Lead or Principal Engineer - Transmission Planning (Planning Policy & Research) - Remote Eligible

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 Lead or Principal Engineer is responsible for supporting Tariff production, NERC planning, and Engineering initiative activities. System Planning processes include Engineering Modeling, the Integrated Transmission Plan (ITP), Resource Adequacy, Planning Coordinator Assessments (PCA), and Research & Development (R&D). 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 Lead or 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 supporting development and improvement of Tariff and NERC processes and procedures that help ensure the reliability of the SPP transmission system, while maintaining economic consideration.

Essentials Functions

Governing Processes

• Develop and maintain a strong level of familiarity with the 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 System Planning 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 System Planning’s technical study activities and processes.
• Prepare and present technical testimony and represent SPP as a subject matter expert in support of System Planning legal and regulatory needs.
• Lead, review, and/or support System Planning technical data in support of regulatory changes, study processes, and special projects.

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 System Planning.
• 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