VP of Projects at Candid Intelligence in Houston, TX

About Candid

Candid is the AI execution layer for capital projects in behind-the-meter gas-fired power generation. We compress pre-FEED and FEED schedules by 30%+ at full engineering quality, run by senior PEs on top of a software platform built around how this work actually gets done. We recently closed a $6.5M round led by Schneider Electric and Yann LeCun. Active pipeline: 200 MW to 2.4 GW BTM gas projects serving AI factories, hyperscale data centers, and gas-to-nuclear bridge architectures across Texas and the Gulf Coast.

The Role

You lead Candid's engineering practice. Walk into the room with a 30-year nuclear-trained CEO or a Fortune 500 head of engineering and be a peer on day one. Hire the project directors. Stamp the deliverables. Defend Candid against incumbent EPCs (B&V, Bechtel, S&L, B&McD, Worley) on FEED bids. Shape what the platform team builds by feeding back what the work actually needs.

What You'll Do

• Lead engineering practice across BTM gas-fired power projects, 200 MW to multi-GW
• Serve as senior engineering counterparty to client CEOs, Heads of Engineering, VPs of Projects
• Stamp FEL-2 / FEED deliverables; defend Class 4 estimates with lenders, IC, incumbent EPCs
• Build and lead the engineering team — project directors, senior PEs, multi-discipline leads
• Architect Candid's dual-team execution model (Project Execution Team + FlowState platform team)
• Shape the platform roadmap with the AI engineering team

What You Bring

• 20+ years in power generation engineering, deep on combined-cycle and simple-cycle gas
• Directed engineering on at least two gas plants at FEED or EPC stage ($200M+ capex). Owned, not participated.
• PE-licensed in Texas (multi-state ideal)
• Background at a major power EPC (S&L, B&McD, Bechtel Power, B&V, Worley, Kiewit) or owner-operator (Vistra, Constellation, NRG, Talen, Duke, AES)
• Have run 10+ disciplines in parallel through HAZID, IDC, IFR, IFI cycles
• BTM / islanded / co-located generation experience — paralleling, redundancy mapping, microgrid architecture
• Tech-friendly without being naive. You see waste in conventional FEL execution and want to fix it.
• Houston-based or relocatable

Nice to Have

• Nuclear-adjacent BOP work (Vogtle, Palisades, NuScale, BWRX-300, Stone & Webster)
• Data center critical-power experience (Tier III/IV)
• ERCOT or PJM market familiarity
• Direct experience with project-finance / IC / lender engineering review
• Compensation
• Senior base + meaningful equity. Unlimited PTO. Medical, dental, vision. Daily lunch and dinner. $150/month wellness budget.