Principal Engineer (Architecture)

Southwest Power Pool (SPP) is about more than power. We're about the power of relationships. Our employees have the opportunity to work together to ensure electricity is delivered reliably and affordably to the millions of people living in our service territory. We have been voted one of Arkansas' Best Places to work by Arkansas Business and we are looking for a member of our team who is passionate about our mission to keep the lights on!

We have a core ideology here at SPP that we stand by: Do the right thing, for the right reason, in the right way.

 We believe in supporting our employees through a fantastic benefits package:

• Competitive 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 assistance
• Flexible working environment for positions that are eligible where employees have the flexibility to work from home and come in where collaborative in person work is needed.
• Fantastic contributions to your retirement through a 401(k) savings plan with employer-match benefits and a defined benefit plan fully funded by SPP

Overview

The Principal Engineer, Engineering is responsible for supporting Tariff production, NERC planning, and Engineering initiative activities. Engineering processes include Engineering Modeling, the Integrated Transmission Plan (ITP), Resource Adequacy, Planning Coordinator Assessments (PCA), Research & Development (R&D), Transmission Service (TS), Generation Interconnection (GI), and Interregional Relations. This requires support of multiple stakeholder working groups and the ability to work within and across departments to achieve the desired results. Key responsibilities include providing technical guidance on the development of study scopes and processes, representing SPP in industry and regulatory technical settings, and coordination with the SPP membership on key issues and results. As such, a deep understanding of the SPP transmission grid, tariff, and planning processes is required.

The Principal Engineer will support and provide leadership of the overall objectives, resolution of critical issues, development of new concepts, consideration of policy matters relevant to the planning process, and the development and vetting of new techniques with the various stakeholder groups. The Principal Engineer is responsible for leading development and improvement of planning processes and procedures that help ensure the reliability of the SPP transmission system, while maintaining economic consideration.

Essential Functions

Governing Processes:

• Develop and maintain a strong level of knowledge of governing documents for Tariff and NERC activities including: SPP Tariff, FERC & NERC standards, SPP Business Practices, SPP Planning Criteria, Seams Agreements and SPP Market Protocols and understand their relationship to the various SPP organizational groups.
• Stay abreast of the latest FERC and NERC orders and rulemaking activities and SPP organizational group initiatives that impact the Engineering processes and initiate and facilitate change processes, including revision requests, needed to maintain SPP's compliance.
• Coordinate and communicate with SPP ITP stakeholders, transmission owners, affected systems, consultants and stakeholders in support of Engineering's technical study activities and processes.
• Prepare and present technical testimony and represent SPP as a subject matter expert in support of Engineering legal and regulatory needs.
• Lead, review, and/or support Engineering's execution of initiatives in support of SPP's corporate strategic plan.

Engineering Responsibilities:

• Develop and maintain a strong level of familiarity with the SPP transmission system, transmission planning concepts, power system analysis tools, and processes in order to provide technical and process guidance and support as needed.
• Facilitate and implement development, maintenance, and improvement of technical engineering processes, procedures and documentation used in Engineering.
• Be available to perform power flow, stability, and short-circuit modeling and analysis as needed to supplement technical staff and to participate in or lead special projects as assigned.

Stakeholder Relationships:

• Develop positive stakeholder technical, supervisory, leadership and management level relationships as necessary to accomplish SPP objectives and assigned directives.
• Develop and maintain necessary relationships with internal and external technical staff and customers to collect data, collaborate on analysis, and share results of work products.
• Facilitate stakeholder feedback discussions to reach a positive stakeholder consensus to the fullest extent possible.
• Fulfill staff secretary role (Meeting minutes, action items, Robert's Rules of Order, etc.) for technical working groups if called to do so.

SPP Culture and Core Values:

• 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.
• Understand and comply with SPP Policies and Procedures.

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Science in Engineering, this degree should: o Be 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

Experience Requirements:

• 15 years' of relevant Engineering experience; OR
• 13 years' of relevant Engineering experience with an advanced degree in Electrical, Computer, Industrial, Mechanical or Systems Engineering

Professional Certification Requirements:

• A Professional Engineer license is required for this role; however, 17 years' relevant experience may be considered in lieu of a Professional Engineer License

Other Requirements:

• Advanced proficiency with most power systems analysis tools with a solid command of several tools and/or processes
• Working knowledge of the Open Access Transmission Tariffs, as well as FERC & NERC governing documents
• Advanced knowledge of several power systems analysis tools applicable to power system steady state, dynamic, short circuit, and database management systems
• Experience in multiple functions/departments
• Strong inter-personal and team work skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Understanding of and compliance with SPP Policies and Procedures

Preferred:

• Advanced degree in related field of study

Work Environment:

• This job operates in a professional office environment. This role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, photocopiers, filing cabinets and fax machines.

Physical Demands:

The physical and mental demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to perform the essential functions of this job successfully.

• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to make decisions, interpret data, and problem solve.
• The employee frequently is required to stand or sit for extended periods; use hands to operate a computer keyboard and standard office equipment.
• The employee must occasionally lift and move up to 10 pounds.
• Requires the ability to work and collaborate with managers and employees at all levels to exchange ideas, information, and opinions to facilitate the task.
• Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, and ability to adjust focus.

Position Type and Expected Hours of Work:

This is a full-time position. Days and hours of workweek are Monday through Friday; 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Working extended hours may be required.

Travel Requirement:

This position requires minimal travel (0-20%).

Should you elect to apply for this position SPP will review your qualifications. If after reviewing the qualifications and experience of all applicants, your skills and credentials meet our needs, someone from our organization may contact you. Please be advised that the time required to complete the applicant review process typically takes between 30 and 90 days, but could extend beyond that. Once the position has been filled, all applicants will be notified via email. 

 Southwest Power Pool is an Equal Opportunity Workplace and an Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, age or any other protected category.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) defines “reasonable accommodation” as a change or adjustment to a job or work environment that allows a qualified individual with a disability to satisfactorily perform the essential functions of a particular job, and does not cause an undue hardship for the employer.  SPP adheres to the ADA and reasonable accommodations may be made to enable a qualified individual with a disability to perform the essential functions.

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities

The contractor will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor's legal duty to furnish information. 41 CFR 60-1.35(c)

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