Senior Project Engineer - Innovation

Job Description:

Job Description – Senior Project Engineer – Innovation

Location: Sydney, Australia

Work Type: Hybrid (12 months initially)

Nextpower is seeking a Senior Project Engineer - Innovation to support the pursuit, development, and delivery of innovation initiatives that accelerate deployment of new products and technologies in the Australian market.

Reporting to the Director, Project Engineering, Australia, this role will lead government grant and funding pursuits, shape fundable project concepts, and manage awarded programs through execution, milestone reporting, knowledge sharing, and close-out. The position sits at the intersection of engineering, commercialisation, and project delivery and will work closely with product, engineering, sales, project management, finance, legal, customers, and external partners.

The ideal candidate will combine strong project engineering capability with the ability to translate technical and commercial concepts into high-quality grant submissions and structured delivery programs. This role is well suited to someone who can move between front-end opportunity development and detailed project execution, and who is motivated by turning innovation initiatives into funded projects, successful demonstrations, and commercial outcomes.

Electrical exposure will be highly regarded, particularly in eBOS, DC systems, inverter or power conversion technologies, or adjacent plant scope, given Nextpower’s continued expansion into electrical and integrated system solutions.

Role Purpose

·       Lead the pursuit of government grant and innovation funding opportunities relevant to Nextpower’s technologies in Australia, including ARENA and similar programs

·       Build the technical, commercial, and delivery case for innovation projects involving new products, pilots, demonstrations, and early deployment initiatives

·       Manage funded projects and innovation initiatives through planning, execution, governance, milestone reporting, and close-out

·       Support commercialisation pathways for emerging technologies by converting innovation concepts into structured, fundable, and executable projects

Key Responsibilities

Grant strategy and pursuit

·       Identify, monitor, and assess relevant Australian government grant and innovation funding opportunities, including ARENA and other programs supporting clean energy, industrial transformation, product demonstration, and pre-commercial deployment

·       Assess alignment between funding opportunities and Nextpower’s product roadmap, customer opportunities, and market entry priorities in Australia

·       Develop grant pursuit strategies for new technologies and integrated solutions entering or scaling within the Australian market

·       Coordinate internal inputs from engineering, product, commercial, finance, legal, and leadership teams to shape strong, fundable project concepts

·       Lead preparation of high-quality submissions including expressions of interest, full applications, technical scopes, project plans, budgets, risk registers, schedules, and supporting documentation

·       Present technical and commercial narratives clearly, with particular focus on innovation value, deployment pathway, industry relevance, scalability, and customer benefit

Innovation project development

·       Develop pilot, demonstration, and deployment initiatives for Nextpower’s new products and technologies in Australia

·       Translate product and technology concepts into practical project opportunities suitable for customer sites, strategic partners, or funded programs

·       Define project objectives, work packages, milestones, deliverables, success criteria, and implementation pathways for funded and non-funded innovation initiatives

·       Support selection of suitable customers, trial sites, project partners, and delivery models for innovation programs

·       Work with internal teams to ensure new technologies are assessed against technical readiness, constructability, operability, compliance, cost, and customer requirements

·       Support preparation of business cases and project justifications for innovation initiatives, including technical assumptions, delivery risks, and expected outcomes

Project delivery and governance

·       Manage funded innovation programs from award through to delivery, including planning, governance, execution, reporting, and close-out

·       Establish and maintain project plans, budgets, action registers, risk registers, schedules, and communication plans

·       Coordinate internal and external stakeholders including customers, funding bodies, consultants, contractors, OEM partners, and research or industry collaborators

·       Track project milestones, obligations, dependencies, and deliverables to ensure compliance with grant agreements and internal governance requirements

·       Support knowledge sharing, lessons learned capture, and reporting outputs required under funded innovation programs

·       Ensure projects generate clear evidence, technical learnings, and commercial insight to support future deployment and scale-up

Technical and market deployment support

·       Provide project engineering support for innovation-related initiatives, including design coordination, technical review, implementation planning, and issue resolution where required

·       Support deployment of new Nextpower technologies into pilot, demonstration, and live customer environments

·       Work closely with engineering and product teams to capture field learnings and convert them into practical product improvement actions

·       Contribute to evaluation of technical and commercial innovations that can reduce deployment barriers, improve customer value, and accelerate market adoption

·       Support initiatives that integrate structural, mechanical, electrical, and controls interfaces, with particular value placed on exposure to eBOS and power conversion systems

Stakeholder interface

·       Project Engineering

·       Product Management

·       Engineering and Technology teams

·       Sales and Business Development

·       Project Management

·       Finance and Legal

·       Customers and project partners

·       Government funding agencies and industry bodies

·       External consultants, OEMs, contractors, and research collaborators

Experience and qualifications

Required

·       Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or a related discipline

·       Experience in project engineering, technical project delivery, or innovation program delivery within energy, infrastructure, renewables, or industrial technology

·       Strong technical writing and proposal development capability, including preparation of structured project documentation

·       Experience coordinating cross-functional teams and managing multiple workstreams to deadlines

·       Strong communication, stakeholder management, and organisational skills

·       Ability to work across early-stage opportunity development and detailed project execution

·       Commercial awareness and ability to connect technical solutions with customer, market, and funding drivers

Preferred

·       Government grant application or funded program experience in Australia

·       Familiarity with ARENA or similar clean energy funding pathways

·       Experience with milestone-based reporting, governance, and knowledge sharing obligations

·       Exposure to utility-scale solar, storage, or adjacent clean energy technologies

·       Electrical exposure, particularly in eBOS, DC systems, inverter, or power conversion technologies

·       Experience with pilots, demonstrations, or early-stage product deployment

·       Understanding of the Australian energy market and innovation landscape

Personal attributes

·       Strong bias for action and ownership

·       Able to move between strategy, technical detail, and delivery execution

·       Comfortable working with ambiguity and shaping early-stage concepts into executable plans

·       Technically credible and able to engage effectively with engineering, commercial, and external stakeholders

·       Structured, disciplined, and outcomes-focused

·       Collaborative and able to influence across functions without direct authority

·       Motivated by innovation, deployment, and practical commercial outcomes

Why this role matters

·       This role will help Nextpower bring new technologies into the Australian market by combining engineering credibility, disciplined project delivery, and strong grant pursuit capability. It is a key role for identifying the right opportunities, securing external support, and delivering innovation initiatives that build customer confidence and accelerate commercial deployment.

·       The successful candidate will play an important part in shaping how Nextpower develops, demonstrates, and scales new solutions in Australia, particularly where technical innovation, external funding, and customer deployment intersect.

At Nextpower, we are driving the global energy transition with an integrated clean energy technology platform that combines intelligent structural, electrical, and digital solutions for utility-scale power plants. Our comprehensive portfolio enables faster project delivery, higher performance, and greater reliability, helping our customers capture the full value of solar power. Our talented worldwide teams are redefining how solar power plants are designed, built, and operated every day with smart technology, data-driven insights, and advanced automation. Together, we’re building the foundation for the world’s next generation of clean energy infrastructure.