Lead System Architect (Industrial IoT & Energy Systems)

🌍 Remote, USA 🎯 Full-time 🕐 Posted Recently

Job Description

About 1st Avenue Power:

At 1st Avenue Power, we are on a mission to deliver simple, fast-to-deploy, customer-centric and intelligent power systems leveraging the abundance of solar to provide inexpensive and reliable clean energy to global customers from data centers to energy starved communities around the world. We envision a future where every community, business, and nation thrives on the limitless potential of clean energy, united in a shared commitment to a sustainable and equitable world.

You will be working with Dr. Tom Buttgenbach, one of the most successful clean energy technology innovators and entrepreneur who has been a driving force in making solar-based energy solutions the cheapest and most reliable energy option. Tom founded and led Avantus (formerly known as “8minute Solar Energy“), to become one of the largest and most profitable solar and energy storage companies in the United States and the largest in California, including delivering over 17% of Los Angeles’ power. When Tom sold his interest in Avantus’ development business to KKR in mid-2024, it had delivered over $1 billion in profit and secured over $10 Billion in power purchase agreements and project financings with a pipeline of over 30 GW of solar and 90 GWh of energy storage, capable of powering the homes of more than 20 million Americans day and night. Tom’s family office investment firm, 1st Avenue Capital, is building teams for the next generation of advanced solar power system architecture and AI to aggressively drive down the cost of and equitable access to clean and reliable energy.[1] 1st Avenue’s advanced large scale power systems are addressing the increasing inadequacy of the grid to meet the massively growing power demands of the digital economy, while its intelligent distributed solar utilities are leapfrogging the grid to provide equitable access to inexpensive, clean and reliable power to underserved communities around the world.

The Impact You’ll Make:

We are building the future of energy management. Our team is developing a next-generation software platform to operationalize power plants, bridging the critical gap between complex power electronics on the ground and advanced analytics in the cloud. We don't just visualize data; we provide the telemetry and control systems that keep the lights on.

About the Role

We are looking for an experienced Lead System Architect to define and own the end-to-end technical architecture of our platform.

This is a unique role that sits at the convergence of Operational Technology (OT) and Information Technology (IT). You will not just be designing cloud microservices; you will be designing a distributed system that spans from a constrained edge compute device located inside a power cabinet to a serverless infrastructure on AWS.

You will serve as the technical captain, aligning the efforts of our Embedded/OT engineers, Edge Computing specialists, and Cloud/Data engineers. You must be comfortable making high-stakes trade-off decisions concerning latency, reliability, security, and cost in a mission-critical industrial environment.

End-to-End Architectural Strategy
Define and own the overall system architecture blueprint, from physical device connectivity (Layer 1) to user interface dashboards (Layer 7).
Make critical architectural trade-off decisions, particularly regarding what processing happens at the "Edge" (on-premise) versus the "Cloud" to ensure low-latency control loops and bandwidth efficiency.
Define data models and communication standards between disparate systems (e.g., defining the JSON schema that translates a Modbus register into an AWS IoT Shadow state).
Technical Leadership & OT/IT Convergence
Act as the technical bridge between hardware-focused embedded teams and software-focused cloud teams, translating industrial constraints into software requirements.
Mentor senior engineers across the stack, ensuring consistency in design patterns and code quality.
Evaluated and select key technologies, frameworks, and third-party vendors for both edge runtimes and cloud services.
Reliability, Resiliency, and Safety Considerations
Architect the system for high availability and disaster recovery. The architecture must account for unreliable network conditions, ensuring local safety capabilities remain functional even when severed from the cloud.
Design robust buffering, store-and-forward mechanisms, and state reconciliation strategies to ensure zero data loss during outages.
Industrial Security Leadership
Define the security posture for the entire stack based on a Zero Trust model.
Oversee the implementation of device identity management (X.509 certificates), mutual TLS (mTLS) authentication, and secure over-the-air (OTA) update mechanisms for edge infrastructure.

10+ years of software engineering experience, with at least 5+ years in a dedicated System Architect or Principal Engineer role managing complex, distributed systems.
Deep AWS Expertise: Demonstrable experience designing hyperscale solutions using the AWS serverless stack (Lambda, DynamoDB, Kinesis, API Gateway).
IIoT/Edge Experience: Strong understanding of the unique constraints of industrial environments. You understand that network connectivity is not guaranteed and latency matters.
Experience with AWS IoT Core and related services (Greengrass, Device Shadows, IoT Rules Engine).
Solid understanding of networking fundamentals (TCP/IP, MQTT, WebSockets, firewalls, cellular connectivity).
Experience designing data pipelines for both "hot" (real-time telemetry) and "cold" (historical data lake) paths.

Experience directly working in Energy, Utilities, Manufacturing, or Automotive sectors.
Familiarity with industrial protocols (Modbus, OPC UA, CANbus, DNP3) — you don't need to code drivers, but you need to understand how they work and their limitations.
Experience with "Digital Twin" concepts and modeling physical assets in software.
Advanced knowledge of cybersecurity standards for industrial control systems (e.g., IEC 62443).

Pragmatic over Dogmatic: You know when to use the latest cutting-edge technology and when to use boring, proven solutions because reliability is paramount.
System Thinker: You see the whole board. You understand how a change in the embedded C++ code affects the AWS Kinesis shard throughput cost.
Strong Communicator: You can explain complex cloud concepts to electrical engineers, and complex hardware limitations to frontend React developers.

Competitive Compensation Package
Remote Flexibility with 5-15% travel to sites as needed
Health Insurance: We offer 100% coverage of employee premiums under a Gold-level PPO plan. Dental & Vision Insurance: 50% of employee premiums are covered.
Retirement Plan: A 401(k) plan with a 6% employer match.

Additional Information:

Minimum salary of $200,000 to maximum salary of $260,000 + equity + benefits.

The range provided is 1AP’s reasonable estimate of the base compensation for this role. The actual amount will be based on job-related and non-discriminatory factors such as location, experience, training, skills, and abilities. Consult with your Recruiter during the initial call to determine a more targeted range based on these job-related factors.

About 1st Avenue Power:

You will be working with Dr. Tom Buttgenbach, one of the most successful clean energy technology innovators and entrepreneurs who has been a driving force in making solar-based energy solutions the cheapest and most reliable energy option. Tom founded and led Avantus (formerly known as “8minute Solar Energy“), to become one of the largest and most profitable solar and energy storage companies in the United States and the largest in California, including delivering over 17% of Los Angeles’ power.

When Tom sold his interest in Avantus’ development business to KKR in mid-2024, it had delivered over $1 billion in profit and secured over $10 Billion in power purchase agreements and project financings with a pipeline of over 30 GW of solar and 90 GWh of energy storage, capable of powering the homes of more than 20 million Americans day and night.

Tom’s family office investment firm, 1st Avenue Capital, is building teams for the next generation of advanced solar power system architecture and AI to aggressively drive down the cost of and equitable access to clean and reliable energy.[1] 1st Avenue’s advanced large scale power systems are addressing the increasing inadequacy of the grid to meet the massively growing power demands of the digital economy, while its intelligent distributed solar utilities are leapfrogging the grid to provide equitable access to inexpensive, clean and reliable power to underserved communities around the world.

1AI Energy, the employing entity for 1st Avenue Power, and 1st Avenue Power are committed to a policy of Equal Employment Opportunity and will not discriminate against an applicant or employee based on race (inclusive of traits associated with race, including hair texture and protective hairstyles), color, religion, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding), age, veteran or military status, marital status, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, reproductive decision-making, or any other legally recognized protected class under federal, state, or local law. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements.. Applicants with disabilities may be entitled to reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), and local laws. A reasonable accommodation is a change in the way things are normally done which will ensure an equal employment opportunity without imposing undue hardship on 1AI Energy or 1st Avenue Power. Please inform the company's personnel representative if you need assistance completing an application or to otherwise participate in the application process.

Join our team and make a real difference in the world.

[1: Additionally, 1st Avenue is in the business of acquiring projects where there has been a final notice-to-proceed or financial close.]

California Pay Range

$200,000 - $260,000 USD

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