Skip to main content
1099 consultant · ~80–400 hrs per funded award · $120–$175/hr · Remote (U.S.)

Energy & Critical Minerals Project Scoping Subject-Matter Expert

Scope energy and critical-minerals projects in emerging markets, and write the Terms of Reference that make a feasibility study worth funding.

About Precision Federal

Precision Federal is a Christian-owned small business building AI and software systems for federal agencies through the SBIR program. The founder is a Christian, and the company is run on Christian principles: every number we publish is real, every claim we make is verifiable, and the work is done with excellence as service to God. Every proposal we submit is backed by working prototypes built before we ask for a dollar.

How this role works

  1. You join the bench. We name you (with a short bio) on proposals that match this role, always asking you first. Consent costs you nothing and commits you to nothing until an award funds.
  2. A contract is awarded. Federal SBIR awards fund the team named in the proposal. Your engagement begins, at an hourly rate agreed before you were ever named.
  3. You work remote, paid from the contract. ~40–80 hrs per funded award — and if no award ever funds, you owe nothing and lose nothing.

What you'll do

  • Assess candidate energy and critical-minerals projects against funding criteria and say plainly which should advance and why
  • Write Terms of Reference and activity budgets for feasibility studies and technical assistance, scoped to what a financier will actually require
  • Evaluate projects on three separate axes — technical configuration, economic benefit, and a specific financing route
  • Tell us when a sponsor's numbers cannot be verified, rather than passing them through

Required qualifications

  • Direct experience scoping, appraising or structuring infrastructure projects in developing or middle-income markets
  • Experience writing Terms of Reference or scopes of work for feasibility studies or technical assistance
  • Working knowledge of project finance — development finance institutions, export credit, offtake and tariff structures
  • U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident (U.S. person)
  • Willing to be named on a federal proposal with a one-page resume, and to sign a short letter of commitment

Preferred qualifications

  • USTDA, IFC, World Bank, ADB, DFC, EXIM or comparable development-finance experience
  • Southeast Asia, South Asia or Pacific Islands market experience
  • Energy infrastructure — LNG, transmission and distribution, grid management, storage, thermal or civil nuclear
  • Critical minerals — downstream processing, smelting, refining, or the ports, rail and power that serve them

Compensation & structure

1099 consulting engagement. $85–$125 per hour, confirmed in writing before you are named on any proposal. Hours are funded by federal contract awards — engagements on this bench have ranged from roughly 130 to 710 hours across a period of performance, fully remote. Work and pay begin only if the contract is awarded — no award, no hours, no obligation.

Apply — Energy & Critical Minerals Project Scoping Subject-Matter Expert

Every application is read personally by the founder. We respond to every serious one.

Five questions

These are the substance of the application. Answer from your own experience — a few sentences each is plenty, and “this never came up” is a real answer we want.

Questions before applying? [email protected] · See all open roles