Senior AI Controls Solutions Engineer (HVAC Systems)

About Phaidra

Phaidra is building the future of industrial automation.

The world today is filled with static, monolithic infrastructure. Factories, power plants, buildings, etc. operate the same they've operated for decades — because the controls programming is hard-coded. Thousands of lines of rules and heuristics that define how the machines interact with each other. The result of all this hard-coding is that facilities are frozen in time, unable to adapt to their environment while their performance slowly degrades.

Phaidra creates AI-powered control systems for the industrial sector, enabling industrial facilities to automatically learn and improve over time. Specifically:

• We use reinforcement learning algorithms to provide this intelligence, converting raw sensor data into high-value actions and decisions.
• We focus on industrial applications, which tend to be well-sensorized with measurable KPIs — perfect for reinforcement learning.
• We enable domain experts (our users) to configure the AI control systems (i.e. agents) without writing code. They define what they want their AI agents to do, and we do it for them.

Our team has a track record of applying AI to some of the toughest problems. From achieving superhuman performance with DeepMind's AlphaGo, to reducing the energy required to cool Google's Data Centers by 40%, we deeply understand AI and how to apply it in production for massive impact.

Phaidra’s ability to achieve its mission is determined by our ability to work together — as defined by our core values: Agency, Velocity, Craft, and Truth. We seek individuals who embody these values, as they are instrumental in ensuring our team consistently delivers excellence and fosters an engaging and supportive culture.

Phaidra is based in the USA, but we are 100% remote with no physical office. We hire employees internationally with the help of our partner, OysterHR. Our team is currently located throughout the USA, Canada, UK, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Singapore, Australia, and India.

Who You Are

As an AI Controls Solutions Engineer, you'll play a critical role in operationalizing and scaling Phaidra's solutions for enterprise data center customers.

We are seeking a team member located in the following area: USA or Canada.

Responsibilities

You will work closely with the Technical Program Managers (TPMs) and Data Scientists (DSs), as the technical experts for Phaidra's customers. Your role is to use Phaidra's platform and tools to put AI into production.

This role can be broken down into two concrete areas of responsibility:

• As the subject matter expert (SME), you will use Phaidra’s products and your knowledge of the customers' needs to create a model of the facility for ingestion by our product lineup. This will require working closely with our Data Science team. You’ll create a representation of the facility in Mort system builder, map tag data, review our Insights logic for facility specific requirements, and assist in analyzing and triaging these systems in the support phase.
• You will work with the product team to identify and define product requirements based upon each customer’s specification and needs. You will work closely with other AI Controls Solutions Engineers and the Product team to ensure our automated tools enable Phaidra to scale across thousands of customers.

*This role can include 25% travel

Key Qualifications

• 10-15 years of work experience as a controls engineer, programmer, or equivalent
• Possesses expertise in HVAC and Data Center cooling control methodologies and strategies and displays knowledge of chiller plant fundamentals, configurations, and sequence of operations
• Ability to operate as an Solutions Engineer independently.
• Understanding of applied thermodynamics for cooling systems, refrigeration systems, and hydronics.
• Experience designing, programming, or strong working knowledge of industrial and commercial control systems and protocols such as BACnet and Modbus.
• Understanding the applications and control strategies of air side chilled water and direct expansion cooling systems.
• Ability to troubleshoot, triage, and analyze issues with control systems and equipment.
• Strong proficiency in working with data center operations teams and contributing to solving field operations related problems and challenges.
• Experience programming control systems with PLC, ladder logic, text, or block programming languages.
• Ability to analyze the performance and viability of your engineered solutions.
• Passion for problem solving and using scalable solutions to solve repeat problems.
• Ability to translate a combination of customer-stated and customer-implied needs into coherent needs documentation for use by the software development team.
• Good educational background in one or more related disciplines pertinent to your area of expertise. Example disciplines include Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, Software Engineering, Control Theory, Applied Mathematics and other various engineering and applied science fields.
• Ability to read and write Python scripts (in collaboration with the software engineering team) to implement Insights and scrappy tooling.
• Ability to work independently to resolve onboarding or support tickets by coordinating with the right people or providing direct solutions. You will possesses deep knowledge of Phaidra’s pipelines and effectively identify and addresses issues and manage risks actively.
• Exhibits excellent communication skills and has the ability to explain complex domain specific concepts to non-domain experts and also explain complex AI and ML specific concepts to non-AI/ML specific customers.
• Ability to own and manage large sections of documentation, fostering a culture of high standards in documentation and communication.
• Ability to understand customers well and drive a culture of pragmatic urgency and customer satisfaction.
• Ability to lead the deployment and support of multiple Solutions, perhaps in parallel.
• Ability to own project delivery within team, work as an independent contributor, and rally other individuals on the team to accomplish substantial tasks that cannot be completed independently.
• Ability to mentor peers, delegate within team, handle project stakeholders, build relationships with other departments within Phaidra, and collaborate with their manager on the roadmap, backlog, and work planning.
• Alignment with Phaidra's values: Agency, Velocity, Craft, & Truth.

Preferred Skills & Experience

• Experience with rapidly prototyping new technologies and converting into commercially viable products.
• Experience building, owning, and operating your own codebases/services.
• Experience architecting services within cloud platforms.
• Experience applying AI and ML in controls applications.
• Experience with statistics, analytics, etc.
• Experience with domain relevant optimization problems and solutions.
• Familiarity with markup languages like Xml, Json, or Yaml.

Onboarding

In your first 30 days...

• You will have a solid understanding of what Phaidra does and how we do it.
• You will have met with team members across Phaidra and started building relationships that will help you be successful at your job.
• You will have become proficient at navigating the Solution team’s processes and software tools.

By your first 60 days...

• You will introduce yourself to our customers
• You will understand our customer onboarding process
• You will dig into Mort, our project workflow tool
• You will build a toy system from scratch

By your first 90 days...

• You will participate in troubleshooting issues
• You will participate in customer onboarding and new system creation
• You will create and refine business processes
• You will attend site visits

General Interview Process

All of our interviews are held via Google Meet, and an active camera connection is required.

• Meeting with People Operations team member (30 minutes)
• Meeting with Hiring Manager (60 minutes)
• Meeting with Data Science team member (30 minutes)
• Meeting with Technical Program Manager (30 minutes)
• Culture fit interview with one of Phaidra’s co-founders (30 minutes)

Base Salary

US Residents:

• Tier 1 (Largest highest-cost metros): $126,560 - $189,840
• Tier 2 (Other major metros): $120,232 - $180,348
• Tier 3 (Mid-sized metro areas): $113,904 - $170,856
• Tier 4 (All other locations): $107,576 - $161,364

Canada Residents:

• Tier 1 (Vancouver): 131,939 CAD - 197,908 CAD
• Tier 2 (Toronto): 123,143 CAD - 184,714 CAD
• Tier 3 (Montreal): 114,347 CAD - 171,520 CAD
• Tier 4 (Smaller cities / rural areas): 105,551CAD - 158,327 CAD

In addition to base salary, this position is eligible for equity. Final salary will be determined based on several factors, including a candidate’s qualifications, skills, competencies, experience, expertise, education and location. In some cases, final compensation may fall outside the posted range. Salary ranges are regularly reviewed and may be adjusted in response to market trends.

Benefits & Perks

• Fast-paced, team-oriented environment where your work directly shapes the company’s direction.
• We are a 100% remote company.
• Competitive compensation & meaningful equity.
• Outsized responsibilities & professional development.
• Training is foundational; functional, customer immersion, and development training.
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance (exact benefits vary by region).
• Unlimited paid time off, with a required minimum of 20 days per year.
• Paid parental leave (exact benefits vary by region).
• Flexible stipends to support your workspace, well-being, and continued professional development.
• Company MacBook.

Please note: Not all of Phaidra’s benefits and perks listed above apply to temporary employees such as interns.

On being Remote

We take a thoughtful and intentional approach to remote collaboration. Inspired by pioneers like GitLab, we embrace proven best practices to foster an exceptional remote work environment. Our culture is documentation-first, and we prioritize asynchronous communication to support focus and flexibility across time zones. While we value independence, we stay closely connected through tools like Slack and video conferencing. Weekly all-hands meetings help us align and build strong relationships, and we regularly host virtual team-building activities and social events to maintain a sense of camaraderie.

Equal Opportunity Employment

Phaidra is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Phaidra is governed on the basis of merit, competence, and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability, or any other legally protected status. We welcome diversity and strive to maintain an inclusive environment for all employees. If you need assistance with completing the application process, please contact us at recruiter contact.

E-Verify Notice

Phaidra participates in E-Verify, an employment authorization database provided through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Social Security Administration (SSA). As required by law, we will provide the SSA and, if necessary, the DHS, with information from each new employee’s Form I-9 to confirm work authorization for those residing in the United States.

Additional information about E-Verify can be found here.

To be considered for any position at Phaidra, you must submit an online application. This role will remain open until it is filled.

Phaidra only hires individuals who are legally authorized to work in the specified location(s) above. We do not provide employment sponsorship. Candidates requiring visa sponsorship, either now or in the future, are not eligible for hire.

Candidates who advance beyond the initial screening stage will be required to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) in order to continue through the interview process.

All employment offers are contingent upon successful completion of employment authorization verification and applicable background checks, in accordance with local laws and company policies.

WE DO NOT ACCEPT APPLICATIONS FROM RECRUITERS.