Opportunity

Natel Energy’s mission is to deliver solutions that help people and ecosystems adapt to climate change. We do this through a combination of hardware, software and project development.  Our hardware solutions are fish-safe, compact, high-performance turbines ranging from 100 kW to 3 MW, that produce reliable renewable energy while protecting or enhancing watershed ecosystems.

We are growing quickly and building out our project development team and related operations. The right candidate is driven by our mission, has strong civil engineering skills and has ideally some prior hydro experience. The successful candidate is highly organized, an excellent communicator, demonstrates an excellent independent work ethic and a desire to work closely with a driven, mixed remote and in-person team.

As a strong contributor in our project development team, this individual will play a key role in shaping, driving, and implementing efficient civil engineering set-up, design. This person will report to our Hydro General Manager. 

Responsibilities

This role will lead, manage and execute all our civil engineering activities in close relationship with the rest of the project development team.

• For project origination (i.e. acquisitions of existing hydro projects): carry out all civil engineering assessments and in particular assess what civil engineering arrangements would be required should an acquisition of projects by Natel happen;

• For project development (i.e. hydro projects developed by Natel): carry out all civil engineering activities, in close partnership with contractors as the case may be, from planning, design, civil works contracting up to execution. Areas of focus will include, amongst other things:

  • Foundation designs in saturated soils,  typical rebar layouts

  • Concrete testing
    Compaction testing

  • Estimating civil construction costs

  • Dam safety reviews, maintenance and repairs

  • Fish and eel passage design

  • Designing structures in wetland environments

• For project operations (i.e. hydro projects currently operated by Natel): support the operation team on all civil engineering aspects;

• Regularly report status of all civil engineering activities to the management team;

• Work closely with the rest of the project development team to ensure that the best support is provided to them;

• Work in close partnership with the electrical engineering team;

• Work closely with the turbine engineering team to ensure that the best support is provided to the projects being acquired, developed or operated by Natel;

• Work closely with the project execution team and the project operation team;

• Act as a representative of Natel towards civil works companies and civil engineering companies as the case may be.

Minimum Qualifications

• Degree in civil engineering.

• Minimum of 5 years of civil engineering experience.

• Located in the United States; this position is not open to international candidates requiring sponsorship for work visa.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in a civil engineering firm or a civil works company.

• Prior experience in hydro would definitely be a plus. 

• Professional engineer license would be a plus.

• Experience with and comfort working with technology applications, including but not limited to:

  • Google GSuite → email, shared drive, calendar

  • Slack → shared internal virtual workspace

  • Asana → task management

  • Atlassian Confluence → internal team wiki and knowledge management

  • Smartsheet → project planning and management

  • Various virtual meeting platforms → Google Meet, Zoom, Microsoft Teams

• Fluency in French, German, and/or Italian would be useful!

You'd be a good fit if

• You want to work at a growing, impact-focused company. 

• You’re excited to solve problems in innovative ways and you resist the “this is how it’s always been done” thinking.

• You’re unafraid of ambiguity. Rapid change and learning is exciting to you, and you thrive in growth oriented venture environments.

• You're pragmatic and want to get things done without sacrificing quality.

• You're humble, empathetic, and understand that giving and receiving honest direct feedback helps everyone to grow.

We encourage you to apply even if you don’t meet every qualification. If you’re passionate about water, climate and renewable energy we’d love to chat!

We are proud to offer great benefits like 4 weeks of paid vacation and trans-inclusive health insurance plans (along with dental, vision and life insurance). We want our team to live full lives outside of work. In addition to competitive salaries, we offer equity to new employees and other incentive compensation for overall team performance. 

Location

Remote with option of being based in Alameda, California. We conduct business using technologies like Slack and video conferencing. We have an office and R&D facility in Alameda, CA, which is where many of our hardware team works in-person on a regular basis. We get together for occasional in-person gatherings to work, bond, and celebrate our successes. 

Travel. As needed to support on-premise work at our Alameda facility or at our operating projects. 

Our hiring process

Natel Energy is committed to building, supporting, and growing a diverse team. We have a standardized interview process designed to reduce individual bias, and have structured pay scales to prevent inequity. We don’t discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

Starting pay for the successful applicant will depend on a variety of job-related factors, which may include job-related knowledge, skills, and experience, market location, business needs, or market demands. This range may be modified in the future. The base salary range for this role is: $82,000-$120,000.