Principal Structural Civil Engineer

AES Renewables is seeking an experienced Structural Engineer to support design development, project engineering, plan reviews, owner’s engineers, and construction of photovoltaic (PV), high voltage (HV), sub-station, and grid-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS) in coordination with the AES Business Development, Engineering and Construction teams and other markets. 

The Structural Engineer provides expert technical support across solar PV, substation, HV, and battery storage projects and serves as the team’s subject matter expert for structural design. Responsibilities include reviewing structural plans for AES CE Engineering, evaluating the structural basis of design, economical construction alternatives, and structural solutions, performing quality control and assurance assessments, and providing technical guidance on pile load testing, Lpile analysis, foundation types, concrete and steel design, corrosion issues, and costing. 

The ideal candidate should have experience with analysis and design and review of structural steel pile foundations, reinforced concrete design, and the evaluation of other structural systems typical to PV, BESS and HV plants for utility scale projects. 

The position is at one of the AES Renewables offices or remote and will include up to 25% travel to project locations and partner offices. 

Key Responsibilities 

Project Development 

• Provide support for early-stage foundation design options for project estimating purposes. 

• Collaborate with external engineering vendors to develop conceptual design approaches and tools for various foundation systems (e.g., piles, anchors systems, grade beams, helical foundations). 

• Support innovation and standardization of conceptual design methodologies across foundation types. 

• Review and occasionally provide preliminary structural designs for projects in early development 

• Review of geotechnical reports for structural impacts on projects in development 

Project Execution 

• Support project engineering with external Owner’s Engineer (OE) engagements with SOW, vendor coordination, and reviewing proposals. 

• Support Project Engineers in procuring OE services and/or external services; ensure consistent, high-quality reviews. 

• Support OE reviews as needed  

• Provide technical input, design solutions, and reviews for structural deliverables identifying areas for value engineering (e.g., PV Racking, BESS, HV Substation and Gen-Tie/Overhead line) 

• Review and comment on structural engineering calculations, studies and RFI’s across projects (e.g., design calculations, snow, wind, corrosion studies) 

• Review design packages for conformance with industry codes and standards, prudent industry practices, AES contractual technical specifications and AHJ requirements. 

• Perform site visits to assess structural issues during construction and operations. 

• Support or perform root-cause analysis for structural issues. 

• Conduct Job Site Assessment (JSA)s and safety walks to identify job-site hazards. 

• Coordinate with HV and project engineers to assess and provide recommendations to project schedules. 

Engineering Support 

• Build and maintain a database of foundation designs (historical and current). 

• Analyze design evolution (e.g., steel tonnage from concept to IFC) to guide cost and design decisions. 

• Provide rapid, data-backed material impact estimates for design changes 

• Draft and update structural specifications to current industry practices and trends by incorporating lessons learned from past projects.  

• Verify structural calculations are complete and recommendations are incorporated into construction documents. 

• Support the Project Management and Engineering to troubleshoot issues during construction or operations and maintenance and develop repair/remediation options. 

• Support the Innovation team with product reviews related to structural design. 

Growth and Leadership 

• Develop tools, guidance, and training to enable Project Engineers and other engineering staff to review structural designs independently. 

• Serve as SME for complex or ambiguous structural engineering review outcomes. 

• Continuously improve internal design- review and QA processes. 

• Contribute to AES Renewables growth planning through process-improvement task forces and strategic initiatives. 

• Develop and refine tools for structural concept design and estimating. 

• Provide support for field design issues and escalate to external engineering when needed. 

Skills and Qualifications 

Primary Qualifications 

• Undergraduate degree in Structural Engineering or equivalent technical field. 

• 10+ years professional experience in structural engineering 

•  5 + years of experience with PV and Battery Energy Storage System design and WTG foundation design and/or 2+ years of experience with HV Substation and Overhead Line design 

• Proficiency in field experience with structural, civil, geotechnical, and/or design build construction. 

• Experience with Structural Engineering standards and codes in the US. 

• Proficiency with Microsoft Office.  

“Plus” Qualifications 

• PE or SE qualifications, or on track to become qualified 

• Master’s degree in structural engineering 

• Experience with Lpile, finite element analysis (SAP2000, STAAD, or similar) or other advanced modeling tools 

• Spanish language skills 

• OSHA 10-hr or comparable job-site safety certification