Frontier Energy is a professional consulting firm that specializes in energy efficiency technology evaluation, advanced building codes, and community-based program design for residential single-family, multifamily, industrial, and commercial buildings, food service, transportation, and next generation grid. We are committed to a single mission: To pioneer the intelligent use of energy today for a sustainable and resilient tomorrow.
We are seeking an experienced Engineer to support energy efficiency programs for a range of customers, including utilities, national laboratories, private industry, and state/federal/local governments. This position will support Frontier's operations by understanding industry trends and client objectives, building strong client relationships, translating concepts to client value, assembling and directing cross-disciplinary teams, managing high-depth project plans, ensuring successful execution and continuous improvement, navigating contracts and scopes, driving active collaboration, and maintaining proficiency in project management and discipline areas.
This position will be based out of Frontier Energy’s office in downtown Davis, California—an energetic and charming bicycle-friendly college town ideally situated between the San Francisco Bay area and the state’s capital, Sacramento.
With a team of 200 talented people in eight offices across the U.S., Frontier Energy has decades of experience in program management, engineering, software, and customer engagement. Frontier Energy carries a wide-ranging portfolio of R&D, monitoring and evaluation, and Title 24 Codes and Standards-related projects focusing on building energy usage in the residential, multifamily, commercial, and mixed-use sectors. This makes Frontier Energy well-positioned to make a difference by preserving resources for current and future generations.
Though each project will have its own specific set of goals and objectives, the expectations of an Engineer will generally include:
- Understands client objectives, anticipating client needs and serving as central point of contact for representatives of client(s),
- Actively pursues strong relationships with key contacts at each client, and nurture collaborative working relationships with a range of stakeholders including clients, subcontractors, research partners, and the broader energy efficiency and building science technical community,
- Develops plans, projects, and support or lead low complexity proposals,
- Take responsibility for the budget and scope of work break-downs at program, task, and subtask level with cognizance to how the work contributes to the whole,
- Demonstrable ability to review, interpret, and develop scopes and work break-downs,
- Provides mentorship to others in grade and lower grades,
- Consistently use effective communication styles to foster collaboration,
- Demonstrate application of expertise to advanced technical problems,
- Stays current with trends affecting building science, energy efficiency, and decarbonization, and
- Analyzing performance data collected in the field or lab in support of research projects.
Depending on the applicant’s skills and current Frontier staffing needs, work will focus on one or more of the following technical areas:
- Developing and analyzing proposed Title 24 energy code improvements and reach codes
- Performing or overseeing building energy modeling activities,
- Supporting federal, state, and local efforts to decarbonize buildings through energy codes, pilot programs, and other policy mechanisms,
- Planning and executing field or lab testing in support of research projects, and
- Applying technical analysis to support policies and programs.
The position is a full-time (exempt) position. Some overnight travel may be required.
Qualifications:
- Possess a solid understanding of the energy performance of buildings, such as the building envelope and mechanical systems, as well as an understanding of technical topics, including engineering physics, thermodynamics, heat transfer, building energy efficiency measures, grid-responsive technologies, decarbonization, and renewable energy,
- Four years of engineering experience in in the residential or commercial energy efficiency or building science arenas, 2 years with a Master’s Degree or Professional Engineering License, or 2 years with a PhD,
- Excellent skills with MS Word®, MS Excel®, MS PowerPoint®, MS Outlook®, Adobe Acrobat, and Windows® operating systems,
- Excellent written and oral communication skills, with the ability to create written work product that requires minimal review by senior staff and understand as well as communicate complex technical concepts,
- Bachelor's degree in a relevant field from ABET/EAC/ANSAC/ACS - accredited program institution.
Highly Desirable Skills/Experience:
- Solid understanding of energy efficiency and building science fundamentals,
- Experience with local, state, and federal government agencies, and regional and state level utility stakeholders,
- Proficiency with building energy modeling software, including EnergyPlus, OpenStudio, and/or the California Energy Commission-recognized residential energy compliance tools (CBECC-Res),
- Experience with data analysis, scripting, analysis of large data sets, and statistical analysis,
- Energy efficient design of residential buildings,
- Hands-on knowledge in building construction, operation and/or maintenance,
- Familiarity with the California regulatory environment, including California Title 24, Part 6; utility/third party energy efficiency programs; and grid flexibility and electrification policies,
- Experience with programming languages, such as Python, and
- Specific experience with distributed energy resources and load shifting.
