Engineer III - SOC Operations Engineering

Job Summary

Dominion Energy is seeking an Engineer III candidate with a strong software development background to be a part of the Electric Transmission - System Operations Center - Operations Engineering team. The candidates will be part of a team that supports our system operators and engineers in the Electric Transmission System Operations Center (SOC). You will be part of a team with a variety of specializations and skill sets.

We’re looking for a candidate with a software development background to support the various needs within the team. This can include writing short scripts to automate work, developing interfaces to move data between systems, developing new applications for specific needs, troubleshooting existing applications, and acting as a subject matter expert in areas of technology and software.

The System Operations Engineering team has many responsibilities. To name a few:
•    We maintain the Energy Management System model of our electrical transmission network and the external modeling our or neighboring utilities. 
•    We build and maintain displays and applications used by system operators. 
•    We are partnering to building a state-of-the-art synchrophasor based EMS, a very exciting project and first of its kind in the industry that you can be an integral part of.
•    We ensure the reliability and accuracy of our State Estimation and Contingency Analysis tools.
•    We perform extensive testing and quality assurance on our systems and applications.
•    We work to evaluate and implement new technology, comply with new regulations, and act as consultants in our respective areas of expertise both within the SOC and the company as a whole.

Candidates should have a strong electrical engineering background and possess strong knowledge of engineering principles and practices, preferably in electric power systems and/or software development. 
 

Job activities may include:

• Developing and/or supporting the development of client-side applications used by members of the modeling team to automate and enhance processes or improve situational awareness in the operations control room.
• Support debugging, testing, and validating developed applications.
• Coordinate with and provide technical assistance to various engineering, operations and field teams and PJM to fully maintain the EMS’s reliability.
• Writing scripts or tools to automate various tasks and processes.
• Maintaining high quality documentation
• Applying software ‘best practices’ and maintaining a high quality of work
• Assisting with quality assurance testing of major EMS IT projects.
• Conducting research, development, and demonstration of leading-edge tools, technologies, and applications to maintain Dominion's leadership position in the industry.
• Participating/collaborating with trade and industry organizations, benchmarking activities, universities, ISOs/RTOs, and national research labs.
• Participate in various company teams, industry-level organizations, university partnerships, ISOs/RTOs, and national research labs to enhance Electric Transmission’s system operations performance.
• Perform other duties, as requested or assigned.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Abilities & Experience

• 5-6+ years of relevant engineering experience;
• An Engineering PhD can be substituted for up to 5 years' experience based on research engineering work on directly related projects approved by executive leadership;

Required:
•    Candidate should have a general power systems understanding
•    Strong and up-to-date software development and technology skills and knowledge
•    Ability to work independently and set goals to achieve results
•    Strong oral and written communication skills (includes technical writing).
•    Equally effective working independently or in team environment.
•    Ability to process information quickly and effectively manage multiple tasks.
•    Strong planning, organizational and project management skills.
•    Desire to learn, stay current with changes in technology and the industry, and to innovate
•    Must be able to meet NERC certifications.

Preferred:

o    Knowledge of and development experience with programming languages, tools, and frameworks for automation and analysis, such as Python, Perl, C#, SQL, Bash etc. 
o    Familiarity with the Git version control system.
o    Proficiency in working with both relational and hierarchical databases.
o    Basic proficiency with technology and file formats such as: Adobe Illustrator, vector graphics, SVG files, CIM.
o    Experience working with large data sets within an organization.
 

Education Requirements

Required: Degree in Engineering (see below Engineering criteria)
 
Disciplines: Electrical Engineering with a consideration to Physics, Mechanical Engineering, or Computer Science/Engineering degrees if there has been a sufficient work history in the power systems industry.
 
Required Engineering Criteria:
For placement of a candidate in the Engineer job series, one of following criteria must be met:
•    Possess a 4-year engineering degree from an ABET accredited engineering program based on the year that the engineering program was accredited by ABET, or
•    Possess a 4-year engineering degree from an institution outside of the U.S. which is accredited through the country's own engineering accrediting body under the Washington Accord as a full signatory, and is a degree that was recognized by the country's accrediting body on or after the date that full signatory status was achieved, or
•    Possess a 4-year engineering degree from a non-ABET accredited program and a post-graduate engineering degree from an institution where the undergraduate degree in the same engineering discipline is ABET accredited based on the year the engineering program was accredited by ABET, or
•    Possess a 4-year degree in Physics, Chemistry or Math and a post-graduate engineering degree from an institution where the undergraduate degree in the same engineering discipline is ABET accredited based on the year the engineering program was accredited by ABET, or
•    Holds or has previously held a valid U.S. Professional Engineer license.
 

Working Conditions