Level

Nscale

Senior Manager - Carbon-Free Energy Project manager

AI in this role

Own the carbon-free energy strategy and procurement roadmap to scale sustainable power infrastructure for U.S. data centers.

financial-modeling
carbon-free-energyprocurementstrategynegotiationsustainability

Role Overview

Nscale is scaling AI infrastructure across the United States, and the energy that powers it is now the company’s largest sustainability lever and one of its biggest commercial differentiators. The Senior Manager, & Carbon-Free Energy will own the roadmap for sourcing carbon-free energy (CFE) across Nscale’s U.S. portfolio and lead its core environmental strategy.

The role pairs two mandates. First, find, evaluate and help close the energy deals that decarbonize Nscale’s load: PPAs, virtual PPAs, utility green tariffs, energy attribute certificates and emerging firm clean sources such as advanced nuclear, geothermal and storage-backed renewables. Second, lead strategy on water, embodied carbon and the emissions Nscale produces from its own operations.

The role partners closely with Power/Utility, Site Development, Finance, Legal and Commercial teams, carries direct people-leadership responsibility and is designed to scale as Nscale grows.

Key Responsibilities

1. Carbon-Free Energy Strategy & Procurement

  • Own Nscale’s carbon-free energy (CFE) strategy and roadmap, setting portfolio targets by U.S. market and site type
  • Partner with Power/Utility and Commercial teams to originate, structure, negotiate and close clean energy transactions, including physical and virtual PPAs, utility green tariffs and sleeved supply, and renewable energy certificates (RECs).
  • Build business cases including financial models for price, basis, shape and volume risk, contract tenor, and credit and collateral requirements.
  • Run energy due diligence during site selection: grid carbon intensity, local CFE supply, utility and market structure, interconnection timelines, and regulatory barriers to clean supply.
  • Represent Nscale with utilities, independent power producers, developers, brokers and regulators; build a pipeline of offtake opportunities in each U.S. market where Nscale operates.
  • Manage the contracted CFE portfolio after signing, tracking project delivery, contract performance and development risk on multi-year deals.

2. Emerging & Firm Clean Energy Sources

  • Scan and evaluate emerging firm and dispatchable clean sources, including advanced nuclear and SMRs, next-generation geothermal, long-duration storage, hydro, and low-carbon fuels such as hydrogen and RNG.
  • Assess technology readiness, cost curves, timelines and counterparty risk
  • Evaluate on-site and adjacent generation, behind-the-meter and co-location structures, microgrids and battery storage with Engineering and Power teams.
  • Develop grid-interactivity and demand flexibility options, such as load shifting, demand response and backup-generation alternatives, that lower emissions and ease interconnection.
  • Track U.S. energy policy and market rules (for example federal clean energy tax credits, state clean energy standards and ISO/RTO market rules) and their effect on Nscale’s sourcing options.
  • Build relationships with clean energy developers, industry groups and buyer coalitions to keep Nscale early in the deal flow.

3. Resource & Environmental Strategy

  • Lead water stewardship strategy: consumption baselines, cooling technology decisions and replenishment initiatives.
  • Lead the inventory of emissions Nscale produces directly from its own operations (such as backup generators, on-site fuel use and refrigerants) and drive plans to reduce them.

4. Stakeholder Engagement & Team Leadership

  • Shape accurate, defensible sustainability and energy messaging for executives, clients, investors, communities and policymakers.
  • Collaborate with community affairs, public policy, and other internal teams on energy and environmental matters.
  • Directly manage and develop the team, and build the function’s planning cadence, governance and future subject-matter roles (e.g. energy markets).

Minimum Qualifications

  • Bachelor’s degree in engineering, energy, environmental science, business, finance or a related field, or equivalent experience.
  • 5+ years in sustainability, energy procurement, renewable project development or energy markets, including experience negotiating or structuring energy or clean energy agreements (PPAs, VPPAs, utility tariffs or RECs).
  • Working knowledge of U.S. power markets (e.g. ERCOT, PJM, MISO), utility regulation, transmission and interconnection, and renewable energy certificate markets.
  • Experience with financial modeling of energy deals and assessment of price, volume and development risk.
  • Experience managing people or leading cross-functional programs with executive stakeholders.

Preferred Qualifications

  • MBA or advanced degree in energy, environmental policy or finance.
  • Track record of closing utility-scale clean energy deals (wind, solar, storage) or firm clean energy offtakes (nuclear, geothermal, hydro).
  • Experience at a hyperscaler, colocation provider, utility, IPP or energy advisory firm serving data center load.
  • Familiarity with 24/7 CFE and hourly matching methods and granular certificates.
  • Experience with carbon removal buyers or environmental attribute suppliers.
  • Direct experience with public utility commissions, regulators or grid operators, and with multi-state portfolios across U.S. markets.
  • Willingness to travel ~20%.

For information on how Nscale handles candidate personal data, please see our Employee & Candidate Privacy Notice: Here.

Nscale does not accept unsolicited candidate submissions from recruitment agencies.

How we rate this

Senior Manager - Carbon-Free Energy Project manager at Nscale rates 20 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Little AI (AI Level 1 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Little AI. AI is not part of the work.

  1. ●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
  2. ●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
  3. ●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
  4. ●○○○ Little AI0 to 39

Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Open the description and count.

Prepare for this job

A free preview built only from this posting: what it asks for, what you could be asked in an interview, and how to adjust your resume.

Skills and AI tools this role asks for

Carbon Free EnergyProcurementStrategyNegotiationSustainabilityFinancial Modeling

Questions you could be asked

  1. Tell me about a project where carbon free energy was part of your work. What did you do?
  2. Tell me about a project where procurement was part of your work. What did you do?
  3. Tell me about a project where strategy was part of your work. What did you do?
  4. Tell me about a project where negotiation was part of your work. What did you do?
  5. Tell me about a project where sustainability was part of your work. What did you do?

Adapt your resume

  • List these exact terms on your resume: Carbon Free Energy, Procurement, Strategy, Negotiation, and Sustainability. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
  • Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them — a tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.

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