The Role
Offgrid Energy Labs has developed ZincGel®, a proprietary sealed zinc-bromide battery designed for 6-16 hour storage with no thermal runaway, no critical minerals, and manufactured in the UK. We are at the point where technology leaves the factory and enters the real world. You spearhead it.
You own the full customer journey, from first-site survey to live operation, performance reporting, and repeat deployments. You commission our first pilots in the UK and build the deployment playbook that scales commercially. This is a leadership role with direct access to co-founders.
What You Own
Six clear ownership domains. No ambiguity about accountability.
1. End-to-End Deployment Delivery: You are accountable for every deployment from site survey to live handover. Not a contributor to someone else’s project, you are the owner.
- Define system architecture per site: battery, BMS, EMS, inverter, solar, monitoring stack
- Manage procurement, logistics, delivery scheduling including battery transport
- Lead Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) at Hook and Site Acceptance Test (SAT) at each customer site
- Supervise first energization and initial cycling under controlled, safe conditions
2. Compliance & Site Safety: You own the compliance process for every deployment. Nothing is energised until you have signed off.
- Commission and manage COSHH and DSEAR assessments; brief specialist consultants, review outputs, implement controls
- Produce site-specific RAMS; submit to site host H&S and manage approval
- Ensure gas detection, ATEX-rated ventilation, secondary containment installed and verified before first charge
- Obtain BS 7671 Electrical Installation Certificate from independent inspector
- Maintain live compliance documentation register across all active sites
3. Customer & Partner Management: You are Offgrid’s face to every site host and external partner. Pilots become long-term customers because of the relationship that we build.
- Own site host relationship end-to-end; manage expectations, resolve issues
- Manage all site contractors (electrical, civil, solar): appoint, brief, supervise, hold to program and quality
- Manage technology vendors and R&D (BMS, EMS, inverter suppliers) against support obligations
- Coordinate with H&S consultants, insurers, certification labs, ADR carriers
4. Monitoring, Data & Reporting: You define and operate the data program that proves ZincGel® operations at customer sites.
- Define monitoring architecture per site: channels, resolution, remote access, alerting
- Collect and track cycle data, round-trip efficiency, capacity fade, temperature profiles
- Produce monthly customer performance summaries and quarterly technical reports for regulatory/investor evidence base
- Maintain remote visibility of all live systems; first-line response to alarms and performance anomalies
5. O&M & Field Service
- Schedule and execute monthly preventive maintenance across all live sites
- Diagnose and resolve field issues remotely where possible, on-site where required
- Maintain all safety systems (gas detection, ventilation, alarms) always verified operational
6. Product Feedback & Playbook
- Translate field observations into structured product insight for R&D team, minimum monthly field report to CTO
- Document deployment process into repeatable playbook: site survey, architecture, compliance, procurement., FAT/SAT, commissioning, handover, O&M
- Iterate/review playbook after each deployment
Who You Are
Defined by what you have done, not where you have done it.
Non-Negotiable
- You have deployed at least one BESS at a real site. Not designed. Not modelled. Installed, commissioned, and handed over.
- You are hands-on. You pick up a multimeter. You stay on site until the problem is solved. You do not delegate the hard parts.
- You have managed contractors and site stakeholders simultaneously and held them to standard without a senior manager doing it for you.
- You understand deploying a system that is not yet fully certified. You know the difference between what the law requires and what the standard requires, and you have navigated that gap in practice.
Strongly Preferred
- Experience with non-standard battery chemistries (flow, zinc-bromine, sodium-ion, iron-air), this is a strong differentiator
- Background in data center or critical infrastructure energy systems
- Product mindset: field observations change how you think the system should work; you feed insight upstream, not just into reports
- Startup or early-stage experience: no playbook, few resources, high ambiguity; you create processes as needed.
Technical Baseline
- Electrical competence to BS 7671 18th Edition or equivalent (qualified or strong field-gained working knowledge)
- Hands-on experience with DC/AC power systems, hybrid inverters, BMS/EMS integration
- Degree, HND, or apprenticeship in electrical engineering, energy systems, mechatronics or equivalent demonstrated experience
- Working familiarity with UK battery safety frameworks: RAMS, COSHH, DSEAR, IEC, UL (not specialist-level, but not starting from zero)
- Track record managing technical projects end-to-end: scope, procurement, program, handover in field/industrial environment
Why Join
- Real technology, real stakes. ZincGel® is being deployed for the first time. Your deployments generate critical data on how this technology reaches commercial scale.
- Founding-team ownership. You work directly with the founders. Your decisions shape the company.
- The right moment. First cells manufactured Summer 2026. Followed by first deployments. You are here before the playbook exists, and you write it.
- A problem worth solving. Long-duration storage is one of the hardest unsolved problems in the energy transition and a massive commercial opportunity. This role puts you at the center of it.