Analyst Operational Assessments MTI / Operability

Independent Electricity System Operator

2d • Hybrid

About The Position

The IESO is committed to ensuring Ontario’s electricity system meets the province’s needs today and into the future. We are charged with purpose, delivering reliable, affordable, and sustainable electricity for homes, businesses, and communities across the province. We are energized to grow, embracing opportunities to shape the future of a dynamic and evolving energy sector while advancing our careers. We are powered by teamwork, supported by diverse and passionate colleagues who foster respect, celebrate successes, and thrive on shared achievements. At the IESO, it’s not just what we do—it’s who we are!

Our central role includes managing the provincial power grid in real-time, overseeing and evolving Ontario’s electricity market, engaging with government, municipalities and Indigenous communities, and planning for Ontario’s future electricity needs. Our employees play a key role in driving grid innovation, protecting the system from threats, advancing the province’s energy conservation programs, and forecasting and procuring the electricity resources we’ll need in the decades to come. These positions are unionized positions that falls within the Markets and Reliability Business Unit.

This posting is for two vacancies within the Markets and Reliability (M&R) business unit: one for the Operability team, and one for the Operational Transformation team.

Operability: The Operability team is responsible for assessing the ability of the existing, transitioning and future electricity system to remain operable and to deliver required essential reliability services. Through these assessments the Operability team identifies essential reliability service/operability needs and makes recommendations to address those needs through improved processes and tools within M&R or by informing future procurement decisions with the Power System Development business unit.

Operational Transformation: The Operational Transformation team is responsible for
assessing events on the power system, considering improvements to our operating methods as well as
enabling and guiding the Markets & Reliability (M&R) business unit for the evolving electricity grid. We act as the central coordination hub for M&R; anticipating future system and business needs, partnering with M&R divisions to foster data-driven decision making, and driving continuous innovation.

The energy sector is rapidly evolving, offering exciting new opportunities for those who want to make a difference.

The successful candidate will be expected to assist in the development and continuous improvement of Operations processes, tools, and risk controls, while ensuring compliance with industry standards and regulations. It also involves managing operational and operability assessments, supporting forward market functions, resolving tool performance issues, and collaborating with internal and external stakeholders to enhance efficiency and reliability.

Requirements

• Requires an engineering knowledge of electrical theory, power system analysis and control, mathematics, computer science, economics and other specialty related courses to undertake engineering, economic or analytical studies related to the management and control of the bulk power system.
• Requires knowledge of technical writing to prepare effective reports and data analysis to conduct quantitative assessments.
• This knowledge is considered to be normally acquired, either through the successful completion of a four-year university education in an appropriate field/discipline or by having the equivalent education.
• Requires exposure to the overall power system operation
• Requires an overall understanding of the IESO-Administered Markets, their operation and the characteristic of the interconnected systems to support the activities of the IESO
• Requires excellent facility in written and oral communications, including the ability to prepare effective documentation, recommendations and reports
• Requires exposure to develop a good overall understanding of system and market operation practices and procedures, including legislation, regulatory standards, resource utilization, and, system control orders and an ability to undertake complex market or system event analysis
• Requires working with multiple stakeholders including customers and good judgement in dealing with multiple priorities
• Requires computer experience including exposure to statistical and database software, desktop software applications, computer data conversion, various PC-based query and calculation tools, and computer system interfaces
• Requires experience in applying, testing and considering the merits of alternatives
• Requires good customer service skills
• Experience will be related to the fields of: The IESO Administered Markets and interconnected power system operations Reliability and operability assessment NERC, NPCC and IESO Market Rules compliance assessments
• Electrical engineering design concepts as they relate to the functions and characteristics of power system components
• Familiarity with power system operation, practices, and policies
• Familiarity with energy and forward market operations, practices, policies, and Market Rules
• Competitive market operations

Responsibilities

• Assist in the assessment of operational events for their compliance with legislation, regulations and standards including the market rules and market manuals, NERC standards and NPCC criteria Where needed, assist in conducting root cause analysis to develop appropriate mitigation plans to contain IESO’s compliance risk exposure.
• Assist in conducting ex-post and ex-ante operational assessments to identify operating and ancillary services’ needs to mitigate any reliability and operability risks.
• Support senior department staff in performing analysis by gathering and screening data, providing input where appropriate, and drafting related materials as assigned.
• Work with senior department staff, SMEs within and outside Operations as necessary to assist in integrating new technology/market design into IESO Operations.
• Contribute to internal and external working groups and provide Operations perspective by participating in various stakeholder engagements that impact the operation of the IESO administered markets.
• Assist in developing appropriate processes to support Operations activities. Identify the objectives of business processes, assess the risk of not meeting those objectives and identify process controls to mitigate risk as appropriate. Document process objectives, tasks, risks and controls in summary documentation (e.g. risk-control matrices).
• Work with senior department staff, subject matter experts (SME) from different business units to produce business process documentations including procedural instructions for Operations activities.
• Liaise with Operations staff to understand issues with the performance of existing operational tools and processes, and follow-up with relevant groups including Information Technology (IT) to facilitate their resolution.
• Assist in developing end user computing tools as necessary to support Operations tasks, including operation of the IESO controlled grid and operation of the IESO administered markets.
• Work towards developing knowledge of Operations processes (including but not limited to day-ahead scheduling, control room procedures, real-time scheduling) for the purposes of interpreting and assessing the priority of issues regarding Operations tools and processes.
• Assist senior department staff in assessing the effectiveness of new programs and potential solutions to address operational and market inefficiencies in coordination with SMEs from other business units.
• Prepare materials for meetings, reports and presentations made by senior operations staff.
• Support, as required, specialized system and market efficiency studies
• Provide support, as required to other business units, agencies, and market participants to fulfill strategic plans.
• Assist senior department staff as required on key tasks and assignments.
• Perform other duties as required.

Benefits

• Best-in-class benefits and long-term support in the form of a defined benefit pension plan.
• Work in a dynamic and evolving sector that offers exciting opportunities and the chance to explore new career paths.
• Leadership that values meaningful discussions, welcomes feedback, and prioritizes career development.
• A strong, inclusive culture and a collaborative team environment with a shared passion for impactful work.
• Compensation packages that are regularly reviewed to remain competitive and to best accommodate the diverse needs of our employees.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Number of Employees: 501-1,000 employees