Principal Site Selection Analyst
About The Position
The Site Selection Analyst identifies, evaluates, and markets locations across the utility service territory where existing electric and gas infrastructure capacity can support economic development, industrial growth, and new commercial investment. This role serves as a strategic bridge between the utility's grid assets and the economic development ecosystem. The individual will be working with cities, counties, and regional economic development organizations (EDOs) to position capacity-rich sites as shovel-ready opportunities for businesses seeking to locate or expand. This position is hybrid, working from your remote office and your assigned work location (0-3 days per week in office) and in-person in the Oakland General Office, San Jose Office, or Dublin office to attend team meetings or as business needs require. This position is based at Oakland General Office and involves regular travel within the service territory to meet with municipal and county partners, attend site tours, and represent the utility at regional and national economic development events. Estimated travel: 20–30%.
Requirements
- Bachelors Degree or equivalent experience
- Job-related experience, 10 years
Nice To Haves
- Bachelor’s degree in Urban Planning, Economics, Geography, Engineering, Business, or a related field.
- 3–5 years of experience in economic development, utility planning, site selection, commercial real estate, or energy project development.
- Working knowledge of electric utility infrastructure (transmission, substation, distribution) and/or natural gas systems.
- Proficiency with GIS tools (ArcGIS, QGIS, or equivalent) for spatial analysis and mapping.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to present technical content to non-technical audiences.
- Demonstrated ability to build and maintain relationships with government agencies, EDOs, multiple internal PG&E functional areas, and private sector partners.
- Experience working within or alongside a regulated electric or gas utility.
- Familiarity with CPUC regulatory processes, interconnection agreements, or utility rate design.
- Working knowledge of site selection criteria and highest and best use analysis for traditional commercial property uses (industrial, office, retail, etc.) as well as nascent property uses (hyperscale & edge data centers, passenger and commercial EV charging, hydrogen end-users, etc.).
- Experience with CRM platforms and economic development prospect tracking tools.
- Identify future development opportunities for specific cities, neighborhoods, or properties, based on anticipated changes to supply & demand of property or power, new access, changes to zoning/general plans, city annexation, etc.
- Familiarity with California laws governing zoning, general plans, housing element, etc.
- Tenacious curiosity to learn about emerging technologies and property uses, and identify the opportunities that they present.
- Proficiency with artificial intelligence tools and entrepreneurial spirit
- Certified Economic Developer (CEcD) or related credential is a plus.
Responsibilities
- Analyze transmission, substation, and distribution infrastructure to identify areas with available or near-term electric and gas capacity.
- Develop and maintain a GIS-based inventory of capacity-advantaged sites across the service territory, including available megawatts, voltage levels, natural gas pressure zones, lead times, and interconnection costs.
- Coordinate with System Planning and Operations teams to validate capacity data and forecast availability windows.
- Track planned infrastructure investments (e.g., substation upgrades, line extensions) and proactively identify sites that will become capacity-rich upon project completion.
- Develop marketing materials: fact sheets, capacity maps, site profiles, and presentations to promote utility-advantaged sites to prospective businesses and developers.
- Work through the Economic Development Specialists to create relationships with city and county economic development staff, regional EDOs, port authorities, and state-level development agencies.
- Represent the utility at site selector conferences (e.g., IEDC, SelectUSA), and regional business attraction initiatives.
- Serve as a primary point of contact for site selectors and corporate real estate professionals evaluating locations within the service territory.
- Coordinate internal stakeholders (Economic Development, CGO organization, New Business, Strategic Accounts, System Planning, Land and Environmental) to develop utility service commitments in support of business attraction and retention efforts.
- Track and report on leads, site tours, and economic development outcomes tied to utility-led site promotion activities.
- Maintain a current database of available commercial and industrial sites, cross-referenced with utility infrastructure data.
- Produce regular reports and dashboards for leadership on site inventory, prospect pipeline, and economic development activity metrics.
- Monitor regional industrial real estate trends, competitive utility positioning, and state incentive programs relevant to site selection decisions.
Benefits
- discretionary incentive compensation programs
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Manager
