Lab & Facilities Manager 

Location: Mountain view, CA
Team: Operations
 

The Impact You’ll Make:

1st Avenue Power is looking for a Lab & Facilities Manager to own the day-to-day operations of our Power Electronics R&D Laboratory and Mountain View office. While this is a dual-scope role, the primary focus is on lab operations (approximately 60-70% of the time as the team ramps up prototyping) supporting a fast-moving power electronics engineering group, with the remainder dedicated to office operations for a ~20-person hybrid team. You will be the connective tissue between a functioning office environment and an active R&D lab; making sure both run cleanly, safely, and without friction so the teams inside them can focus on building.

Key Responsibilities:

Lab Operations

• Own Employee Health & Safety (EHS) requirements: fire safety plans, emergency drills, safety postings, and regulatory compliance. Work with the executive team to establish and lead company safety culture.
• Maintain the physical and operational integrity of the Power Electronics R&D lab: inventory control, equipment lifecycle, and supply availability
• Manage all lab ordering, receiving, and shipping aligned to engineering team needs and test cycles
• Develop, document, and enforce lab SOPs, safety standards, and quality practices; ensure team compliance and training
• Process and manage purchase requests and purchase orders (PRs/POs); track overall lab financial spend and flag variances
• Coordinate lab space scheduling and cross-functional access across multiple engineering teams
• Manage lab vendor relationships and external partnerships as needed
• Operate and provide first-line maintenance for environmental testing infrastructure, including thermal chambers and ovens
• Serve as the operational liaison for external testing environments; continuity, logistics, and rapid resolution of non-technical blockers
• Lead lab improvement initiatives: storage reorganization, workflow standardization, scalability of lab processes

Office Operations

• Run day-to-day office operations for a ~20-person hybrid team: supplies, mail, shipping/receiving, and vendor coordination
• Serve as the primary point of contact for building management, lease logistics, janitorial, security, maintenance, and facilities requests
• Liaise with IT team for IT and AV first-line support; troubleshoot or escalate issues with printers, displays, video conferencing, and networking equipment
• Coordinate guest reception, visitor access, and front-of-house logistics
• Support team events and all-hands meetings; catering, swag, logistics, and setup; partner with EA team on executive-driven events
• Coordinate meeting room and office space utilization across hybrid teams
• Support new hire physical onboarding: desk setup, badge access, equipment readiness in coordination with People and the EA teams
• Identify and drive continuous improvement in office operations, vendor contracts, and cost efficiency

At approximately four months, this role expands to include the following engineering responsibilities. The timeline will be confirmed based on the state of lab build-out and team readiness.

Engineering Responsibilities (Phase 2)

• Lead end-to-end development and operation of the Power Electronics R&D and Compliance Laboratory from concept through full operation
• Lead and supervise lab technicians in completing jobs and tickets across multiple engineering teams to meet their lab requirements
• Create and track project schedules for lab activities and equipment builds
• Serve as the primary technical liaison for external testing environments; ensuring continuity and rapid resolution of technical blockers
• Respond to dynamic engineering needs with flexible problem-solving across ambiguous and evolving tasks
• Partner with engineering leads on new lab capability builds, test setup design, and validation infrastructure

The Skills You Bring:

• Experience with EHS requirements, safety compliance, and emergency preparedness
• 5+ years of experience in lab operations, office management, or a combined facilities role
• Strong understanding of mechanical and electrical systems
• Extensive hands-on experience with lab instruments such as oscilloscopes, RLC analyzers, impedance analyzers, spectrum analyzers, electronic (AC/DC) loads, and signal/power generators
• Familiarity with lab or R&D environments; power electronics, hardware, or similar technical settings preferred
• Experience managing a small-to-mid-size office (10-30 people) in a hybrid work environment
• Strong vendor management skills; sourcing, negotiating, and maintaining contractor and supplier relationships
• Experience processing PRs/POs and tracking operational budgets
• Highly organized, self-directed, and comfortable managing competing priorities without close oversight
• Demonstrated ability to transition from operational to technical thinking and guide others through that transition
• Strong communicator; comfortable working across engineering, people ops, and executive stakeholders
• Demonstrated ability to build and document processes where none previously existed
• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related STEM field preferred

Nice to Have:

• OSHA 30 Certification
• Experience in a startup or early-stage company where the facilities function is being built from scratch
• Familiarity with high-voltage or power electronics lab environments
• Experience with lab instruments (oscilloscopes, analyzers, electronic loads)
• Experience in renewable product development lab environment
• Experience with electronic assembly and rework, including soldering of through-hole and surface mount components
• IPC workmanship standards familiarity
• Experience with CAD software and mechanical design tools
• Experience managing outside vendor relationships

Benefits and Perks:

• Competitive Compensation Package
• Health Insurance: We offer 100% coverage of employee premiums under a Gold-level PPO plan. Dental & Vision Insurance: 50% of employee premiums are covered.
• Retirement Plan: A 401(k) plan with a 6% employer match.

Additional Information:

Minimum salary of $140,000 to maximum salary of $175,000 + benefits.

The range provided is 1AP’s reasonable estimate of the base compensation for this role. The actual amount will be based on job-related and non-discriminatory factors such as location, experience, training, skills, and abilities. Consult with your Recruiter during the initial call to determine a more targeted range based on these job-related factors.

About 1st Avenue Power:

At 1st Avenue Power, we are on a mission to deliver simple, fast-to-deploy, customer-centric and intelligent power systems leveraging the abundance of solar to provide inexpensive and reliable clean energy to global customers from data centers to energy starved communities around the world. We envision a future where every community, business, and nation thrives on the limitless potential of clean energy, united in a shared commitment to a sustainable and equitable world.

You will be working with Dr. Tom Buttgenbach, one of the most successful clean energy technology innovators and entrepreneurs who has been a driving force in making solar-based energy solutions the cheapest and most reliable energy option. Tom founded and led Avantus (formerly known as “8minute Solar Energy“), to become one of the largest and most profitable solar and energy storage companies in the United States and the largest in California, including delivering over 17% of Los Angeles’ power.  

When Tom sold his interest in Avantus’ development business  to KKR in mid-2024, it had delivered over $1 billion in profit and secured over $10 Billion in power purchase agreements and project financings with a pipeline of over 30 GW of solar and 90 GWh of energy storage, capable of powering the homes of more than 20 million Americans day and night. 

Tom’s family office investment firm, 1st Avenue Capital, is building teams for the next generation of advanced solar power system architecture and AI to aggressively drive down the cost of and equitable access to clean and reliable energy.[1] 1st Avenue’s advanced large scale power systems are addressing the increasing inadequacy of the grid to meet the massively growing power demands of the digital economy, while its intelligent distributed solar utilities are leapfrogging the grid to provide equitable access to inexpensive, clean and reliable power to underserved communities around the world.

1AI Energy, the employing entity for 1st Avenue Power, and 1st Avenue Power are committed to a policy of Equal Employment Opportunity and will not discriminate against an applicant or employee based on race (inclusive of traits associated with race, including hair texture and protective hairstyles), color, religion, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding), age, veteran or military status, marital status, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, reproductive decision-making, or any other legally recognized protected class under federal, state, or local law.  We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements.. Applicants with disabilities may be entitled to reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), and local laws. A reasonable accommodation is a change in the way things are normally done which will ensure an equal employment opportunity without imposing undue hardship on 1AI Energy or 1st Avenue Power. Please inform the company's personnel representative if you need assistance completing an application or to otherwise participate in the application process. 

Join our team and make a real difference in the world.

[1: Additionally, 1st Avenue is in the business of acquiring projects where there has been a final notice-to-proceed or financial close.]