Position Summary

The Principal Technical Advisor provides technical advice and analysis to MRO’s Chief Operating Officer and the MRO Compliance Monitoring, Risk Assessment and Mitigation, and Reliability Analysis departments on the operations and planning of the bulk power system (BPS). This position has an active role on, and often leads, MRO’s most critical and complex technical projects in support of its mission. This position routinely works internally with several MRO departments and externally collaborates with Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), North America Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), and other Regional Entity technical staff. The Principal Technical Advisor regularly develops written reports for, and delivers presentations to, large audiences on behalf of MRO.

Primary Responsibilities

Leads the annual MRO Regional Risk Assessment to evaluate and prioritize MRO’s work by quantifying region-wide risks to reliability through collaboration with other MRO departments and stakeholder groups.

• Represents MRO on ERO teams, NERC organizational groups such as the NERC Reliability Issues Steering Committee (RISC) and Reliability and Security Technical Committee RSTC, and RTO forums such as the SPP Markets and Operating Policy Committee (MOPC) and the MISO Reliability Subcommittee (RSC), providing MRO’s input into key deliverables such as NERC’s annual State of Reliability Report and other reliability-related analyses, while keeping MRO staff abreast of the work going on in these different groups that influences reliability.
• Completes technical analyses with a high level of effectiveness and efficiency in a manner that is rigorous, non-discriminatory, appropriately documented, and coordinated with MRO’s other departments.
• Regularly provides reports and presentations to diverse external audiences (e.g. state regulators, engineers, MRO board) on key reliability issues and MRO initiatives
• Leads MRO’s analysis of large scale, high impact regional or multi-regional system disturbances, to help identify and implement any corrective actions, mitigation, and Lessons Learned resulting from the event.
• Contributes to the identification and execution of MRO’s strategic objectives
• Stays abreast of changing technologies related to the reliability and security of the BPS and shares this information with staff as a mentor and educator
• Other duties as assigned

Qualifications

Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering or another technical area directly applicable to the reliability and security of the BPS is required.

• A minimum of 15 years of relevant power system engineering experience is required
• An expert level understanding of BPS operations and planning is required
• The ability to effectively communicate both orally and in writing, to both technical and non-technical audiences, and to give presentations to large groups is required
• The ability to effectively interface with and perform work for multiple departments on varying projects simultaneously is required
• Master’s Degree in Engineering is desirable
• An understanding of cyber and physical security, as it relates to utility control systems, is desirable
• Professional Engineering license as well as certifications related to BPS operations (e.g. NCSO) are desirable

This is an individual contributor role, no supervisory  responsibilities.

Standard office environment, requires mobility and sedentary work

The Principal Technical Advisor must be available outside of business hours to respond to corporate matters

Travel Requirement: 20%; this position requires a current passport or the ability to secure a passport to allow for travel to and from Canada