Engineer III-V, Energy Management Systems

Grant County Public Utility District•Ephrata, WA

47d•$104,822 - $228,062•Hybrid

About The Position

The EMS Engineer is responsible for the design, implementation, support, maintenance, security, and continuous improvement of systems supporting Grant County PUD’s Bulk Electric System (BES), including EMS, SCADA, EAS, AGC, ICCP, historian, and related control system infrastructure. Depending on experience and level, this role performs and leads activities involving system configuration, troubleshooting, integration, optimization, lifecycle management, and modernization of operational technology environments including servers, networks, firewalls, virtualization platforms, databases, storage, and communications systems. This position supports reliable and secure utility operations through system monitoring, modeling, operational data management, custom applications, and advanced troubleshooting of complex operational and communication issues. Responsibilities include supporting and leading NERC compliance initiatives, system hardening, documentation, audit support, and operational risk management to maintain regulatory compliance and system resiliency. The EMS Engineer collaborates with internal departments, vendors, regional utilities, and external partners to support operational reliability, data integrity, and continuous improvement efforts across the control systems environment. Depending on level, the role may provide technical leadership, mentor team members, lead projects and strategic initiatives, establish engineering standards and best practices, and contribute to long-term planning and modernization efforts that enhance operational performance, security, and situational awareness across the BES environment.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Technology, MIS OR two (2) additional years of relevant experience in lieu of degree.
Years of experience maintaining applications providing 24x7 support of critical operations.
Engineer III: 3+ years
Engineer IV: 6+ years
Engineer V: 10+ years
NERC CIP access, and incumbents must meet and maintain eligibility with the established criteria in the Grant PUD Personnel Risk Assessment Procedure.
Knowledge of NERC standards and regulations
Knowledge of concepts, principles, theories, and methods surrounding electrical engineering industry standards and best practices
Knowledge of data processing sufficient to be able to review program specifications, design programs and write or modify software code
Knowledge of common application development patterns, including, but not limited to, Software Engineering best practices for all applicable technology, client-server architecture, service applications, object-oriented, and object-based software design
Skill in problem-solving and thinking critically
Ability to independently interpret, adapt, and apply written guidelines, precedents, and standardized work practices to a variety of unprecedented and problematic situations
Skill in written and oral interpersonal communication; workflow and time management
Proficiency in utilizing MS office products; specialized software, tools, and applications

Nice To Haves

A Washington State Engineering in Training
Experience in electric utility operations, preferably supporting real-time control systems (e.g., EMS/SCADA)
Professional Engineer
Supervisory or team lead experience

Responsibilities

Design, implement, support, maintain, secure, and continuously improve systems supporting Grant County PUD’s Bulk Electric System (BES), including EMS, SCADA, EAS, AGC, ICCP, historian, and related control system infrastructure.
Perform and lead activities involving system configuration, troubleshooting, integration, optimization, lifecycle management, and modernization of operational technology environments including servers, networks, firewalls, virtualization platforms, databases, storage, and communications systems.
Support reliable and secure utility operations through system monitoring, modeling, operational data management, custom applications, and advanced troubleshooting of complex operational and communication issues.
Support and lead NERC compliance initiatives, system hardening, documentation, audit support, and operational risk management to maintain regulatory compliance and system resiliency.
Collaborate with internal departments, vendors, regional utilities, and external partners to support operational reliability, data integrity, and continuous improvement efforts across the control systems environment.
Provide technical leadership, mentor team members, lead projects and strategic initiatives, establish engineering standards and best practices, and contribute to long-term planning and modernization efforts that enhance operational performance, security, and situational awareness across the BES environment.
Support onboarding, mentoring, and training for less experienced team members.
Create and maintain comprehensive documentation, including troubleshooting guides, standard operating procedures, and best practices.
Support procurement and contract management processes to obtain hardware, software, and contract labor support. Facilitate vendor support by onboarding contractors with our processes and addressing needs to keep work flowing.
Collect, store, and report on data required to prove Grant PUD is meeting relevant regulatory requirements; complete Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) and other compliance reporting requirements including documenting system failovers, generating change control documentation, assisting with patch management, upgrading system firmware, and testing configuration changes for security risks; run SQL queries providing evidence of compliance.
Review engineering drawings produced internally and externally to verify compliance with current system capabilities.
Represent Grant PUD to other utility companies as part of Inter-control Center Communication Protocol (ICCP) system. Support and administer changes with other utilities. Model effects of configuration inquiries, request, and implementations. Develop relationships critical to successful partnerships.
Support custom interfaces with the energy accounting system.
Demonstrate commitment to Grant PUD’s mission, vision, values, and strategic plan.
Understand and adhere to compliance requirements for this position that may include laws, regulations, security guidelines, Grant PUD policies and procedures.
Actively participate in all aspects of our safety program.
Maintain, configure, and repair the Utilities’ Energy Management and Data Historian systems and user interfaces used by operations improving functionality, accuracy, engineering compliance, and user interface optimization.
Update system layouts, visualizations, and fields providing users with clear, consistent, and complete information on critical infrastructure.
Rebuild substation configurations by reviewing engineering documentation.
Model EMS changes and configurations verifying all requirements are within established standards; update existing screens with new substation components; validate changes with controls vendor in point-to-point verification of control operations, analog data collection, and alarm operations.
Learn how to configure and troubleshoot issues with Automatic Generation Control (AGC).
Become familiar with the applications supported by EAS or the Infrastructure/Cyber Security team members.
Work with other team members to diagnose and resolve communications and data issues related to application communication, telemetry and infrastructure. This includes capturing and/or analyzing network traffic with Wireshark and other similar tools.
Oversee, direct, maintain, configure, and repair the Utilities’ Energy Management and Data Historian systems and user interfaces used by operations improving functionality, accuracy, engineering compliance, and user interface optimization.
Rebuild substation configurations by reviewing engineering documentation and providing feedback to stakeholders. Model EMS changes and configurations by verifying all requirements are within established standards. Update existing screens with new substation components. Validate changes with controls vendor in point-to-point verification of control operations, analog data collection, and alarm operations.
Design, configure and maintain Automatic Generation Control (AGC).
Troubleshoot existing custom applications and customized vendor supplied software when necessary.
Support custom applications where off-the-shelf solutions are not available. Applications could be in several different languages including: VB.Net, Java, JavaScript and CSS, HTML, and C++.
Cross-train with team members in one other focus area.
Oversee diagnosing and resolving communications and data issues related to application communication, telemetry and infrastructure. This includes capturing and/or analyzing network traffic with Wireshark and other similar tools.
Lead the maintenance, configuration, and upgrades of the Utilities’ Energy Management and Data Historian systems used by operations improving functionality, accuracy, engineering compliance, and user interface optimization.
Rebuild substation configurations by reviewing engineering documentation and providing feedback to stakeholders. Model EMS changes and configurations verifying all requirements are within established standards. Update existing screens with new substation components. Validate changes with controls vendor in point-to-point verification of control operations, analog data collection, and alarm operations.
Design, configure and maintain Automatic Generation Control (AGC).
Troubleshoot existing custom applications and customized vendor supplied software when necessary.
Support custom applications where off-the-shelf solutions are not available. Applications could be in several different languages including: VB.Net, Java, JavaScript and CSS, HTML, and C++.
Cross-train with team members in all other focus areas (GMS, EAS, Cyber-Infrastructure).
Lead diagnosing and resolving communications and data issues related to application communication, telemetry and infrastructure. This includes capturing and/or analyzing network traffic with Wireshark and other similar tools.
Lead procurement and contract management processes to obtain hardware, software, and contract labor support. Facilitate vendor support by onboarding contractors with our processes and addressing needs to keep work flowing.
Lead onboarding, mentoring, and training for less experienced team members