Amy McGuire – Director of Product

About Your Role at Sense

What do you do at Sense, in a nutshell?

I’m a bit of a Swiss Army knife. I look at what our technology can do today, what utilities want and need now, and how those things fit together. Just as importantly, I try to anticipate what utilities will need in the near future, what we should build to meet those needs, and how we can describe it in a way that resonates.

How did your past career experience prepare you for your role at Sense?

My career has given me a strong understanding of the energy industry and emerging technologies, from the incentives and stakeholders involved to how major purchasing decisions get made. In my previous role at Highland Electric Fleets, an electrification-as-a-service provider, I helped bring a new approach to school-bus fleet electrification. That experience taught me how to connect commercial and energy strategy, and how to explain unfamiliar technology to audiences accustomed to doing things very differently. Those lessons are highly relevant to the work we do at Sense.

What does a typical day look like for you?

There’s a lot of variety in my day-to-day role. I might be writing a regulatory comment, working on product strategy or drafting a presentation on fault detection and waveform capture. I’m involved in many different parts of the business, which means I’m always learning and making connections across teams.

Thoughts on the Energy Industry

What’s one energy trend you’re excited about?

The industry is grappling with how to meet rapidly increasing demand.

One answer is to build more generation and infrastructure; the other is to make better use of what we already have. In the near term, we simply can’t build enough new capacity quickly enough, so optimizing existing assets is the most cost-effective, environmentally responsible and socially conscious path. By helping utilities understand what is happening on the system, we can help them maximize existing capacity, reduce costs and emissions, and make better-informed decisions about what genuinely needs to be built next.

How do you think Sense is shaping the future of energy?

Sense can give utility operators deeper visibility into what is happening at the grid edge, while also giving consumers useful information about their own energy use. If someone knows their car will be charged when they need it, for example, they may be more willing to participate in a demand-response program. That can lower the peak, reduce their own costs and help avoid future costs for everyone. By meeting people where they are and making energy information useful, we can create benefits for consumers and the broader system at the same time.

How should the energy industry approach the growth of data centers and AI?

The rapid growth of large data-center loads can feel a little like a gold rush. AI offers enormous benefits, but if we don’t consider energy use, water use and siting before projects are built, there can be lasting consequences for communities. The challenge is balancing innovation with responsible development. I don’t think the answer is simply to stop innovation; it’s to use innovation, including better data and grid intelligence, to plan and manage this growth thoughtfully.

Life Outside of Work

What’s something people might be surprised to learn about you?

I love gardening and building things at home and one day I hope to live on a big farm. I built our chicken coop and garden beds by hand, I have made a return to throwing pottery and have been working on large vessels that can be pretty planters, and pretty obsessed with up-cycling found furniture. My garden produces an obscene amount of greens, squash, potatoes and tomatoes, so I bring a lot into the office for the team. So, I think I’m on my way to becoming a bit of a homesteader.

Are you a morning person or a night owl?

Definitely a morning person which probably helps when you share your home with a middle-schooler, a 200-pound Great Dane, a Maine Coon cat and eight chickens.

What’s the most recent book, movie, or podcast you loved?

I’m voluntarily rereading A Tale of Two Cities and entertaining myself by quoting it to my 11-year-old daughter.

Coffee or tea and how do you take it?

I’m definitely a coffee snob. I start the morning with a Chemex pour-over, then switch to espresso later in the day. The grind has to be just right.