Founder in Residence, Scaling the Grid (Civil/Mechanical/Structural Engineer)

Join us to build: we’re seeking entrepreneurially-minded individuals with deep technical and commercial domain expertise, who are eager to solve urgent unmet challenges through venture building. This role offers a unique opportunity to work at the forefront of energy infrastructure, building a new company that dramatically reduces the cost of high-voltage transmission construction through novel approaches to fragmentation and modularity.

The role is full-time, remote initially until venture incorporation and spin-out (circa Q4 2027), location TBD.

The Problem Worth Solving

Across the UK, US and Europe, electricity transmission networks face an unprecedented construction challenge. Decarbonisation targets and the electrification of heat, transport, and industry require a dramatic expansion of high-voltage overhead lines - yet the construction methods used to build transmission towers have barely changed in half a century. Lattice steel towers are fabricated in large sections, transported by heavy goods vehicles and erected using mobile cranes that can cost £300K-£750K per project mobilisation. Foundations are over-designed because site-specific geotechnical data is too expensive to gather at scale.

Most cost-reduction efforts remain anchored in incremental optimisation: slightly lighter steelwork, marginally faster crane cycles. These leave the fundamental cost structure intact. Mass-dependent items - steel, concrete, transport, cranage and installation labour - still account for 35-45% of total line CAPEX. For transmission operators facing the scale of the UK's ASTI programme, or equivalent US and European grid expansion, incremental savings are not enough.

The Opportunity

We believe the answer is fragmentation and modularity: decomposing transmission towers into standardised, factory-produced modules - small enough for conventional transport, light enough to assemble without heavy plant, designed for rapid field connection by semi-skilled labour. This approach has the potential to address not only the direct costs of tower erection and foundation installation, but the cascading cost drivers that inflate transmission project budgets: crane mobilisation, road upgrades for heavy transport, weather-dependent construction windows, skilled labour shortages and field operations risk premiums.

The commercial space remains wide open. Existing tower manufacturers and EPC contractors are optimised for the current paradigm and face strong institutional incentives to preserve it. Transmission owners are under acute regulatory and political pressure to build faster and cheaper but lack internal innovation capacity to drive a paradigm shift. The UK's ASTI programme alone requires £20B+ of new overhead line construction over the coming decade. Similar build-out pressures exist across the US and Europe.

Working in partnership with a Major Transatlantic Utilities Company

We've already done the hardest part: getting a major utility on board. Driven by mutual conviction in the urgent need to accelerate grid expansion and reduce the cost of high-voltage transmission construction, DSV and a major transatlantic utilities company (the Partner) have partnered to back new venture creation at the intersection of structural engineering, advanced manufacturing, and deployable energy infrastructure products. This partnership leverages their deep domain access and position as one of the world’s largest transmission owners to provide founders with unparalleled market insight and a direct route to first customers.

The Role

You will join DSV’s venture creation programme as a Founder-in-Residence and work closely with the DSV and the Partner’s team to co-found a new company. During the programme you will refine, improve and complement existing scoping work on:

• The technical thesis for approaches that fragment or modularise transmission tower and foundation construction, enabling off-site manufacture, rapid deployment, and reduced dependence on heavy plant (neglect and technical tractability);
• Commercial neglect (IP strategy, differentiation, competition);
• Value proposition (market, value capture, techno-economics);
• Regulatory strategy & positioning;
• Fundraising strategy & pitching;
• Optimising company strategy for the most rapid and de-risked path to Series A.

Preparation for Investment Committee (IC) will involve fulfilling our investment criteria, recruiting advisory and co-founding team members, and parallel fundraising for additional expansion funds. Assuming success at IC, you will receive pre-seed investment and spinout the company in Q4 2027. You and your co-founders will own a significant stake in the business and continue receiving support post-spinout.

Requirements

What We're Looking For

Essential - engineering depth

• Civil, mechanical or structural engineering at core (architecture with strong structural skills also considered), with genuine hands-on depth in at least one of:
• Modular structural systems (interlocking connections, DfMA, kit-of-parts)
• Advanced connection technologies (friction-grip bolting, adhesive bonding, snap-fit joints, field-weldable nodes)
• Lightweight/composite structural materials (FRP, BFRP, advanced steel alloys)
• Foundation engineering and geotechnics (micropile systems, helical anchors, precast foundations)
• Automated/robotic construction (robotic assembly, drone-assisted installation, self-erecting mechanisms)

You don't need experience across all five - one, applied deeply and hands-on, is what matters. If your specialism isn't listed but is clearly adjacent (e.g. bridge/tower fabrication, precision manufacturing, etc.), apply anyway and tell us why it transfers.

Strongly preferred - translational execution

• Full project lifecycle experience in grid, energy or large infrastructure construction
• Hands-on regulatory navigation (UK/EU/USA)
• A prototype or field trial you personally shipped, or a type-test/standards-compliant data package you delivered

Nice to have - commercial experience

• BD/partnerships experience in energy infrastructure/construction
• Founder/C-suite experience in deep-tech, construction-tech or energy infrastructure

Essential values:

• You are highly motivated by unsolved challenges in energy infrastructure and grid modernisation, and driven to challenge the status quo in transmission construction;
• You are impact driven, take the initiative, make things happen, and think from a first principles perspective to figure out what’s really needed;
• You have clear entrepreneurial spirit and mindset, demonstrated through impactful innovation, and an ability to work in ambiguous, unstructured but fast-paced, demanding and pressurised environments;
• Collaborative nature, with the ability to work effectively in cross-functional teams.

Benefits

Our Offer

By joining DSV, you’ll be joining a team of operators who have founded companies and led translation of science at some of the most respected universities, charities, funds and government agencies. 2/3 of the team have founded or led a company at C-suite and 65% have a PhD. Our team dedicate several hours every week to each Founder or founding team to provide tailored guidance, resources and feedback covering every aspect of what it takes to successfully launch a new venture from both the tech and commercial perspectives:

• We provide optimised, purpose-built, proprietary tools, resources and processes to help create high-impact ventures from scratch, using our venture creation methodology;
• DSV and the Partners’ extensive network incl. leaders of energy infrastructure, transmission operators, EPC contractors, technical & commercial domain expertise, and wide-ranging portfolio company capabilities;
• We jointly provide an initial £250k (~$340k / €290k) investment governed by our Investment Committee to incorporate the new venture and develop early proof-of-concept data that is often needed to attract high profile non-venture studio VCs. This funding is also key for obtaining grant funding, which often needs to be matched with private investment;
• You and your co-founder(s) together will own the majority equity stake in the company;
• We provide minimum guaranteed income of £4,166 per month (fixed), paid to each Founder as a consultancy fee until the company is launched and pre-seed investment is secured;
• We provide continuous support post spin-out, including fundraising, commercial partnerships, recruitment and team-building (amongst other things);
• Other Founders currently at DSV across sectors working collaboratively and supporting one another - a unique resource to draw on.

About DSV

Deep Science Ventures (DSV) is on a mission to create a future in which both humans and the planet can thrive. We use our unique venture creation process to create, spin-out, and invest in science companies, combining available scientific knowledge and founder-type scientists into high-impact ventures. Operating in four sectors - Pharmaceuticals, Climate, Agriculture, and Computation - we tackle the challenges defining these areas by taking a first principles approach and partnering with leading institutions.