Sr Manager, Substation Maintenance

RWE•Austin, TX

13d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Sr Manager, Substation Maintenance leads the maintenance, reliability, and compliance programs for substation assets across RWE Americas' generation fleet (wind, solar, storage, and gas facilities). This role builds and leads a high-performing team of substation technicians, ensures safe and reliable operation of high-voltage substation equipment, and drives continuous improvement in maintenance strategy, budget performance, and regulatory compliance. The role provides the leadership necessary to develop and maintain a culture of operational excellence and innovation while driving continuous improvement in maintenance strategy, budget performance, and regulatory compliance, and reducing costs.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Engineering Technology, or a related field, or equivalent combination of education and relevant experience
Minimum 9 years of experience in substation maintenance, high-voltage electrical systems, or utility operations, including transformers, breakers, protective relaying, and SCADA systems
Minimum 3 years of direct people-management experience, including leading technical or field-based teams
Working knowledge of NERC/FERC compliance requirements, NESC, and OSHA electrical safety standards
Demonstrated experience managing maintenance budgets, contractors, and vendor relationships
Proven ability to develop and manage people for performance, effectively leading teams through change
Excellent proficiency with Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook) and Teams
Strong leadership and communication, and ability to meet deadlines
Strong organization skills and ability to coordinate multiple tasks and deliverables
Ability to multi-task, while working independently and as part of a team
Motivated self-starter, goal-oriented, and strong problem-solving abilities
Proven ability to empathize, build relationships, and effectively communicate with people from a diverse set of backgrounds
Responds well to direction, is easy to challenge and develop, and is coachable
Is detail-oriented, has strong business acumen, and a sound understanding of business concepts

Nice To Haves

Ability to lead, inspire, manage, and delegate effectively across geographies
Ability to develop themselves and their people to their full potential
Self-motivated to drive the business, increase performance, and deliver results
Pushes the boundaries to grow the business
Constantly optimizes the business
Ability to lead teams through change processes
Ability to collaborate globally in cross-functional teams
Ability to effectively communicate internally and externally
Self-reflective personality, able to learn and act on feedback
Actively involves him-/herself, with a pragmatic and fact-focused attitude

Responsibilities

Manages the maintenance and performance of the substation, collection system, and transmission system across the fleet
Leads, develops, and manages a team of Substation Maintenance technicians, engineers, and/or supervisors across multiple sites
Owns the preventive, predictive, and corrective maintenance program for substation assets, including transformers, circuit breakers, switchgear, protective relays, and SCADA/RTU equipment; provides oversight of all scheduled substation and BoP electrical maintenance
Develops, updates, and manages all substation and BoP Electrical Maintenance processes and procedures, and continually improve the reactive, scheduled, and predictive maintenance process and associated inspections and condition monitoring, with support from Engineering, Operations Support Services, and Regional Operations
Develops and maintains the substation and BoP Electrical maintenance planning schedule for each site, including all scheduled maintenance performed by internal teams and contractors
Manages maintenance and switch training in accordance with Operations requirements, and develops and implements substation and BoP electrical maintenance training programs for technicians, with support from the Training Manager
Develops and manages and maintains the technical competency qualification system for employees and contractor personnel performing maintenance work on substations and BoP electrical systems
Ensures compliance with NERC/FERC, OSHA, NESC, and other applicable regulatory and safety standards, maintaining audit-ready documentation
Develops and manages the annual substation maintenance budget, including labor, contractor spend, and capital replacement planning
Works with Engineering in root-cause analyses and corrective actions for substation equipment failures and forced outages, tracking reliability metrics such as availability, MTTR, and MTBF
Supports Regional Operations in the specification and evaluation of substation and BoP electrical maintenance contract services, and reviews and comments on scope of work for related maintenance contracts on new projects
Sources and manages laboratory analyses and inspection services for substation and BoP electrical equipment across all regions
Manages third-party contractors and vendors performing substation maintenance, testing, and construction work, including scope development, bidding, and quality oversight
Establishes and maintains a strong safety culture, including job hazard analyses, arc-flash and switching procedures, and incident investigations