OT Data Engineer

VELCO Vermont Electric Power Company•Rutland, VT

About The Position

As the nation’s first statewide, “transmission only” company, VELCO manages the safe, reliable, cost-effective transmission of electric power throughout Vermont and as a part of the integrated New England regional network. Why you should join our team We are seeking an Operational Technology (OT) Data Engineer to transform data into actionable insights. In this role, you will design and maintain data pipelines that operationalize data from industrial control and protection systems, enabling safe, reliable, and data-driven operations across the organization. This is a high-stakes environment where reliability, cybersecurity, and operational continuity all have to be maintained at the same time. It requires a combination of technical depth with broader strategic thinking, leading projects, and initiatives that solve today's problems while maintaining a future-ready mission. How you will make an impact You will work at the intersection of industrial systems and modern data engineering to help drive digital transformation and operational excellence. You'll be responsible for designing, developing, and maintaining the data structure for field systems, and building means to utilize data towards efficient business processes. The role ensures OT data is reliable, secure, and analytics‑ready to support operations, asset management, planning, compliance, and advanced analytics use cases.

Requirements

Associate Engineer level - Entry-level data engineer. Expectations are that individuals at this level will be learning the technical aspects of VELCO power system and the technology components supporting the operations across the organization. Qualifications include a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or Computer Science is required; a masters in EE/ECE is preferred. Equivalent work experience considered.
Knowledge of Industrial Control Systems (ICS), SCADA, PLCs, DCS, and other OT components
Ability to integrate OT systems for seamless data flow and analytics.
Familiarity with emerging technologies such as IoT, AI, and edge computing in industrial environments.
Strong communication skills to explain complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders and facilitate cross-departmental collaboration.
Mid-Career (Experienced) Engineer level- This individual will be capable of and demonstrate the knowledge to fully complete assignments. Supports OT and Enterprise projects to integrate new systems and sensors, defining data integration patterns and ensuring new solutions are designed with data in mind. Qualifications include: 4+ year in an operational technology engineering or similar role.
knowledge of Industrial Control Systems (ICS), SCADA, PLCs, DCS, and other OT components
Experience integrating OT systems for seamless data flow and analytics.
Familiarity with emerging technologies such as IoT, AI, and edge computing in industrial environments.
Strong communication skills to explain complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders and facilitate cross-departmental collaboration.
Familiarity with the concepts of Operational Technology data and metrics.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
Experience with data analysis tools and techniques.
Strategic thinker with the ability to solve complex issues and build organizational capability.
Strong stakeholder management and relationship-building skills.
Commitment to excellence, innovation, and continuous improvement.
Ability to collaborate closely with various project teams such as developers, project managers, and analysts, to ensure effective implementation of solutions that achieve organizational objectives.
Must be a self-starter with the ability to operate with little supervision in fast paced and complex environments.
Prolonged periods of working on a computer.
Must be able to maintain fast pace while completing complex, analytical work, in potentially stressful situations, with competing priorities, within tight timelines and with frequent interruptions.
Must be able to work additional hours when necessary.
Periodic travel and overnight stays will be required when attending industry workshops, training, and working from the head office etc.

Nice To Haves

a masters in EE/ECE is preferred.
Familiarity with process improvement principles (i.e. Six Sigma Certification preferred).

Responsibilities

Conduct tasks relevant to data models, schemas, and storage structures optimized for time series and event data generated by OT environments.
Implement data quality and governance for OT data: validation, cleansing, standard naming, metadata, and lineage so engineers, planners, and regulators can trust and reuse the data, Turn raw OT signals (SCADA, historians, sensors, relays, PLCs, asset systems) into structured, trustworthy datasets and pipelines for analytics, reporting, and AI (e.g., predictive maintenance, outage prediction, energy efficiency).
Support data consumers (operations, asset management, planning, data science) by shaping datasets that match their use cases, collaborating on models, and tuning pipelines to meet SLAs for reliability and performance.
Support data quality for key OT domains (inventory, CMDB, work and interruption data).
Support innovation initiatives across VELCO targeting process improvement for stakeholders’ operations and manual processes.
Apply and enforce data security and access controls consistent with OT cybersecurity policies, network segmentation (e.g., DMZs, one way links), and regulatory/compliance requirements.
Collaborate with IT enterprise systems team on data requirements, design fit for purpose data products, and support use cases such as predictive maintenance, anomaly detection, event analysis, energy efficiency, and reliability reporting.
Participate in OT and enterprise projects to integrate new systems and sensors, defining data integration patterns and ensuring new solutions are designed with data in mind.
Create and maintain technical documentation for pipelines, data models, interfaces, and operational procedures; provide knowledge transfer to peers and support teams.
Stay current with emerging trends, technologies, and regulatory requirements in OT and cybersecurity, providing strategic recommendations for their adoption.
Provide support to Engineering, Operations, EMS, Telecom engineers and other team members.
Engage with vendors for hardware and software selection and coordinate with regional operations and ICT teams for architecture planning and implementation.
Other duties as assigned.