Supervisor Substation Work Management - Akron, OH

FirstEnergy • Akron, OH

1d • Onsite

About The Position

This supervisor position provides leadership for an assigned Work Management group supporting substation construction, maintenance, testing, commissioning, and protective relay operations within the Transmission Operations organization. The supervisor collaborates with the Manager, Work Management to establish and monitor organizational goals, policies, plans, forecasts, standards, performance objectives, operating and financial targets, budgets, and resource requirements. The position oversees short- and long-range planning, scheduling, and work-readiness processes for substation and relay activities, analyzes performance, removes execution barriers, and implements process improvements to improve safety, productivity, schedule attainment, and equipment reliability.

The role leads substation and relay work management, including planner/schedulers, readiness coordinators, and administrative support personnel. It coordinates priorities, resources, outages, switching, materials, equipment, permits, and work packages with internal and external stakeholders to support safe, reliable execution. The supervisor also supports storm restoration and emergency response.

The role provides communication and performance-management leadership by fostering open dialogue, facilitating meetings, developing employees’ technical and leadership capabilities, maintaining appropriate staffing, setting goals, coaching and providing feedback, and administering human-resource policies fairly. The position is full-time and on-site in Akron, Ohio.

Requirements

• An Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree and five years of related experience are preferred; alternatively, a high school diploma or equivalent and seven years of related experience are required.
• Related experience may include substation construction or maintenance, protective relaying and controls, apparatus testing, commissioning, project management, or planning and scheduling complex utility work.
• Demonstrated project management experience as both a team leader and team member.
• Ability to lead initiatives, implement change, and improve work management processes.
• Ability to manage competing priorities, provide high-quality service to internal and external customers, and communicate effectively in writing and verbally.
• Leadership capability to provide direction, coach sound decision-making, resolve execution barriers, and facilitate cross-functional meetings.
• Highly driven, self-motivated, and committed to safe, reliable execution.
• Strong analytical skills emphasizing safety, schedule, productivity, cost, compliance, and reliability metrics.
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to collaborate with field personnel, relay technicians, engineers, system operators, contractors, and leadership.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications and CASCADE.
• Awareness of applicable NESC, NEC, OSHA, and company safety requirements, as well as relevant NERC, regional reliability, and protection-system compliance obligations.
• Working knowledge of substation equipment and systems, including power transformers, circuit breakers, switches, bus configurations, batteries and chargers, instrument transformers, grounding systems, station service, protective relays, control circuits, SCADA interfaces, and communications systems.

Nice To Haves

• Prior leadership experience.
• Knowledge of applicable work management, GIS, outage, scheduling, document-control, and enterprise asset-management systems.
• Familiarity with substation construction methods, maintenance practices, testing, relay settings implementation, commissioning, energization, and outage coordination.
• An Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree and five years of related experience are preferred.
• Demonstrated project management experience involving substation, relay, or transmission projects is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead planner/schedulers responsible for forecasting, planning, and scheduling substation construction, maintenance, testing, commissioning, and protective relay work.
• Supervise daily activities of planner/schedulers, readiness coordinators, and administrative support personnel while driving consistent processes and continuous improvement.
• Prioritize substation and relay projects and maintenance work according to safety, reliability, equipment condition, regulatory commitments, outage requirements, and available resources.
• Maintain a firm two-week work plan and a one-month projection, including outage, switching, resource, and contingency requirements.
• Direct long-range planning to optimize labor, contractor support, materials, test equipment, outage windows, and completion of high-priority work.
• Partner with Substation Operations, Relay, Engineering, Project Management, System Operations, and other stakeholders to achieve safe and reliable execution.
• Ensure work packages meet planning, design, constructability, testing, pre-job readiness, clearance, and scheduling requirements before field execution.
• Develop scheduling strategies coordinating substation crews, relay technicians, contractors, outages, switching, and commissioning activities.
• Lead continuous improvement using Work Management MDT systems, performance metrics, lessons learned, and standardized work practices.
• Coordinate work requests and project interfaces with customers, contractors, engineering groups, operations personnel, and internal organizations, including after-hours contacts when appropriate.
• Oversee requests for substation outages, switching, clearances, equipment access, utility locates, traffic control, permits, and other operational approvals.
• Ensure availability of major equipment, relay and control panels, materials, test sets, special tools, drawings, settings, procedures, and permits; expedite critical items when necessary.
• Support storm restoration and emergency response, including substation damage assessment, relay support, material coordination, and resource deployment.
• Make financial and business decisions balancing safety, reliability, compliance, schedule, and cost.
• Encourage open, honest, direct, and ongoing communication across utility operations and corporate support groups; facilitate team meetings and share organizational initiatives and updates.
• Support employee self-development, provide expertise to internal teams or task forces when needed, and communicate company policies and strategic direction.
• Develop the team's technical, safety, work-management, and leadership capabilities; coach employees on corporate and regional goals.
• Maintain appropriate staffing levels and update staffing plans as operating conditions change.
• Communicate company and team goals, involve the team in developing specific goals, encourage innovation, and delegate responsibility effectively.
• Prepare short- and long-range employee development plans and succession plans, identify promotional paths, and help employees integrate professional goals into development plans.
• Provide regular performance feedback, recognize accomplishments, coach improvement, conduct check-ins, and take corrective action when appropriate.
• Understand and administer human-resource policies and regulations fairly and equitably.
• Collaborate with the Manager, Work Management to establish and monitor organizational goals, policies, plans, forecasts, standards, performance objectives, targets, budgets, and resource requirements.
• Analyze performance, remove barriers to execution, and implement process improvements that support safety, productivity, schedule attainment, and equipment reliability.

Benefits

• Competitive pay plus incentive compensation
• Company-sponsored pension plan
• 401(k) savings plan with matching employer contribution
• Choice of medical, prescription drug, dental, vision, and life insurance programs
• Skills development training with tuition reimbursement

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager
• Education Level: Associate degree