Ignition Incident Specialist, Senior

Pacific Gas And Electric Company•Oakland, CA

5d•$104,000 - $175,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Wildfire Mitigation (WM) organization oversees PG&E’s wildfire risk strategy, associated mitigations and operations, establishing the strategies, tactics and best practices that support wildfire resilience across the communities we serve. In collaboration with Operations leadership and other business units, WR guides the company’s strategic direction for preventing fire incidents, developing and executing the comprehensive Wildfire Mitigation Plan, and strengthening trust with regulators, communities, and key agencies. To meet these goals, WR delivers operational mitigations such as Enhanced Powerline Safety Settings (EPSS) and Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS), performs advanced risk analytics and ignition investigations, fosters community and regulatory partnerships, and coordinates rapid ignition response activities. Ignitions Incident Specialists are responsible for understanding where wildfire risk has actualized, in terms of PG&E facility ignition events, to inform experts where there may be gaps in our barriers intended to prevent wildfires in support of our stand that Catastrophic Wildfires Shall Stop. This team is charged with maintaining the source of truth on PG&E electric ignitions and leading a matrixed team of experts tasked with understanding the cause of ignition events which help to inform/drive wildfire mitigation strategies. This includes reporting on incidents to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), investigating electric ignition events to determine the origin and cause and to help inform corrective or preventive measures to mitigate recurrence. The ignitions investigations team at PG&E is a first of its kind in the utility space and, as such, as other utilities from around the world begin to recognize the importance of addressing wildfire risk, they will benchmark with this team as a model for their own investigations team development. This position is hybrid, working from your remote office and your assigned work location based on business need. The assigned work location will be within the PG&E Service Territory.

Requirements

High School/GED
4 years related work experience in the utility industry and/or fire services and/or investigations requiring complex case development.
State Fire Marshal Certified Fire Investigator (or ability to obtain within one year)

Nice To Haves

Bachelors’ Degree or equivalent experience
4+ years of job-related experience conducting investigations as the lead investigator for fire related incidents.
ICS-Incident Command System 100-800 certification
Ability to make sense of complex, high quantity, and sometimes contradictory information and translate to actionable key takeaways and visualizations (e.g., Tableau dashboard), iterating to meet customer needs.
Experience collecting and reviewing data (e.g., searching for anomalies/data gaps/inconsistencies), utilizing repeatable processes and adding controls, when possible, to increase data integrity.
Excellent oral (phone and in-person) and written (e-mail, presentations, dashboard summaries/key takeaways) communication skills, including technical writing and presentations.
Ability to pay attention to details, ensure consistency across concepts, be careful about details and thorough in completing work tasks.
Ability to work independently and collaborate, removing obstacles or escalating to get work done.
Ability to plan and prioritize work to meet commitments aligned with organizational goals.
Experience working in an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) or similar environment at a utility, communicating directly with field offices and/or field employees.
Understanding of investigation concepts, methods, and techniques

Responsibilities

Perform ignition investigations with very limited supervision.
Develop comprehensive reports and analyses to provide visibility to long-term, company-wide issues which contribute to ignition events.
Work with stakeholders, including first responders in the field, to best categorize the root cause of ignitions and determine PG&E attributability.
Perform onsite ignition investigations by combining investigative methods and tools with a knowledge of wildland fire behavior and electric utility assets.