[Hiring] Optimization Engineer @Intersect

Role Description

Intersect is building the integrated energy infrastructure that the future demands, and this role sits at the center of that mission. The Optimization Engineer will provide technical leadership in the creation of a programmatic optimization platform that transforms real-time data, forecasting models, and asset intelligence into automated ERCOT and gas market decisions.

This role reports to the Optimization Analytics Lead and delivers long-term portfolio value by enabling sophisticated, reliable optimization across a diverse mix of storage, solar, wind, thermal generation, and load assets. You will partner closely with trading, engineering, and operations teams to drive performance and scalability.

Team Overview

The Origination & Trading team is responsible for Intersect’s revenue generation through long-term contracting on the Origination side and market optimization and short-term hedging on the Trading side. This team plays a critical role in advancing Intersect’s mission by translating asset capabilities and market opportunities into durable financial performance through data-driven decision-making and operational excellence.

What You’ll Do

• Build the Optimization Engine that Drives Intersect’s GW-Scale Microgrids
• Design, implement, and maintain production code for optimization, bidding, simulation, and forecasting workflows.
• Develop orchestration frameworks to enable parallelization, reliability, and reproducibility.
• Guide technical decisions related to data architecture, software design, and system reliability.
• Establish patterns, tooling, and best practices to support scalable optimization capabilities.
• Incorporate uncertainty, probabilistic forecasts, and financial risk into algorithm design while balancing performance and interpretability.

• Enable Trading and Operational Excellence
• Collaborate across engineering and business teams to ensure optimization systems perform reliably in live market conditions.
• Partner with trading and operations teams to create feedback loops between real-world performance and algorithmic improvements.
• Advance simulation tools to accelerate parameter tuning and expand analytical capabilities.

What You’ll Bring

• 5+ years of experience formulating and solving optimization problems (LP, MILP, nonlinear) in production environments.
• Familiarity with solvers such as Gurobi, XPRESS, HiGHS, or CPLEX and modeling frameworks like Pyomo, JuMP, or AMPL.
• Experience providing technical leadership and guiding system architecture decisions.
• Hands-on experience with production code, continuous deployment, and designing for scalability and reliability.
• Working knowledge of orchestration tools such as Airflow, Temporal, Dagster, Flyte, or Argo.
• Strong systems thinking and ability to collaborate across teams to ensure cohesive, high-performing solutions.
• Ability to leverage AI tools to accelerate development while maintaining high code quality standards.

Strongly Preferred

• Graduate degree in operations research, engineering, economics, or a related field with a strong mathematical foundation.
• Strong knowledge of energy systems, wholesale power markets, or power plant operations.
• Experience in environments where latency and reliability directly impact business outcomes.
• Experience building and operating production infrastructure on cloud platforms such as GCP, AWS, or Azure.

Total Rewards

• Total Compensation: $217,500 - $237,000 (total compensation includes base salary + bonus in USD)
• Equity: Beyond your salary, you’ll receive an Equity Grant, giving you a meaningful stake in our parent company.
• Health & wellness: 100% premium coverage for you and your dependents on medical, dental, and vision.
• Time to recharge: Unlimited PTO, plus two company-wide breaks (Fourth of July & end of year).
• Family support: Up to 12 weeks of fully paid parental leave, plus 6 additional weeks for birth parents; access to family planning and family care support through Carrot and Maven.
• Mental health: Free access to Spring Health, including 5 free therapy and psychiatry sessions, plus a Headspace account for mindfulness and meditation through our physical health vendor, Wellhub+.
• Perks & extras: $150 monthly food stipend, $150 monthly reimbursement for cell phone and internet, pet insurance allowance, full home office setup, free access to UrbanSitter with $625 in quarterly company-paid credits, ActiveHero, and One Medical.