Generation Lead, Fuel-Based Generation at Fluidstack in Austin, TX

Job description

About Fluidstack We exist to make humanity more free. For most of human history, you farmed or you starved. Technology gave people more time for the things they wanted to do, instead of things they had to do. Powerful AI will be the biggest lever for human choice we've ever built - but only if models are aligned with what humanity actually wants. There are groups building AI who don't share these goals. Whoever deploys frontier compute infrastructure fastest will decide whether AI expands human freedom or shrinks it. We're singularly focused on delivering 10 to 100s of GWs of compute faster than anyone else, rethinking every layer of the stack. We acquire power, design and build data centers, and operate them - with teams spanning hardware and software. Speed and scale are our key differentiators. Come be a part of building civilization-scale infrastructure for AI. We hire people who care deeply about this problem space. If that is you, please apply! How We Operate Be a barrel. Full autonomy. Own things end to end, take on scope without being asked, no permission required to operate outside your core role. Insane urgency. We drive everything forward as fast as possible. Reason from first principles. Challenge every assumption. Zero analogy thinking, no egos, the best idea wins. Love of the game. The frontier of AI is the most interesting problem of our time. We put in long hours at high intensity to push the frontier forward. Build something that actually matters. If you're going to spend your time, spend it on something that matters to the world. The Power Generation Team The Power Generation team designs and builds the power that runs Fluidstack's AI infrastructure, including grids that stand alone with no utility behind them. Examples of key problems the team is working on Build an islanded grid at gigawatt scale, from a blank sheet. Generation, storage and compute running with no utility behind them, where the machine you design is the only thing holding voltage. No playbook exists at this size, so the architecture you set becomes the reference. Get power online in months, not years. Interconnection queues are measured in years and we do not have them. Generating our own power is how a site goes from signed lease to live compute inside six months, and the power system is the long pole in that plan. Make one power block, then build it a thousand times. A repeatable block and cluster unit, validated once and stamped across the fleet, is the only route to the scale we are targeting. Every bespoke site is schedule we do not get back. Design a grid whose largest load answers back. Compute is not passive demand here. Load behaviour, curtailment and shedding are design variables you negotiate and specify, a lever almost no power system engineer has ever been handed. Role Scope Qualify the technologies. Assess every fuel-oxidation generation technology worth considering for our blocks, from reciprocating engines and turbines to linear generators, and build the qualified technology and supplier list Fluidstack buys from. Set the node standard. Define the interface that turns any engine, turbine or other fuel-oxidation unit into one interchangeable node in the site's decentralized generation array, with a defined electrical connection, control signals, telemetry and operating envelope, so the plant controller dispatches it alongside PV and BESS without bespoke integration. Size fuel-based capacity per block. Decide how much fuel-based capacity each block carries, in what unit sizes and with what redundancy, for its firming and backup role, and hold that decision against cost, fuel use and uptime as the block design evolves. Specify and accept every unit. Write the technical specification and acceptance tests for each qualified unit, covering step-load acceptance, ramp rate, minimum load, start reliability, heat rate across the load range and emissions, and witness factory and site acceptance before a unit is accepted. Install, commi