# Director, Memphis Power Plant Operations

**Company:** [xAI](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/xai)
**Location:** Memphis, TN
**Role:** Hardware Engineering
**Experience:** 8+ years
**Skills:** Gas Turbines, Power Generation, Plant Operations, Plant Maintenance, Commissioning, High-Voltage Electrical Systems, Generators, Switchgear, Emissions Controls, Environmental Permitting, Air Quality Compliance, Preventive Maintenance, Predictive Maintenance, Fuel Management, Contractor Management
**Posted:** 2026-08-20

> Leads operations, maintenance, commissioning, construction, and expansion of a gas turbine power plant supplying a high-availability data center campus. Requires an engineering bachelor's degree, 8+ years of relevant experience, gas turbine plant management expertise, and substantial leadership experience.

## Job Description

## Responsibilities
- Provide strategic and operational leadership for a gas turbine power plant, including 24/7 operations, maintenance, commissioning, construction, and capacity expansion.
- Own reliable, available, high-quality, and redundant electrical power delivery to data center sites.
- Lead operators, maintenance technicians, engineers, contractors, and support staff in a 24/7 operations and construction environment.
- Oversee plant performance, commissioning, testing, and integration with data center electrical infrastructure and load.
- Develop operations and maintenance strategies covering preventive and predictive maintenance, outage planning, hot gas path management, and OEM coordination.
- Manage construction, equipment installation, civil works, and phased expansions while maintaining safe operation.
- Ensure compliance with air permits, emissions controls, TDEC, EPA, OSHA, and local regulatory requirements.
- Partner with data center operations, engineering, fuel suppliers, OEMs, utilities, and regulatory agencies.
- Manage operating budgets, fuel, O&M, capital projects, and annual operating plans.
- Improve plant availability, heat rate, emissions, cost, safety metrics, and operational processes.
- Recruit, develop, coach, and retain talent while managing staffing, resources, and contractors.
- Serve as site leader and representative to the Memphis community, regulators, and stakeholders.

## Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in mechanical, electrical, or another engineering discipline.
- 8+ years of experience in power generation operations, plant management, or related industrial or aerospace operations.
- 5+ years of leadership experience managing operators, technicians, and engineers.
- Experience operating or managing simple-cycle or combined-cycle gas turbine power plants.
- Experience with high-voltage electrical systems, generators, switchgear, protection, and industrial or data center interconnection.
- Ability to support operations and construction outside normal business hours, including nights, weekends, and on-call response.
- Ability to walk the plant site, access equipment, and work in industrial and outdoor environments.

## Nice-to-haves
- Experience managing 100 MW+ gas turbine facilities and high-availability critical power applications.
- Experience with plant construction, commissioning, start-up, and concurrent operations and expansion.
- Knowledge of aeroderivative and heavy-duty gas turbines, performance optimization, emissions controls, and balance-of-plant systems.
- Understanding of environmental permitting, air quality compliance, and combustion-turbine regulatory reporting.
- Experience managing budgets, fuel costs, contractors, and complex stakeholders.
- Strong communication, leadership, interpersonal, and operational improvement skills.
- Ability to work in fast-paced, high-growth environments with aggressive timelines and changing priorities.

## Compensation and Benefits
- Extended hours may be required to support plant reliability and construction milestones.

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