NOVA Hub Director

Join Zelestra: Powering a Carbon-Free Future

Position Summary

Industry:  Utility-Scale Renewable Energy  
Location: U.S. 
Job Type: Remote l Full-Time | Permanent 
Role Reports To: Chief Operation Officer

Position Snapshot

Zelestra is a global, vertically integrated renewable energy company developing, building, and operating solar PV, battery energy storage (BESS), and wind assets at utility scale. Our U.S. operating portfolio is expanding rapidly — adding roughly 1.0 to 1.5 GW of new capacity each year — and that growth is reshaping how we run, monitor, and optimize our fleet. We are investing in a digital-first operating model anchored by a next-generation Remote Operations Control Center we call NOVA Hub (Next-Gen Operations and Value Analytics Hub).

Position Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Science, Computer Science, or a closely related field. Advanced degree (MS / MBA) preferred.
• 10+ years of progressive experience in power generation, utility, or renewable energy operations, with at least 5 years in a senior leadership role.
• Strong working knowledge of SCADA, historian, CMMS, ERP, and OT/IT integration in a generation environment.
• Experience selecting and managing technology vendors, system integrators, and managed service providers; strong commercial and contracting acumen.
• Demonstrated AI / data / digital leadership: have personally led the deployment of analytics, machine learning, predictive maintenance, digital twins, or comparable digital initiatives that produced measurable operating outcomes.
• Excellent executive communication skills — able to translate between operations, engineering, data science, finance, and the C-suite.
• Authorized to work in the United States; able to be on-site at NOVA Hub.

Position Responsibility

• Lead end-to-end design, build, and launch of NOVA Hub — physical control room, operator workstations, video walls, redundant connectivity, and the 24/7/365 operating model including shift structure, escalation paths, and SOPs.
• Partner with IT, OT, Cybersecurity, and NERC teams to deliver a hardened, compliant facility — SCADA, historian, secure remote access, MFA, network segmentation, and the IT hub backbone.
• Own vendor selection and implementation for data analytics, asset monitoring, logbook, and communications platforms.
• Build the ROCC organization — define roles and recruit operators, data analysts, server/database and network engineers, and supporting Center of Expertise functions.
• Operate NOVA Hub as the single point of real-time monitoring and control for the U.S. solar, BESS, and wind portfolio across ERCOT, MISO, and additional ISOs as the fleet grows.
• Own ROCC performance KPIs — availability, response time, energy yield, MTTR, predictive accuracy, false-positive rate, safety, and operational cost per MW.
• Coordinate with field response, asset management, performance analytics, and commercial/trading to convert real-time signals into operating outcomes.
• Lead incident management, emergency response, business continuity, and disaster recovery for control center operations.
• Ensure NERC reliability and CIP compliance, including readiness as the fleet crosses Medium Impact thresholds.
• Build the underlying data foundation — a clean, governed, high-frequency platform integrating SCADA, CMMS, ERP, weather, market, and sensor data into a single operations data layer.
• Lead the AI roadmap from pilot to production — drones, IoT sensors, computer vision inspections, anomaly detection, digital twins, and generative-AI assistants — with adoption anchored to measurable ROI (higher availability, fewer truck rolls, longer asset life, lower O&M cost per MWh).
• Foster a culture of continuous improvement, blameless post-mortems, and data-driven decision-making across the organization’s operations.

Compensation and Benefits

The anticipated starting salary range for this role is $145,000 - $175,000 annually.  Actual pay may vary depending on job-related factors, such as the candidate’s experience and qualifications.

Additionally, Zelestra offers a comprehensive benefits package, including medical, dental, and vision coverage, an Employee Assistance Program, flexible spending accounts, life insurance, holiday pay, paid time off, and a competitive bonus program.