify battery energy storage systems for ride-through, step-load buffering, and power-quality support — including cell chemistry and enclosure selection, inverter selection (grid-forming vs. grid-following), UL 9540 listing, UL 9540A large-scale fire test data, and NFPA 855 installation requirements — and own the thermal and fire-protection interfaces

• Define the site microgrid topology and operating modes — grid-parallel, islanded, and black-start — and the transition logic between them, including load-shedding schemes, resynchronization criteria, and the conditions under which the site separates from and reconnects to the utility

• Specify the functional requirements for the microgrid controller — generation dispatch, set-point coordination across rotating and inverter-based sources, mode management — and drive its implementation, testing, and integration into site SCADA and the electrical power monitoring system (EPMS)

• Help define the protection and control requirements for generation and storage sources so that interconnection protection, anti-islanding, and source-transfer schemes are consistent from the generator terminals through the point of interconnection

Grid interconnection & power quality

• Lead the technical side of utility interconnection for sites with on-site generation or storage — interconnection applications, studies, and agreements, ISO/RTO processes, IEEE 1547/2800 compliance, and interconnection protection

• Own power quality at the point of interconnection — flicker per IEEE 1453, harmonics per IEEE 519, voltage regulation, reactive-power and power-factor requirements — and design the generation, storage, and filtering mitigations needed to keep the site within its interconnection limits under real training-load behavior

• Run or critically review the power-system studies that support interconnection and microgrid design — load flow, short-circuit contribution from rotating and inverter-based sources, transient stability, motor-starting and step-load studies, and electromagnetic-transient studies where inverter controls matter

Vendor diligence & delivery

• Lead technical due diligence on on-site generation providers, BESS integrators, and microgrid-controller vendors — evaluating equipment and controls on engineering merit, stress-testing performance and availability guarantees, and reviewing proposed architectures against Anthropic's basis of design

• Define the technical performance terms in energy-services agreements with on-site generation providers — availability, power quality, ramp, and ride-through, each with a definition, meter, test protocol, and acceptance criteria — working with energy commercial and legal counterparts

• Review and disposition design packages, submittals, shop drawings, and deviation requests from generation providers and their EPCs, and hold partners to Anthropic's reliability and maintainability requirements

• Support commissioning of generation, storage, and microgrid systems — witnessing factory and site acceptance tests, defining and observing integrated systems tests (islanding, resynchronization, black-start, load-step), and resolving field issues against design intent

• Manage concurrent generation and microgrid scopes across multiple sites, and contribute to the continuous improvement of Anthropic's generation and interconnection design standards as the portfolio and the technology both evolve

You may be a good fit if you

• Have 10+ years of engineering experience in power generation, microgrids, battery energy storage, or utility interconnection, with substantial time spent on on-site or distributed generation for mission-critical, data center, or large industrial loads, and deep hands-on delivery experience in at least one of these areas (generation, storage, microgrids, or interconnection)

• Have deep hands-on experience with one or more generation technologies — reciprocating engine gensets (diesel and natural gas), gas turbines, or fuel cells — including sizing, paralleling, fuel systems, and emissions controls

• Understand the thermal generation asset classes — reciprocating engines across the size range (sub-MW through 10–20 MW units), small- and medium-frame combustion turbines, and combined cycles — and how each responds to fast load changes and holds stable islanded operation

• Understand battery energy storage sizing for a defined duty (ride-through, load-step buffering, peak shaving), inverter selection (grid-forming vs. grid-following), UL 9540 listing, UL 9540A test data, and NFPA 855 installation requirements

• Understand microgrid architecture end to end — islanding detection and transition, resynchronization, black-start, load-shedding, and generation dispatch

• Are fluent in interconnection standards and processes — IEEE 1547, IEEE 2800, utility interconnection requirements, and ISO/RTO study and queue processes

• Are comfortable running or critically reviewing power-system studies — load flow, short-circuit, transient stability, and power quality — in tools such as ETAP, SKM, PSS®E, PSCAD, or EasyPower

• Hold a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Power Engineering, or a closely related field, or have equivalent practical experience; Professional Engineer (PE) licensure is valued but not required

• Have worked directly with generation OEMs, BESS integrators, generation-as-a-service providers, or utilities, and can evaluate equipment and proposals on technical merit rather than datasheet claims

• Communicate clearly with technical peers, utilities, regulators, and non-specialist stakeholders, and are results-oriented with a bias toward practical solutions and a willingness to pick up work outside your core remit when the team needs it

Strong candidates may also have

• Designed or delivered battery energy storage systems at MW scale

• Specified or commissioned a microgrid controller for a site that can island and resynchronize

• Taken at least one large load or generation interconnection from application through agreement

• HV/MV substation design experience — main one-line development, equipment specification, grounding, and layout — since on-site generation and storage tie in at the substation and the two scopes are tightly coupled

• A protection-engineering background covering generation and interconnection protection — relay selection and settings, anti-islanding schemes, and coordination between on-site sources and utility protection

• Experience integrating renewable generation (solar PV, wind) with storage into hybrid behind-the-meter plants

• Experience on the technical side of air permitting for stationary generation (e.g., Title V, NSR/PSD, or state equivalents) and emissions-control equipment selection

• Electromagnetic-transient (EMT) modeling experience in PSCAD or EMTP for inverter-based resource and microgrid-transition studies

• Direct experience with data center, hyperscaler, or other large-campus microgrids, or at a generation provider, BESS integrator, or developer serving those customers

• A track record of authoring generation or interconnection reference designs or standards that were adopted across multiple sites or by external partners

Annual Salary: 320000 - 405000 USD