Principal Engineer / Architect - Electrical Control & Communications - BESS Business Unit

About Kimbal 

Kimbal Technologies is a fast-emerging Indian startup building breakthrough technologies for utilities. Today it functions as a trusted technology partner to the largest DISCOMS of India with '100% Made in India' end-to-end solutions for their AMI Projects. The company's AI-enabled meter reading application - Samaksha, workforce management application - Yukti, and Harmonics analyzer - Tarang, are rising as groundbreaking technologies for utilities worldwide. 

At the core, Kimbal Technologies is essentially an innovation lab championed by driven technocrats, with raw entrepreneurship as our central pillar. The company leverages emerging technologies, data, and exhaustive research to design proven engineering solutions to empower utilities to distribute reliable, secure, and sustainable energy to their end customers with more confidence and control. 

Role 

Kimbal is recruiting a Principal Engineer / Architect to own the complete control and communications architecture of its utility-scale BESS product, from BMS to SCADA and power dispatch. 

Controls is a strategic priority for Kimbal. This person will partner closely with an EMS product team deeply experienced in the Indian utility landscape to develop differentiated, tightly-integrated control capabilities that go well beyond what commodity BESS hardware provides. The role spans the full technical stack: controls architecture, interface definitions, algorithm design, platform selection, and grid code compliance. 

This is a founding role within a new division that operates with the autonomy and pace of a startup, backed by the resources of an established company with deep utility relationships across India. It is an opportunity to work within a small team of world-class domain experts, build a product from the ground-up, and experience the satisfaction of seeing your work come to life in the field. 

Responsibilities 

• Own the complete BESS control and communications architecture, spanning the full hierarchy: 

• BMS → EMS → Plant Controller → SCADA → SLDC 

• Define physical and application-layer interfaces between each control tier, including communication protocol specifications (IEC 61850, DNP3, Modbus TCP/RTU, CAN bus, and others as required). 

• Own technical requirements for the EMS; collaborate closely with Kimbal’s EMS team to develop differentiated, tightly integrated software and controls capabilities. 

• Define requirements for key control algorithms: 

• Dispatch and energy scheduling 

• Grid support functions 

• Battery state estimation and available power/energy computation 

• Calibration and test routines 

• Fault detection and protection logic 

• Specify cybersecurity requirements for all control and communications systems. 

• Evaluate and select control system components and software platforms where appropriate; own any corresponding technical vendor relationships. 

• Develop validation and acceptance test requirements for all controls subsystems. 

• Support installation and commissioning of pilot BESS deployments. 

• Maintain a thorough understanding of global energy storage controls technology and regulatory trends. 

Qualifications 

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or equivalent proficiency. 

• Meaningful experience designing and commissioning control systems for utility-scale energy storage or renewable energy power plants. 

• Strong familiarity with grid control hierarchies and utility SCADA integration in large-scale power systems. 

• Hands-on experience with industrial communication protocols, particularly IEC 61850 and DNP3. 

• Ability to define algorithm requirements for energy management and grid support functions. 

• Strong emotional intelligence that enables tight collaboration within a high-performance team. 

• Clear and effective written and verbal communication. 

• High standards for quality and attention to detail in work output. 

Preferred 

• Familiarity with Indian utility control systems: SLDC interfaces, POSOCO dispatch, regional grid codes. 

• Experience with CEA grid code compliance from a controls and communications perspective. 

• Knowledge of cybersecurity frameworks for industrial control systems. 

• Exposure to ancillary services markets, particularly FCAS (Australia). 

• Experience in an early-stage product environment.