DOTP-Plant Specialist II

NRG Energy•Bridgeport, TX

13d•Onsite

About The Position

The Plant Specialist II is primarily assigned to Jack County Generation Station in Bridgeport, Texas, and provides advanced engineering and technical support for instrumentation, control, automation, and associated electrical systems. The role may also support RW Miller Power Plant and Johnson County Generation Facility as operational, outage, project, or reliability needs arise. The position supports safe, reliable, and cost-effective generation through advanced troubleshooting, failure analysis, control-system optimization, lifecycle and obsolescence planning, outage and project execution, and permanent corrective actions. It serves as an I&C subject-matter expert and coordinates with Operations, Maintenance, Engineering, OEMs, vendors, contractors, and other NRG groups. The role requires independent judgment and ownership of technical work, including management of scope, schedule, budget, installation, startup, and turnover requirements. The position supports engineering design and review, system inspections and assessments, root-cause investigations, reliability improvements, technical procurement specifications, modernization planning, and complex controls projects. It also provides field support for installation, calibration, testing, commissioning, startup, shutdown, outage execution, and return to service. The role includes maintaining I&C technical documentation and providing knowledge transfer to plant personnel. Work takes place in office and power-plant environments, including outdoor, elevated, high- and low-temperature, humid, noisy, dusty, chemical, confined-space, and energized-equipment areas. Overtime, nights, weekends, holidays, outage support, emergent-condition response, and travel to supported locations or vendor and plant sites may be required. Site safety requirements and appropriate PPE must be followed; respirator qualification may be required for certain tasks.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in engineering and 4 years of experience in a power plant, or 8 years of power-plant experience focused on operations, maintenance, or technical field work.
Ability to communicate technical information effectively and work independently or as part of a cross-functional team.
Ability and willingness to provide after-hours support and travel to RW Miller, Johnson County, and other supported locations when required.
Ability to move throughout office and power-plant environments, including stairs, ladders, uneven surfaces, and elevated work areas.
Ability to wear required personal protective equipment and, when required, complete respirator fit testing and applicable medical qualification.
Ability to work in extreme temperatures, high-noise areas, confined spaces, and around energized, rotating, or automatically starting equipment.
Ability to travel to supported plants, vendor facilities, and other NRG locations as required.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Controls Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.
Ten or more years of instrumentation and controls engineering, maintenance, commissioning, and troubleshooting experience in power generation or a complex industrial facility.
Hands-on experience troubleshooting, maintaining, configuring, commissioning, or supporting Emerson Ovation distributed control systems.
Experience with GE gas turbine control systems, including Mark VIe, turbine instrumentation, protection, sequencing, permissives, and associated interfaces.
Experience with Siemens control systems and automation platforms, including Siemens SPPA-T3000 where applicable.
Knowledge of control systems for gas turbines, HRSGs, auxiliary boilers, balance-of-plant equipment, and other power-generation systems.
Experience with control valves, actuators, transmitters, analyzers, VFDs, PLC/DCS I/O, industrial communication networks, and system integration.
Experience using plant historian, alarm, event, and control-system data for troubleshooting, failure analysis, and performance improvement.
Experience leading or supporting Root Cause Analysis and implementing permanent corrective actions.
Experience with SAP maintenance and work-management processes.
Experience developing technical scopes of work and coordinating OEMs, vendors, contractors, engineering firms, and system integrators.
Experience supporting planned and forced outages, commissioning, startups, equipment modifications, and control-system upgrades.
Knowledge of applicable NFPA, IEEE, ISA, and related industry standards.
Advanced problem-solving, systems-thinking, and analytical skills.
Strong attention to detail and commitment to safe, compliant, and reliable plant operation.
Ability to distinguish symptoms from underlying failure mechanisms and develop practical long-term solutions.
Effective written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills.
Ability to manage multiple technical priorities and maintain performance during outages and emergent plant conditions.
Ability to provide technical leadership and guidance without replacing normal craft, supervisory, or operational accountability.
Proficiency with common business and technical software, including Microsoft Office and applicable plant information systems.

Responsibilities

Support and reinforce NRG safety and environmental programs, standards, and expectations at supported locations.
Provide advanced technical support for instrumentation, controls, automation, and associated electrical equipment, primarily at Jack County and periodically at RW Miller and Johnson County.
Investigate system disturbances, equipment failures, trips, derates, recurring alarms, intermittent faults, and other operational or maintenance problems; determine causes and recommend reliability improvements.
Troubleshoot transmitters, switches, analyzers, control valves, actuators, positioners, VFD interfaces, DCS and PLC I/O, communication networks, turbine controls, boiler controls, and associated field devices.
Provide technical support for Emerson Ovation, GE, Siemens, and other installed plant control systems, including hardware, software, logic, interfaces, communications, alarms, events, trends, permissives, interlocks, and sequencing.
Provide field support for installation, calibration, loop checks, functional testing, logic verification, commissioning, startup, shutdown, outage execution, and return-to-service activities.
Provide technical information for SAP notifications, work orders, Bills of Material, spare-parts strategies, job packages, preventive maintenance, and long-term maintenance strategies.
Apply engineering standards, company procedures, industry codes, and safety requirements, including relevant NFPA, IEEE, and ISA standards.
Provide technical guidance and knowledge transfer to IC&E technicians and other plant personnel during troubleshooting, outages, projects, and reliability events.
Communicate project progress, technical risks, equipment status, emerging issues, and recommended actions to site leadership and stakeholders.
Use company resources cost-effectively and maintain accountability for safety, environmental, ethical, and fiduciary responsibilities.
Provide after-hours support by telephone, video conference, remote support, or travel to supported locations during outages or emergent plant conditions.
Stay current with developments in instrumentation, control systems, cybersecurity interfaces, diagnostic methods, and power-generation technology.
Create, modify, check, or review engineering designs based on approved specifications, technical requirements, operating needs, and project constraints.
Review drawings, schematics, P&IDs, loop diagrams, logic diagrams, control narratives, flow diagrams, specifications, studies, calculations, and work plans for technical accuracy, maintainability, safety, reliability, cost effectiveness, and regulatory compliance.
Review completed systems and modifications for correct operation, functional performance, documentation, and turnover to Operations and Maintenance.
Perform or participate in engineering studies, site inspections, equipment condition assessments, failure investigations, risk assessments, and maintenance evaluations.
Lead or support Root Cause Analysis for I&C failures, identify bad actors, and verify completion and effectiveness of corrective actions.
Analyze operating data, control-system events, historian trends, work history, and field observations to identify issues and support troubleshooting and performance improvement.
Develop and maintain technical specifications for purchasing, replacing, or upgrading instrumentation and control systems.
Identify obsolete, unsupported, or high-risk I&C components and develop lifecycle, replacement, spare-parts, and modernization recommendations.
Manage or support controls projects, including burner management, combustion control, balance-of-plant controls, turbine controls, control-system upgrades, instrumentation replacements, and system integration.
Develop or review project scope, schedule, budget, technical bid packages, vendor proposals, bid comparisons, commissioning plans, testing requirements, and acceptance criteria.
Recommend and technically evaluate vendors, OEMs, system integrators, contractors, equipment suppliers, parts, and services within the assigned area.
Coordinate technical activities with OEMs, vendors, contractors, NRG departments, engineering firms, material suppliers, and craft personnel.
Assist with outage planning, multi-year outage forecasting, maintenance and upgrade prioritization, economic evaluation, and I&C project budget development.
Develop, maintain, and improve I&C documentation, including instrument and I/O lists, loop drawings, logic diagrams, cause-and-effect documents, setpoints, calibration requirements, architecture drawings, manuals, and control-system backup information.
Perform other duties as assigned.