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Fluidstack is building civilization-scale compute infrastructure for AI, with a focus on deploying 10-100s of GWs of power faster than anyone else. The company is rethinking every layer of the stack—from power acquisition and data center design to operations—with teams spanning hardware and software.
The Power Generation Team is solving some of the most complex problems in distributed energy: building islanded grids at gigawatt scale with no utility backup, getting power online in months rather than years, designing repeatable power blocks that can be stamped across a fleet, and creating grids where compute load actively participates in grid stability through curtailment and shedding.
As Generation Lead, Fuel-Based Generation, you will own the entire fuel-based generation strategy for Fluidstack's sites. Your responsibilities include:
- Assess and qualify every fuel-oxidation generation technology worth considering (reciprocating engines, turbines, linear generators, fuel cells) and build the qualified technology and supplier list.
- Set the standard interface that turns any engine, turbine, or fuel cell into an interchangeable node in the site's decentralized generation array, with defined electrical connection, control signals, telemetry, and operating envelope.
- Decide fuel-based capacity per block, unit sizes, and redundancy for firming and backup, balancing cost, fuel use, and uptime as the block design evolves.
- Write technical specifications and acceptance tests covering step-load acceptance, ramp rate, minimum load, start reliability, heat rate across load range, and emissions. Witness factory and site acceptance before units are accepted.
- Own installation and commissioning of the generation fleet through first fire, load testing against real AI load profiles, and handover. Fold field findings back into specifications.
- Operate the fleet for longest life and lowest fuel burn, tracking heat rate, availability, and maintenance cost per unit. Set overhaul intervals and operating strategy, feeding learnings into the next qualification round.
- Hire rotating equipment engineers to extend qualification, commissioning, and operations work across the fleet.
Fluidstack operates with full autonomy, insane urgency, first-principles reasoning, and a focus on building something that matters. The company is singularly focused on speed and scale as key differentiators.
REQUIREMENTS:
- You have 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 have 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 have 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 units were run to extend overhaul intervals or cut fuel burn.
- You have integrated fuel-based generation with inverter-based resources on the same bus or in an islanded system, and can explain exactly what the engine needs from the controller and what the controller needs from the engine.
- You have commissioned generation through first fire and load testing, and were on site when a unit tripped on a load step and worked out why.
- You have worked across more than one generation technology or fuel, and 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.
BONUS EXPERIENCE:
- Islanded or weak-grid operation with large load swings (mining, offshore, island utilities).
- Alternative and blended fuels (hydrogen blends, methanol, dual-fuel diesel).
- Electrochemical generation (solid oxide fuel cells, Bloom Energy).
- Condition monitoring and predictive maintenance (vibration analysis, oil analysis, borescope inspection).
- Emissions controls and their interplay with air permits (SCR, oxidation catalysts).
