Senior Engineer or Engineer II -Intermediate Planning

Southwest Power Pool • Little Rock, AR

1d • $97,000 - $126,795 • Hybrid

About The Position

The Engineer is responsible for the development and analysis of intermediate planning studies. This requires support of multiple stakeholder working groups, direct stakeholder involvement, and the ability to work within and across departments to achieve desired results. Key responsibilities include the development of study scopes, technical oversight of the Intermediate Planning processes, documenting outcomes, as well as coordination of the SPP membership on key issues. As such, a deep understanding of the SPP transmission grid, OATT, and planning processes are required. The Senior Engineer will support the overall objectives, critical issues, new concepts, policy matters, and any other relevant issues to the Intermediate Planning process, including the development of new planning techniques, process improvements, and engineering measurements. The Senior Engineer is responsible for conducting studies and providing recommendations on the intermediate horizon ensuring that the grid remains reliable, robust and able to meet projected demand. The position requires frequent interaction with SPP staff, stakeholders, and regulators requiring the incumbent to be able to communicate effectively. This communication, both written and oral, is for the purposes of requests, analysis, coordination, guidance, and presentations. This position also requires advanced leadership skills and the ability to mentor other staff members. Leadership activities may include officer involvement with working groups, active involvement with multiple Engineering efforts, representing Economic Planning inside and outside of the Engineering department, and reviewing and approving work efforts of team members.

Requirements

• Bachelors of Science in Engineering, from a university that meets the requirements to sit for the Professional Engineering exam (in Arkansas, that is most typically a degree from an ABET accredited university or a graduate degree from a college that has an ABET accreditation).
• Degree should be in a calculus-based engineering field and preferred degree programs are Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or Systems Engineering.
• Senior Engineer: 5 years of relevant Engineering experience, Professional Engineer License may satisfy one year of experience requirement.
• Engineer II: 2 years of relevant Engineering experience requirement.
• Competent with the administrative and communication tools for word processing, spreadsheet development and time keeping, as a minimum.
• Intermediate proficiency with most SPP power systems analysis tools with a solid command of several SPP tools and/or processes.
• Practical understanding of the SPP Open Access Transmission Tariff, FERC & NERC governing documents, SPP By-Laws, SPP Criteria and the SPP Committee structure.
• Good knowledge of several power systems analysis tools applicable to power system steady state, dynamic, short circuit, or database management systems.
• Good inter-personal and teamwork skills along with good written and verbal communication skills.
• Good working skills with communication and data handling software such as Microsoft Office© Word, Excel, Access.
• Understanding of and compliance with SPP Policies and Procedures.

Nice To Haves

• Advanced degree in related field of study
• Electric Utility Industry experience

Responsibilities

• Develop strong expertise with the SPP power system analysis tools and processes.
• Responsible for the development, use and instruction of the transmission planning tools and software such as PROMOD, Powerbase, PAT, PSS/E, VSAT, TARA, Microsoft Office, among others.
• As directed by supervision, lead complex technical processes directed by ad hoc stakeholder/committees, Intermediate Planning processes, or any engineering data coordination efforts associated with Intermediate Planning. Delegation of technical assignments may be required.
• Responsible for the technical content that is contained in Intermediate Planning reports, as well as the STEP Reports, that are approved by the Board of Director.
• Will work with SPP Real-Time Operations closely as well as stakeholders to coordinate the SPP Intermediate Planning process, results, and analysis.
• Detailed understanding of specific governing documents and processes will be required depending on specific support needs.
• Develop positive stakeholder technical, supervisory, leadership and/or management level relationships as necessary to accomplish SPP objectives and assigned directives.
• Assist with specific assignments as directed by more experienced engineers or management to develop necessary technical stakeholder relationships to collect data and share results. In these cases, facilitate stakeholder feedback discussions to reach a positive stakeholder consensus, to the fullest extent possible.
• Exercise decision making skills for technical studies and services to adapt between standard and non-standard techniques.
• Develop basic project management skills by taking responsibility for the completion of any assigned independent projects.
• Develop necessary skills by working with and observing more experienced engineers as they make technical and project management level decisions.
• Provide key technical support in a teamwork environment.
• Independently handle technical processes, studies, or tasks in parallel with limited scope and minimum supervision.
• Assist more experienced engineers with advanced studies and technical process with appropriate supervision.
• Maintain awareness of more experienced engineering decision-making behavior in anticipation of future development of fundamental leadership abilities.
• Embrace and promote the SPP Culture, Mission and Core Values in attitude toward stakeholder relationships, current work assignments as well as long term goals and strategic initiative of the organization.
• Incorporate a fundamental working understanding of the SPP Culture Drivers, Mission and Core Values and apply this directly to all engineering assignments and any SPP related effort, not necessarily limited to engineering.
• Understanding of and compliance with SPP Policies and Procedures.

Benefits

• Competitive and transparent pay with bonus opportunities
• Excellent insurance package including three great medical plans to choose from, employer-paid short-term disability, long-term disability, and life insurance
• Relocation bonus (if applicable)
• Hybrid working environment for positions that are eligible
• Fantastic contributions to your retirement through a 401(k) savings plan with employer-match benefits and a pension (defined benefit plan) fully funded by SPP

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level