Position: Vice President, Engineering
Location: Houston, Texas (hybrid, with regular travel to project sites)
Who are we recruiting for?
Executive Integrity is partnering, on a confidential and retained basis, with a US independent power producer backed by one of the world’s largest infrastructure investors to appoint a Vice President, Engineering. The business develops, builds and operates utility-scale solar and battery storage projects. It is now building a new venture focused on industrial waste heat recovery: a technology-agnostic approach to decarbonising industrial process heat.
What will you be doing?
As VP Engineering, you will take a completed front-end engineering design package and own everything needed to turn it into a delivered, commissioned project: procurement, construction and commissioning. At the same time, you will build the in-house capability to do this faster and more cost-effectively over time. Today, delivery runs through a third-party EPC contractor. This role exists to bring that capability in-house and improve project economics from day one.
Key responsibilities include:
- Negotiating directly with equipment manufacturers and building a multi-vendor roster, reducing reliance on third-party EPC margin.
- Challenging and improving engineering design packages.
- Managing modular fabrication and on-site integration.
- Owning construction and commissioning through to handover, across a varied mix of projects and delivery models.
- Choosing the right delivery model for each project and host site.
- Developing an in-house cost-estimation and cost-basis method, reducing dependence on external EPC quotes.
- Building a repeatable, scalable delivery playbook and the function’s own team as project volume grows.
- Acting as a technical thought partner to the venture’s leadership on delivery risk and trade-offs, and explaining that risk credibly to investor stakeholders.
Are you the ideal candidate?
- 15+ years of engineering experience (20+ preferred), with a chemical or mechanical engineering background.
- Direct, hands-on experience with heat integration or heat recovery projects.
- A demonstrated track record taking late-stage engineering designs through procurement, construction and commissioning.
- Direct experience negotiating with manufacturers across major equipment categories, ideally including compressors and heat exchangers.
- Exposure to modular, off-site fabrication and on-site integration delivery models.
- Entrepreneurial and comfortable working with limited structure and few established playbooks.
- Pragmatic rather than perfectionist: focused on projects that work commercially, not gold-plated engineering.
- Able to communicate technical and delivery risk clearly to non-technical and investor audiences.
- International project delivery experience is a plus, but not required.
What’s in it for you?
- The chance to build a delivery function from scratch inside a fully funded new venture. The first projects you deliver will set the standard for everything that follows.
- Backing from patient, long-term infrastructure capital, with exposure to the investor’s technical diligence team as the pipeline grows.
- A competitive base salary, with an annual bonus confirmed individually.
- Participation in a management incentive pool for the new venture, with both time-based and outcome-based vesting.
- Unlimited PTO, hybrid working, a cell phone stipend, life insurance and a 401(k).
- Regular travel to project and host sites across the US, mainly the Midwest and Gulf Coast.
Who are Executive Integrity?
Executive Integrity is a global executive search and recruitment consultancy for a more sustainable world with a focus on talent within the Maritime and Renewable Energy sectors. We give a proportion of all our profits to Renewable World, a charity that develops affordable and innovative renewable energy solutions to poverty-stricken communities.
Apply now
