SCADA Support Specialist

City of New York•Queens, NY

About The Position

The NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) protects public health and the environment for more than 8 million New Yorkers. It provides drinking water, manages wastewater and stormwater, and regulates air, noise, and hazardous-materials pollution. DEP has nearly 6,000 employees and operates the largest municipal water and wastewater utility in the United States. The Bureau of Wastewater Treatment (BWT) operates and maintains wastewater infrastructure across all five boroughs, including 14 Wastewater Resource Recovery Facilities, more than 90 pumping systems, and combined sewer overflow facilities. BWT is undertaking a digital transformation focused on SCADA support and development, IT support and cybersecurity, asset management, and application development. Under the supervision of the Section Chief of SCADA Support, the selected candidate will support SCADA systems at specified BWT wastewater treatment facilities and serve as the subject matter expert on facility SCADA systems and related network, security, backup, and data-management components. The role includes supporting, maintaining, configuring, and troubleshooting operational technology and control equipment, coordinating with facility personnel and vendors, maintaining documentation and security protocols, and traveling to other facilities as required. Only people currently serving as permanent or probable-permanent (probationary) Computer Specialists will be considered. The posting lists the civil-service title as Computer Specialist (Software), title code 13632. Candidates must meet one of the stated education and software-experience qualification pathways, including at least one year of qualifying project-leader or major-contributor experience. Experience in computer operations, technical support, quality assurance, hardware installation, help desk work, or end-user roles does not count toward the minimum software-experience requirements. Additional experience is required for placement at Assignment Level IV.

Requirements

Only permanent or probable-permanent (probationary) Computer Specialists will be considered.
Meet one of the stated Computer Specialist (Software) qualification pathways: a bachelor’s degree including or supplemented by 24 semester credits in computer science or a related computer field and two years of qualifying full-time software experience; a high school diploma or equivalent and six years of qualifying full-time software experience; or a satisfactory equivalent combination of education and experience.
Qualifying software experience must involve designing, programming, debugging, maintaining, implementing, or enhancing software applications, systems programming, systems analysis and design, data-communications software, or database design and programming.
At least one year of qualifying experience must be in a project-leader capacity or as a major contributor on a complex project.
All candidates must have a four-year high school diploma or equivalent and at least one year of qualifying full-time software experience in a project-leader capacity or as a major contributor on a complex project.
College education may substitute for up to two years of the experience requirement in pathway 2, at 60 semester credits per year of experience.
A master’s degree in computer science or a related computer field may substitute for one year of the required experience in pathway 1 or 2.
Candidates must explain in detail how their experience qualifies as project-leader or major-contributor experience for it to be accepted.
Computer operations, technical support, quality assurance, hardware installation, help desk, or end-user experience is not accepted toward the minimum qualification requirements.
For Assignment Level IV, in addition to the base qualifications, one year of satisfactory project-leader or major-contributor experience on a complex project is required in data administration, database management systems, operating systems, data-communications systems, capacity planning, and/or online applications programming.

Responsibilities

Provide technical support for SCADA systems, including troubleshooting and resolving problems.
Assist with the design, implementation, and maintenance of SCADA systems.
Configure and test SCADA software and hardware to ensure proper operation.
Collaborate with cross-functional teams to identify and resolve SCADA-system issues.
Oversee and provide day-to-day maintenance and support for components of the facilities’ operational technology environment.
Configure, install, support, and maintain monitoring and control equipment, including electronic sensing devices, RTUs, PLCs, HMIs, data-communications equipment and services, computer hardware, and telemetry devices.
Coordinate with third-party vendors and contractors to ensure proper installation, reliability, accuracy, and maintenance of computer hardware and supporting SCADA control systems.
Work with field technicians and IT divisions to support telemetry equipment and communications infrastructure operations and upgrades.
Coordinate with operating and maintenance personnel on calibration, repair, and maintenance of sensors, instruments, and telemetry equipment.
Maintain facility network devices, data backups, antivirus, patch management, and PLC backup systems.
Troubleshoot and resolve hardware and software computer-system issues.
Maintain documentation of SCADA systems and processes.
Apply and maintain local security and cybersecurity protocols and standards established by the IT management group.
Travel to and support SCADA systems at other facilities as required.