---
title: 'Project Controls Lead at Quaise Energy, Inc'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/project-controls-lead-quaise-energy-inc-houston-w5crc7kctr77'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-06'
---

# Project Controls Lead at Quaise Energy, Inc

- **Company:** Quaise Energy, Inc
- **Location:** Houston, TX
- **Posted:** 2026-07-16
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-06
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/quaise/jobs/4320856009

## Job description

Quaise Energy is unlocking Earth’s deep heat to deliver clean, reliable, baseload energy at scale – almost anywhere in the world. As both a technology innovator and project developer, Quaise builds and operates solutions that harness superhot geothermal energy far below the surface, enabling power generation that can rival the output of today’s most efficient fossil fuel and nuclear plants. Leveraging millimeter wave drilling, developed after more than a decade of research at MIT, Quaise’s mission is to make superhot geothermal a backbone of the modern energy system, offering affordable, zero-carbon power and true energy independence for communities and nations everywhere.

The Project Controls Lead is a senior individual contributor role responsible for owning the financial, administrative, and compliance backbone of Quaise’s geothermal development and construction projects in partnership with the Finance and/or Supply Chain teams. This role supports multiple stakeholders while building scalable project controls, accounting, and compliance systems.

This position will play a key role in developing the project controls framework that supports Quaise’s transition from technology development to commercial deployment.

Additional responsibilities include maintaining a positive corporate culture, promoting a safe and creative work environment, identifying and supporting opportunities for external collaborations, and other activities designed to improve Quaise.

Work Location: Houston, TX, Bend, OR, or Boston, MA with consideration for hybrid or fully remote candidates.

Essential functions (Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these essential functions.)

Project Accounting & Cost Control

- Serve as the primary finance partner to the project team, providing day-to-day financial support throughout the project lifecycle.
- Own project-level accounting including budget development, cost tracking, forecasting, invoice review, and approval workflows.
- Maintain accurate budget versus actual reporting and project cash flow forecasts; proactively identify and communicate variances.
- Track project commitments, change orders, and vendor payments in accordance with EPC and procurement contract terms.
- Support the procurement lifecycle by overseeing imports/customs, coordinating freight and logistics, arranging storage and preventative maintenance.
- Implement and administer renewable energy tax credit compliance plans developed by third-party tax advisors.
- Maintain complete, well-organized, audit-ready documentation supporting tax credit eligibility and adders.
- Coordinate with external tax consultants and internal teams to ensure timely and accurate compliance execution.
- Provide secondary support for tax credit transfer or sale processes, including data room preparation and documentation support.
- Lead evaluation and implementation of a project management and project controls platform separate from the ERP, including workflow definition and adoption support.
- Build strong working relationships across Project Management, Engineering, Supply Chain, Accounting, and Corporate Finance.

Corporate Controlling Partnership

- Act as the primary liaison between the project organization and Corporate Controlling, ensuring project transactions are accurately reflected in the general ledger.
- Support monthly, quarterly, and year-end close activities related to the project, including accruals, reconciliations, and financial reporting.
- Collaborate with Corporate Controlling to implement standardized financial controls and reporting processes across projects.
- Provide feedback from project operations to help shape scalable accounting policies and financial processes.
- Help establish consistent workflows between Project Management, Supply Chain, Accounts Payable, and Controlling.

Competencies

- Strong financial analysis and cost management skills.
- Advanced budgeting, forecasting, and project reporting capabilities.
- High attention to detail and accuracy.
- Ability to operate within a fast-paced startup or high-growth environment with evolving priorities.
- Ability to operate independently while maintaining strong collaboration across teams.
- Continuous improvement mindset with a focus on building scalable processes.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
- Advanced Excel proficiency and comfort working in Excel-heavy project environments.
- Working knowledge of Microsoft Office and collaboration tools including SharePoint and Teams.
- Experience maintaining project schedules and reporting milestones using Smartsheet, Microsoft Project, or similar tools.
- Ability to work independently, exercise sound judgment, and navigate ambiguity while knowing when to engage stakeholders.
- Strong communication skills and the ability to interact effectively with both internal teams and external partners.

Supervisory responsibilities

- This role does not include formal people-management responsibilities.

Education and Experience

- Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, is preferred/required.
- 5–7+ years of experience in project accounting, project controls, project administration, construction accounting or related roles.
- Experience working for an energy development or ownership company preferred; construction or industrial project controls experience also valued.

Physical requirements

- This role requires prolonged periods sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
- The employee is regularly required to stand, sit, walk, stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl, as well as use hands to feel, reach, grasp, handle, or operate objects, tools and/or controls.
- The employee must be able to lift, push, pull, transfer, or move items up 20 pounds at times for departmental needs.
- Ability to move from one worksite to another or travel to various job sites and locations to complete tasks.
- The vision requirement includes reviewing written and electronic materials in digital and physical format.

Other duties

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities required of the employee for this job. Management reserves the right to change, rescind, add, or delete the duties and responsibilities of positions within this job classification at any time.

Affirmative Action/EEO statement

Quaise Energy is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against any employee or applicant on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, genetic information, disability, military status or age.

## About Quaise Energy, Inc

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Quaise Energy is developing utility-scale superhot geothermal power plants using a proprietary millimeter wave drilling system to access clean, always-on energy at unprecedented depths and temperatures.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series A)
- **Headquarters**: Houston, Texas, USA
- **Founded**: 2018
- **Founders**: Carlos Araque (President & CEO) and Matt Houde (Co-founder & Chief of Staff)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Geothermal electric power generation, clean energy
- **Target customers**: Utilities, industrial power users, grid operators (B2B/Enterprise)
- **Mission / Purpose**: “To make superhot geothermal a backbone of the modern energy system by offering affordable, zero-carbon power and true energy independence for communities everywhere.” [quaise-energy.files.svdcdn.com](https://quaise-energy.files.svdcdn.com/production/pdfs/Quaise-Fact-Sheet-WEB.pdf?dm=1756499279)

## Products & Services
- **Superhot Geothermal Power Plants**: Full‑scale power generation and heat distribution plants that tap into rock at 300–500 °C (up to 752 °F) at depths of 3–20 km. Deliver 5–10× more energy than conventional geothermal with 24/7 baseload output.
- **Millimeter Wave Drilling System**: A gyrotron‑powered platform that vaporizes rock without downhole hardware, enabling drilling to depths and temperatures far beyond conventional methods. Proven in the lab and achieved a 100‑meter field test in July 2025.
- **Project Obsidian**: The company’s first commercial‑scale power plant, under development in Central Oregon, targeting 50 MW initially (expandable to 250 MW) with a planned commercial operation date by 2030.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not publicly disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total funding $104 M (multiple rounds including Series A led by Safar Partners and Prelude Ventures); annual revenue $5 M (estimated)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Safar Partners, Prelude Ventures, TechEnergy Ventures, Nabors (led early venture round), Vinod Khosla (first backer), The Engine (MIT’s venture fund)
- **Growth Signals**:
  - 55 employees (+24.6 % YoY, +14 people) [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/quaise-energy)
  - 7 open job postings; monthly job postings +600 % [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/quaise-energy)
  - Drilled 100 m using the proprietary millimeter wave system in Central Texas (July 2025)
  - Active in 6 countries (US, UK, UAE, Bulgaria, Australia, Argentina)

## Competitive Advantages
- **Proprietary millimeter wave technology** – no downhole hardware, enabling access to superhot rock virtually anywhere on Earth.
- **Leverages existing fossil fuel supply chains and workforce** – can reuse oil‑and‑gas equipment, rigs, and talent, accelerating deployment.
- **Land‑use efficiency** – deep geothermal uses less than 1 % of the land required by other renewables.
- **Always‑on, zero‑carbon baseload power** – competitive with fossil plants for capacity factor without fuel costs.
- **Founded on a decade of MIT research** (Paul Woskov at MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center).

## Strategic Focus
- Complete Project Obsidian (Central Oregon) as the catalyst for global scale – commercial operation by 2030.
- Continue developing and field‑testing the hybrid drilling rig (conventional + millimeter wave) to reach 20 km depths and 500 °C temperatures.
- Expand to multiterawatt‑level deployments by working with the established workforce and regulatory frameworks of the oil and gas industry.
- Achieve 250 MW capacity at Project Obsidian with potential for additional wells.

## Why Work Here
- **Mission‑driven culture** – employees are passionate about solving the world’s energy challenge with a game‑changing clean technology.
- **Strong leadership** – executive team hails from Schlumberger, Morgan Stanley, Lazard, AltaRock Energy, and MIT; deep industry and technical expertise.
- **Growth trajectory** – rapid headcount expansion (+24.6 % YoY) and a significant increase in hiring signals a scale‑up phase.
- **Hybrid/remote flexibility** – some roles (e.g., Lead Geothermal Exploration Geologist) are listed as Hybrid/Remote.
- **Hands‑on engineering** – staff works on cutting‑edge gyrotron drilling, high‑temperature materials, and geothermal resource development.
- **Perks & environment** – small team (55 people) with direct impact; located in Houston energy corridor; ties to MIT and the broader clean‑energy ecosystem.

## Sources
1. [quaise.com](https://www.quaise.com/)
2. [job-boards.greenhouse.io/quaise](http://job-boards.greenhouse.io/quaise)
3. [quaise.com/company](https://www.quaise.com/company)
4. [linkedin.com/company/quaise-energy](https://www.linkedin.com/company/quaise-energy)
5. [quaise-energy.files.svdcdn.com – Fact Sheet](https://quaise-energy.files.svdcdn.com/production/pdfs/Quaise-Fact-Sheet-WEB.pdf?dm=1756499279)

## Other roles at Quaise Energy, Inc

- [Payroll Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/payroll-manager-quaise-energy-inc-houston-1wzcc0vcrjgb) — Houston, TX
- [Sr. Mechanical Technician](https://feeny.ai/job/sr-mechanical-technician-quaise-energy-inc-malden-80350czq1xvh) — Malden, MA
- [Sr. Electronic Technician](https://feeny.ai/job/sr-electronic-technician-quaise-energy-inc-houston-cvhct20p9gt0) — Houston, TX
- [Sr. Controls Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/sr-controls-engineer-quaise-energy-inc-houston-st0ct8wx8p2c) — Houston, TX
- [Director, Digital Marketing & Web Strategy](https://feeny.ai/job/director-digital-marketing-web-strategy-quaise-energy-inc-houston-fx2anb6r5aee) — Houston, TX
- [Future Internship Opportunities](https://feeny.ai/job/future-internship-opportunities-quaise-energy-inc-houston-z4evx6k7x1gc) — Houston, TX
- [Jr. Mechanical CAD Designer](https://feeny.ai/job/jr-mechanical-cad-designer-quaise-energy-inc-houston-rtezwfzg4pcn) — Houston, TX
- [Electromagnetics Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/electromagnetics-engineer-quaise-energy-inc-houston-8465y1cnrxtw) — Houston, TX
- [Project Controls Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/project-controls-lead-fluidstack-austin-bvcmkbayx1qw) — Austin, TX