Senior Applications Engineer

IONATE is a deep technology scale-up building the technology backbone for smart electricity grids. Our team is looking for an Applications Engineer who will enjoy taking the lead on our customer-facing technical work - from first conversations, bids and proposals through to benchmarking and project delivery - and growing within our world-class team.

This is a brand-new role at IONATE. As our Hybrid Intelligent Transformer moves from the lab into utilities, renewables, industrial sites and data centres, you will be the engineer customers turn to first - and you will help shape how applications engineering works here.

This role will suit someone who thrives in a fast-moving, ever-changing environment, where no two days are the same.

Reporting to the Chief of Staff as part of our Hardware Operations team, and requiring extensive knowledge and experience in power systems and power electronics applications, you will play a key role as the technical bridge between our customers and our engineering teams - supporting sales through bids and proposals, capturing customer requirements, benchmarking the HIT against alternative solutions, and helping carry projects from proposal through to delivery.

What you will do:

• Customer-facing technical lead: Act as IONATE's technical voice with utilities, developers, EPCs, industrial and data centre customers - explaining the HIT's capabilities, how it integrates into their systems, and the value it delivers.
• Sales support: Work hand-in-hand with our commercial team from first enquiry to contract - qualifying opportunities, joining customer meetings and site visits, and handling technical questions and objections.
• Bids and proposals: Lead the technical content of bids, tenders and RFx responses, including solution descriptions, single-line diagrams, datasheets, compliance matrices and clarification responses.
• Requirements gathering: Capture, challenge and document customer and site requirements - ratings, grid connection and code requirements, operating profiles and site constraints - and turn them into clear technical specifications for our engineering teams.
• Benchmarking: Compare costs of conventional transformers and alternative solutions (e.g. on-load tap changers, STATCOMs, active filters) on efficiency, losses, footprint, power quality and lifetime cost, and build the technical case that underpins the customer's business case.
• Application studies: Carry out or coordinate studies and calculations - such as voltage regulation, load flow and harmonic analysis - to size solutions and demonstrate performance in the customer's application.
• Project engineering: Support the handover from sales into delivery and act as a front-facing project engineer - coordinating technical interfaces, design reviews, FAT/SAT and commissioning support with customers and partners.
• Voice of the customer: Feed customer insight and field learning back to Product and R&D to shape our roadmap and future product variants.
• Technical collateral and training: Create application notes, case studies, presentations and FAQs, and deliver technical training and demonstrations to customers and colleagues.
• Building the function: Help define the processes, templates and tools we use for bids, requirements capture and benchmarking as the team grows.

Requirements

What you will need:

• A degree in Electrical or Electronic Engineering, or a related discipline (or equivalent experience).
• A solid track record in an applications, sales/proposal or project engineering role working with power systems, power electronics or electrical equipment - for example transformers, switchgear, inverters, drives, grid-scale storage or power quality solutions.
• A strong grasp of power systems fundamentals: three-phase systems, transformers, voltage regulation, reactive power, harmonics and power quality.
• Hands-on experience contributing technical content to bids, tenders or proposals, including specifications and compliance responses.
• Experience gathering and documenting customer requirements and working across sales, engineering and project teams to deliver against them.
• The ability to turn complex technical concepts into a clear value proposition for both engineers and commercial decision-makers, in writing and in person.
• Familiarity with relevant standards and grid codes.
• Strong organisation skills, with the ability to prioritise and juggle several bids and projects at once in a fast-paced environment.
• Willingness to travel to customer sites and industry events in the UK and internationally.

It would be useful to have:

· Experience with power system analysis or simulation tools such as PSS®E, DIgSILENT PowerFactory, ETAP, PSCAD, PLECS or MATLAB/Simulink.

· Knowledge of power electronic converters, or of solid-state or hybrid transformer technology.

· Experience in one or more of our target markets: DNOs/DSOs and utilities, renewables and storage, EV charging, industrial sites or data centres.

· Experience building techno-economic, lifecycle cost or total-cost-of-ownership models.

· Hands-on experience with FAT/SAT, commissioning or field service of grid-connected equipment.

· Experience using a CRM system (e.g. HubSpot or Salesforce) to track opportunities and technical requests.

· Experience in a start-up or scale-up, or of helping set up a new team or function.

· Chartered Engineer (CEng) status, or working towards it.

Benefits

• Employee Option Plan: You get equity in IONATE, so as we succeed so do you.
• Private Medical & Dental Insurance: From day one, we provide you with full, comprehensive private medical and dental cover through Bupa. You also have the option to add any dependents to your cover. Please ask us for more details.
• Company pension: a flexible, and sustainable pension product to help you plan for your future.
• Career Development: It’s important to us that you have the opportunity for ongoing professional development and career growth. You will receive an annual budget for professional development and work with your team to set and reach goals every year.
• Flexible working schedules: You will have the flexibility for occasional
• Cycle to Work Scheme: Low carbon travel is important for everyone, so we have in place a cycle scheme to help you purchase a bicycle.
• Slow travel: We believe in a low carbon future, so if you wish to travel by a lower carbon method - but it takes much longer than flying - we will give you an extra 2 slow travel days per year.
• Employee Option Plan: You get equity in IONATE, so as we succeed so do you.
• Private Medical & Dental Insurance: From day one, we provide you with full, comprehensive private medical and dental cover through Bupa. You also have the option to add any dependents to your cover. Please ask us for more details.
• Company pension: a flexible, and sustainable pension product to help you plan for your future.
• Career Development: It’s important to us that you have the opportunity for ongoing professional development and career growth. You will receive an annual budget for professional development and work with your team to set and reach goals every year.
• Flexible working schedules: You will have the flexibility for work-from-home arrangements. Talk to us at the application stage about this.
• Cycle to Work Scheme: Low carbon travel is important for everyone, so we have in place a cycle scheme to help you purchase a bicycle.
• Slow travel: We believe in a low carbon future, so if you wish to travel by a lower carbon method - but it takes much longer than flying - we will give you an extra 2 slow travel days per year.