Staff Data Scientist, Uplight

• We are seeking a highly skilled Data Scientist with a focus on Optimization and Software Engineering to join our Predictive Controls team
• The ideal candidate brings a deep understanding of electricity markets, strong analytical and modeling capabilities, and robust software engineering skills to deploy and maintain optimization logic in a production environment
• Proven experience in mathematical optimization (e.g., LP, MILP), especially in energy systems or similar domains
• Proficient in programming language (e.g., Python) with production-level software engineering experience
• Strong understanding of electricity markets, DERs, and VPP operation
• Familiarity with optimization frameworks (e.g., Pyomo, AMPL) and solvers (e.g., Gurobi, CPLEX)
• Experience with CI/CD, Docker, version control, and observability practices
• Ability to reason about trade-offs between model fidelity, performance, and business value

Desirable

• Our team is responsible for optimizing and dispatching flexible energy resources to participate in a variety of grid and market services, including virtual power plants (VPPs), wholesale energy arbitrage, ancillary services, demand response, and grid support
• You will work at the intersection of energy systems, mathematical optimization, and software development, collaborating closely with both internal teams and external customers
• Develop and maintain models of distributed energy resources (DERs) and flexible energy assets for operational and financial optimization
• Apply knowledge of electricity markets and grid services to build realistic and effective dispatch strategies
• Understand and interpret regulatory frameworks and market mechanisms (e.g., frequency regulation, capacity markets, bidding logic)
• Build, test, and deploy optimization models using tools like Pyomo, AMPL, or similar
• Use solvers such as Gurobi, CPLEX, or open-source alternatives for solving large-scale scheduling and dispatch problems
• Design models that balance performance, scalability, and interpretability
• Develop production-grade software, primarily in Python, with strong attention to clean code, modularity, and performance
• Work with version control (Git), CI/CD tools, and containerization (Docker/Kubernetes) for robust development workflows
• Contribute to codebase architecture, testing frameworks, and deployment pipelines
• Monitor, debug, and improve live optimization systems and supporting data pipelines
• Troubleshoot complex issues across modeling, data quality, and infrastructure layers
• Use observability tools (e.g., logging, metrics, alerting) to maintain system reliability
• Interpret and implement non-standard customer requirements, including unique asset behaviors or contractual obligations
• Customize optimization logic and integrate customer-specific configurations
• Communicate technical concepts clearly to non-technical stakeholders and customers
• Design integration tests that span multiple platform components (e.g., configurator + optimizer + forecast + dispatch)
• Implement regression testing to safeguard against unintended model changes
• Simulate edge cases and real-world scenarios to validate robustness and performance

• Application Deadline: August 15, 2025