AI use among architectural and engineering managers is little observed so far. Measured exposure for architectural and engineering managers: 3% (little observed).

Share of this job’s tasks that AI is already used for at work, from real usage. It is not a forecast of job loss, and a low number means no use seen yet. Source: Anthropic Economic Index.

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About the job

What We're Building

Candid is building the AI layer for EPCs and owner operators.

We use AI to reduce the manual effort behind preconstruction engineering by automating document understanding, consistency checks, and repetitive workflow steps across major disciplines. The goal is to make preconstruction 10x faster without sacrificing engineering quality.

We recently raised $6.5M from top AI and industrial investors (including Schneider Electric and Meta’s Chief AI Scientist). Our team includes engineers from MIT, Carnegie Mellon, major LNG and power projects, and leading EPCs.

Why This Role Exists

We need someone who has lived inside Pre-FEED and FEED. Someone who knows what a design basis package actually looks like at 3 AM before a gate review, who has directed engineers through datasheet cycles, and who has felt the pain of building the same thing from scratch on every project.

You are not here to manage a backlog. You are here to direct real project delivery for Candid's clients and run the engineering team doing it, while shaping the AI tools that redefine how this work gets done. You are the bridge between deep domain knowledge and a product team building at startup speed.

This Role

This is a player-coach role at a startup, not a director seat at a 5,000-person EPC. You'll have a small, sharp discipline team reporting to you, not three layers and an army. You'll direct delivery and manage the team, and you'll also personally own quality and roll up your sleeves on the work when it counts, especially early. If the last time you touched a deliverable was a decade ago and you only direct through others, this isn't the right fit.

Day to day you'll:

- Direct Pre-FEED and FEED engagements for Candid's clients across power generation, gas-to-power, LNG, midstream, and downstream projects

- Lead and manage the discipline engineering team (process, electrical, mechanical, piping), set the bar, and own delivery quality end to end

- Own the assembly and quality of design basis packages, heat and mass balances, single-lines, equipment lists, P&IDs and PFDs, datasheets, utility summaries, and gate-review packages

- Be the authoritative engineering voice in client conversations with project development managers, VPs of Projects, and heads of engineering

- Work directly with our product and AI team to turn real Pre-FEED and FEED workflows into automation targets. What takes 600 hours today should take 60 tomorrow

- Be the quality gate on Candid's automated outputs: catch what's wrong before it reaches a client, and feed it back so the product gets sharper

- Advise on execution strategy, PDRI scoring, and gate-review readiness for client engagements

- Shape Candid's delivery methodology and standards as we scale from early clients to a repeatable practice

Who You Are

- 15+ years in capital project execution, with significant time in power generation, gas-to-power, LNG, midstream, or petrochemical facilities

- You have directed or led Pre-FEED, FEED, or Concept Select phases end to end. Directed, not just participated

- Direct experience leading power or gas-to-power projects (combined cycle, simple cycle, cogeneration, or gas-to-power for data center and BTM campuses). Multi-sector experience across LNG, midstream, and downstream on top of that is a strong plus, not a requirement to explain away

- You've managed multi-discipline engineering teams across process, mechanical, piping, electrical, and instrumentation. You know how to set a quality bar and hold it

- Deep fluency in FEL stage-gate processes, PDRI, AACE cost estimate classes, design basis development, and the full document ecosystem that feeds a gate review

- Fluent across the codes and frameworks that govern these projects (ASME, API, IEEE, NFPA, and the relevant power and interconnection standards), at the level of someone who directs the work, not necessarily runs every calc

- Strong opinions on where engineering hours get wasted, where errors propagate, and what should be automated

- Comfortable operating lean, with ambiguity, and without bureaucracy. You'd rather ship and iterate than wait for the perfect process

- You are not threatened by AI. You're excited by it, you see the waste in current workflows, and you want to fix it

Nice to Have

- Direct experience on data center or behind-the-meter power campuses

- Owner's engineer experience, or having sat on both the EPC and owner-operator sides

- Background in AWP (Advanced Work Packaging) or modular execution

- Familiarity with turbine OEM selection and packaging (GE Vernova, Siemens Energy, Mitsubishi Power) at a program level

- Comfort reading process simulation outputs even if you don't run the tools yourself

- Relationships in the Houston EPC and owner-operator ecosystem

Why Candid

- You've spent a career watching the same inefficiencies repeat across every project. Here you get to actually fix them, with AI tools built around your expertise

- Direct influence on product direction. Your domain knowledge is the product

- Startup equity and meaningful upside on an early team

- You work alongside world-class AI engineers from MIT and Carnegie Mellon who build what you spec

- No bureaucracy, no 47-slide approval decks. Ship and iterate

Compensation and Perks

- Base + meaningful equity

- Unlimited PTO

- Health insurance covering medical, dental, and vision

- Daily lunch and dinner at the office

- Up to $150/mo health and wellness reimbursement (gym, fitness classes, and similar)