Senior or Engineer II- Operations

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

We are seeking a highly skilled Sr. Engineer  or Engineer II  to join our Operations team. As key contributor you will:

Be responsible for ensuring the reliable operation of the world's largest machine. Our primary duty is to facilitate maintenance on the machine without compromising its reliability. However, equipment failures are common, resulting in equipment overloads and quick actions to prevent damage to the power system.

We use powerful simulation tools to predict how system conditions will change when specific equipment is added or removed from the power system. We communicate these simulation results to other operators, such as generator operators, transmission operators, reliability coordinators, and Balancing Coordinators, to work together to prevent catastrophic events. Although we have several safeguards in place, the risk of a catastrophe is always present. Neglecting responsibilities or complacency can lead to large amounts of money being wasted, millions of dollars in equipment damage, or even a blackout of portions of the U.S. power system.

This job requires quick thinking to solve problems as they arise to maintain reliability. Although it can be stressful during certain situations, it can also be highly rewarding. 

Your key ongoing responsibilities will include:

• Monitoring, supporting, and improving the applications used by Reliability, Tariff, Scheduling, Balancing, and Market Operators. Ensure all systems and processes use correct input data and produce correct and accurate results for Operators to base their decisions.
• Identify needed ICCP data to maintain superior real-time monitoring and state estimator results.
• Work with Members to obtain all necessary Reliability and Market related changes as they pertain to the operational models used in EMS.
• Assist in testing and implementing necessary software changes as requested or applicable for Operations based applications such as EMS, ICCP, and MOS.
• Support in analyzing any normal/abnormal events and make recommended changes to processes/software.
• Support, develop, and improve Operations applications such as Real Time Contingency Analysis, Load Forecast application, Market Flow calculator, Market System, Constraint Manager.
• Research, document and report issues reported by SPP Staff, SPP Members, non-Members, and Market Participants related to results of any of the systems used by the Reliability, Tariff, Market and Scheduling desks

• Request and collect information, prepare and validate data, execute computer runs for current, next-day, and other operational assessments of the transmission network including, but not limited to, reliability analysis and market feasibility analysis.
• Collect information, prepare and validate data, execute computer runs for coordination and approval of generation and transmission maintenance outage requests, especially emergency and forced outage requests.
• Develop and periodically update SPP network model data as necessary for near-real time analysis.
• Make recommendations to management on long-range coordinated operations goals and objectives.
• Adhere to and enforce SPP Policies and Procedures.
• Communicate with SPP members, non-members, consultants, and other various participants concerning applicable and appropriate activities occurring in the SPP Coordination Center.
• Assist the Director, Operations Engineering and other Operations Engineers with any special projects.
• Coach other Engineers in the Real-Time Technical Anal