Senior Optimization Engineer

Title: Senior Optimization Engineer
Department: Technology Center
Location: Irvine, CA
Supervisor: Manager of Data Science
FLSA Status: Exempt
Position Status: FTE, Permanent

Work Status: Hybrid

Senior Optimization Engineer

Hanwha Qcells USA Corp (“HQC US”) develops, invests, and delivers solar photovoltaic (PV) and battery energy storage systems (BESS) projects through Engineering, Procurement, Construction (EPC) services in North America.

The company brings a decade of global leadership in solar PV to deliver utility-scale power generation plants customized for local and regional energy markets. HQC US offers the full spectrum of PV solutions – from the core technology of cells and modules to large-scale project development and investment. With proven capabilities across the solar and battery storage value chain, HQC US minimizes uncertainty and risk, and helps customers achieve a higher return on their investment in renewable energy.

SUMMARY

Senior Optimization Engineer with software development background in Python and Julia to lead the Optimization Engineering discipline within the EMS Engineering team. We are transforming how large-scale Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) are controlled, and the Optimization Engineer will play a critical role in refining and developing the algorithms that are at the heart of this transformation. As controlling the level of participation in energy markets and ancillary services products is crucial for the economic performance of BESS systems, the formulation of our optimizer must stay current with market rule changes and anticipated market dynamics. This position reports to the Manager of Data Science, or another management personnel that the President of the Company may designate. The Senior Optimization Engineer will be responsible for the formulation of these new objectives, refine methods to hedge against uncertainty, and collaborate with our forecasting data scientists to maximize economic performance. Our MLOps and cloud platforms use state-of-the-art technologies to support your success. The Senior Optimization Engineer will have many opportunities to lead and contribute to the development of our utility-scale energy storage software products across various ISOs.

We are looking for a motivated self-starter who thrives in a dynamic environment. A strong work ethic with excellent problem-solving skills is as important as being a team player who enjoys learning and teaching. You will work closely with data science, MLOps, simulations, product, and software engineering teams to fulfill the responsibilities.

This position reports to the Irvine, CA office but will maintain a hybrid schedule of working out of their home office and the Irvine, CA office. Working hours are Monday through Friday, from 8:00am to 5:00pm or 9:00am to 6:00pm local time. This position is expected to travel up to 5% of the time.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTION & RESPONSIBILITIES
 

• Collaborate with product managers to understand market rules and program requirements and lead the creation of model formulation through translating the market rules into BESS scheduling and dispatch optimization models for wholesale electricity markets (e.g., ERCOT, CAISO, ISO-NE, NYISO, MISO).
• Develop and maintain a Market Clearing Engine to support the development of a Digital Twin for nodes of interest in various ISOs according to business needs.
• Develop constraints and penalties to drive heuristic behaviors.
• Develop, unit test, and document Julia and object-oriented Python code, and collaborate with the team to review and revise pull requests.
• Write Python code to manipulate and analyze time series data, collaborating with forecasting team members to align forecasting goals with economic objectives and integrate probabilistic forecasting into the optimization workflow.
• Contribute to the development and maintenance of our simulation workflow, used for evaluating algorithm performance, and support batch simulation experiments for model and parameter tuning as needed.
• Troubleshoot optimizer software operational issues and use operational data to improve algorithms.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
 

• M.Sc. in science or engineering, or equivalent education and experience.
• 7+ years of industry experience developing optimization models for energy applications.
• Experience in software development, in Python and Julia, for participation in energy markets (e.g., CAISO, ERCOT, MISO, ISO-NE, NYISO).
• Proven industrial experience with optimization modeling packages such as JuMP, CVXPY, PYOMO or solver APIs (e.g., Gurobi, Cplex, Xpress).
• Proficiency in Python libraries for numerical methods and time series data (NumPy, Pandas, SciPy, datetime).
• Strong theoretical background in Linear Programming, MILP, and Convex Optimization and solution algorithms.
• Solid foundation in linear algebra and statistics.
• Experience in a collaborative software development environment (version control with Git, code reviews), with the ability to write clean, maintainable, tested, and production-ready code.
• Strong teamwork skills and a focus on achieving team goals.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Familiarity with cloud, scalable platforms and managed services such as AWS services (S3, EC2, Lambda, EKS, Step Functions) and Databricks.
• Knowledge of automation tools and services (Docker, Kubernetes, Jenkins, Airflow) and visualization tools (Streamlit, Bokeh).
• Experience with relational databases (e.g., PostgreSQL) and web frameworks (e.g., Django).

SALARY RANGE FOR POSITION

The anticipated starting pay range of this position, which is to be located in Irvine, CA is $140,000 - $170,000 base salary per year.

The above-listed salary range is required by the California Pay Transparency Act and may differ depending on the location of those candidates hired nationwide. The salary range shared in the job description is for the listed position and only pertains to the candidate if they work in Irvine, CA. Actual compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to internal pay equity, skill set, education, licenses and certifications, geographic location, essential job duties and requirements, and the necessary experience relative to the job’s minimum qualifications. An additional discretionary bonus structure or incentives may be offered as part of the overall compensation package, in addition to the full range of medical, dental, and/or other benefits, dependent on the level and position offered.

EXAMPLES OF PHYSICAL DEMANDS

• Stationary Position: frequently remains stationary up to 90% of the time and sitting up to 8 hours in a day
• Move/Traverse: infrequently bend, stand, stoop and/or walk
• Carry Weight: infrequently carry weight and/or lift objects (light to heavy) weighing up to 10 pounds
• Hearing and Speech: frequently communicates with the ability to hear and talk on a regular basis with employees, coworkers, and all personnel matters; must be able to exchange accurate information in these situations
• Sight: frequent use of sight to detect images on computer, office documents, and office objects near and far
• Climb: occasionally ascends/descends on stairway to get to office upper and lower floors
• Travel: up to 5% as needed

EXAMPLES OF WORK ENVIRONMENT

• Regular professional, office business setting
• Noise level ranges from low to moderate (if in office setting)
• Noise level ranges from moderate to high (if on construction worksite)

Hanwha Qcells is proud to be an at-will Equal Opportunity Employer and prohibits discrimination against race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender perception or identity, national origin, age, marital status, pregnancy, citizenship, disability, protected veteran status and any other classification protected by applicable federal, state or local law.  This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.

It is important to note that the job descriptions provided by Qcells USA Corp are not intended to be comprehensive lists of all duties, responsibilities, or qualifications associated with the positions. Duties and responsibilities may change at any time with or without notice, reflecting our dynamic and evolving work environment.

We are committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals.  As part of this commitment, Hanwha Qcells will provide reasonable accommodations to all qualified individuals with disabilities to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and/or to receive other benefits and privileges of employment.  Please contact us to request accommodations at [email protected].

Nothing in this statement shall imply implicitly or explicitly a guarantee of employment outside our at-will employment opportunity.