Senior SCADA Engineer
About The Position
Silicon Ranch is hiring a Senior SCADA Engineer to serve as the owner’s technical authority for SCADA, power plant controllers (PPC), plant networks, and data acquisition across its fleet of distributed solar, utility-scale solar, and solar-plus-storage plants. The role sets fleet standards for plant monitoring and control, holds vendors and integrators to those standards, and serves as the escalation point for plant controls and communications failures. It works alongside Performance Engineering and the 24×7 Remote Operations Center (ROC), while partnering with Field Maintenance, which owns on-site execution. The engineer owns fleet SCADA architecture and standards, investigates and resolves controls and communications issues, validates PPC control logic, and supports reliable ROC visibility and control. The role also ensures plant data quality for analytics, evaluates new-project designs and vendors, supports NERC compliance obligations, and provides Tier 3 support to Field Maintenance. The position is based in Nashville, Tennessee, with a hybrid work arrangement and may require travel to sites for complex failures, commissioning changes, and site acceptance testing.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in Electrical, Computer, or Controls Engineering, or equivalent experience.
- At least 7 years supporting SCADA, PPC, or controls for utility-scale renewable generation, including at least 3 years in an owner, operator, or O&M setting.
- Hands-on PPC design, testing, and troubleshooting experience with platforms such as SEL RTAC, GE/Emerson RX3i, Allen-Bradley, or vendor-integrated controllers.
- Solar-specific troubleshooting experience across central and string inverters, trackers, and data acquisition systems.
- Working knowledge of HMI/SCADA providers and platforms such as Inductive Automation Ignition, Merit Controls, Norcal, Terabase, GreenPowerMonitor, or SEL.
- Strong industrial networking knowledge, including Layer 2/3, VLANs, fiber, serial RS-232/485, Ethernet TCP/IP, and firewalls.
- Knowledge of industrial protocols including Modbus RTU/TCP, DNP3, OPC UA/DA, and SEL Fast Messages.
- Ability to read and mark up electrical one-lines, communications diagrams, and control schematics.
- Clear written and verbal communication skills, including communication with vendors and executives.
- Valid driver’s license.
- Authorization to work in the United States.
Nice To Haves
- Experience with NERC GO/GOP registration, CIP standards, and change management for generation SCADA.
- BESS or hybrid PV-plus-storage controls and EMS integration experience.
- Python and SQL experience, including MS SQL or PostgreSQL, for data validation; familiarity with cloud data platforms.
- Experience leading a SCADA platform or integrator transition.
- Experience developing and delivering technical training.
- Knowledge of IEC 61850.
Responsibilities
- Serve as the subject-matter expert for the fleet’s SCADA, PPC, RTU, data logger, and network stack across multiple vendor platforms and architectures.
- Define and maintain SCADA and controls standards for network architecture, point lists and naming, time synchronization, data models, alarm philosophy, and documentation.
- Lead technical transitions between SCADA platforms and integrators, including migration planning, cutover testing, and data continuity.
- Validate that system additions and modifications are scalable, documented, and consistent with company standards.
- Lead root-cause investigations of SCADA, PPC, and communications failures, remotely and on site, and drive resolution with OEMs, integrators, and field technicians.
- Diagnose device communication issues and managed-switch problems, and resolve connectivity, latency, and data-loss issues using protocol analyzers and other diagnostics.
- Travel to sites for complex failures, commissioning of changes, and site acceptance testing when remote resolution is not possible.
- Review and validate PPC control narratives and logic for active and reactive power, voltage, power factor, ramp rate, and curtailment response against interconnection and utility requirements.
- Witness and approve PPC and SCADA factory and site acceptance tests and maintain the test record.
- Lead owner-driven controls improvements, including inverter-level reactive-power dispatch, tracker-control strategies, and data-acquisition retrofits.
- Ensure ROC operators have reliable real-time visibility and control through HMI screens, alarm configuration, setpoint and curtailment pathways, and communication tools.
- Own fleet alarm management by tuning existing alarms, building new alarms, and maintaining alarm-response procedures.
- Train ROC operators and field personnel on SCADA and PPC behavior, failure modes, and safe operating procedures.
- Ensure the quality and completeness of plant data in the analytics platform, including tag mapping, sampling rates, meter and met-station integration, and root-cause analysis of data gaps.
- Partner with Performance Engineering on loss investigations involving controls behavior, including curtailment execution, reactive power, clipping, and tracker faults.
- Write Python or SQL scripts to validate telemetry and diagnose data issues.
- Review SCADA and PPC design submittals for new projects before construction and at turnover.
- Evaluate SCADA platforms, integrators, and equipment; write technical scope and contract-exhibit language; and hold vendors to requirements.
- Support NERC GO/GOP compliance and CIP obligations for SCADA assets, including change management, access control, configuration baselines, and evidence retention.
- Provide Tier 3 support to Field Maintenance technicians through procedures, configuration packages, and remote guidance.
- Maintain a SCADA critical-spares list with Field Maintenance and recommend stocking levels.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
