Vegetation Management & Forestry, Senior Specialist

Southern California Edison•Monrovia, CA

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

Southern California Edison is seeking a Vegetation Management & Forestry, Senior Specialist to help ensure the safe and successful implementation of its Utility Vegetation Management program. The role engages with customers, contractors, public agencies, and internal and external stakeholders. It supports wildfire-risk reduction, customer service, environmental compliance, and the development and implementation of vegetation-management methods that meet applicable regulations, standards, and company objectives. The position conducts contractor safety and environmental observations, monitors work quality, verifies completed work, investigates tree-related outages, and evaluates contractor costs and performance. It also contributes to work planning, program strategy, and initiatives, and serves as a subject matter expert and primary point of contact for utility vegetation-management programs and regulations. The position requires passing a verbal and field practical Personnel Qualification Standard before performing the described duties. The position is hybrid, with a set number of workdays at an SCE facility and remote work on remaining days. The primary work location is Monrovia, California, and the role requires up to 70% travel and fieldwork throughout SCE’s service territory. Unless otherwise noted, employees must work and reside in California. As of September 2, 2025, the role is represented by IBEW Local 47; employment terms may be affected by the collective bargaining agreement under negotiation.

Requirements

Five or more years of experience in vegetation management.
ISA Certified Arborist certification.
Valid Class C Driver's License.
Pass a verbal and field practical Personnel Qualification Standard before performing the relevant duties.

Nice To Haves

ISA Tree Risk Assessment Qualification (TRAQ).
ISA Utility Specialist certification.
Bachelor’s degree in forestry, arboriculture, or business.
Effective communication skills and customer service.
Eight years managing a Utility Vegetation Management program.

Responsibilities

Conduct contractor field safety observations for Safety Tier 1 High Risk, Safety Tier 1, and Safety Tier 2 contract partners.
Enforce contractor adherence to Life-Saving Compliance Tree Trimming Critical Observable Actions (COAs).
Provide ongoing feedback on contractor safety performance and corrective actions.
Establish success criteria, KPIs, and monitoring goals for new programs; examine plans and specifications to determine work procedures and costs.
Conduct contractor field environmental observations and enforce standard and site-specific environmental requirements.
Facilitate contractor field calibration and orientation sessions to review SCE expectations, align on priorities related to wildfire-risk reduction and customer service, and identify trends and corrective actions when work quality falls short.
Perform Post Work Verification (PWV) on pre-inspection and tree-trimming work, and identify and assign rework to contractors when quality expectations are not met.
Pass a verbal and field practical Personnel Qualification Standard before performing these duties.
Provide input to annual work plans to optimize execution and identify contract resource needs; partner with RPPM to ensure schedule adherence for planned and emergent work.
Investigate tree-related outages to determine root cause.
Document and communicate observations and investigation results to first-line supervision using standardized templates and forms.
Serve as a primary point of contact and subject matter expert on utility vegetation-management programs and regulations, representing SCE VM to OU partners, the public and homeowners, and county, city, and state and federal agencies.
Monitor and evaluate contractor operational costs and performance, and review and approve contractor safety and billing documentation for accuracy.
Support development, evaluation, and implementation of new line-clearance and vegetation-management methods in compliance with applicable regulations, standards, and company objectives.
Collaborate with internal and external stakeholders to set project goals, prioritize initiatives and programs, and maintain a documented vegetation-management program strategy.
Protect company physical, financial, and cybersecurity assets and properly access and manage private customer data, proprietary information, confidential medical records, and other sensitive information with integrity.