Sr Operations Engineer

Join the diverse and dynamic team that powers Michigan's largest energy provider and one of the nation's largest gas and electric combination utilities.  Consumers Energy services 6.8 million of Michigan's 10 million residents - caring for our friends and neighbors in all 68 Lower Peninsula counties.  We embrace a cleaner and leaner utility vision focused on eliminating energy waste and adding renewable energy from sources such as wind and solar.

General Summary:

The Senior Operations Engineer is responsible for ensuring that the Consumers Energy (CE) electric system is operated within system and equipment capabilities. This position utilizes power flow software and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) to analyze the impact that planned and emergent equipment outages and contingencies have on the current and proposed system configurations. This position will work closely with a subset of customers including, but not limited to, CE's adjacent Transmission Operator, ITC Holdings Corp. (ITC), System Control Center, Distribution Control Center, and Work Management Center, Field Operations and System Schedulers to coordinate planned equipment outages in a way that minimizes system and customer risk. This individual will provide real-time support to the Operating Centers which will require participation in an on-call rotation.

What we are looking for: Sr Operations Engineer

We encourage you to apply if you have: equivalent combination of education and experience will be considered and reviewed.

• Bachelor's Degree in Engineering degree from an ABET accredited program OR Engineering degree from a non-ABET accredited program plus a Professional Engineering license
• [AND] 4 - 7 years Diversified knowledge of engineering principles and practices in broad areas of assignments and related fields

In this role, you will:

• Attend and participate in meetings. Actively participant in weekly meetings including, but not limited to, scheduling, field operations, real time operations, and engineering and provide answers to questions in real time or conduct research and provide timely follow up.
• Complete annual Ancillary project items. Participate in annual rotation of completing the following projects: Review and update of Rotating Load Management (RLM)/Remote Load Shed (RLS) plans to ensure the accuracy and efficient restoration of these automated load shed applications; Review of 3rd party generator interconnection applications to address system loading or voltage violations prior to installation; Summer Assessment analysis and report to identify and plan for anticipated system issues during high loads; High Load Management Analysis of Equipment and Coordination of Proactive Measures.
• Conduct Engineering study analysis and problem solving based on power flow software study results. Identify overloads and voltage violations and determine the best course of action to rectify these violations. Communicate and coordinate required actions to internal and external groups based on analysis of power flow studies.
• Develop new process, procedure, tools, training, and job aids for advanced Operations Engineering functions to support real-time operations initiatives.
• Other duties as assigned or may be necessary
• Provide operational analysis to control rooms or field operations on field equipment such as Automatic Transfer Reclosers and future SCADA equipment
• Provide real time support of control room and scheduling departments. Field questions related, but not limited to, loading and voltage violations seen in real time, scheduling conflicts between competing projects and responding to those questions in a timely manner. Support is provided during business hours and through an on-call rotation.
• Support problem solving analysis and solutions to eliminate errors and/or waste from operations processes.
• Utilize and/or provide application testing and recommendation support to OSI HVD or ADMS applications.
• Utilize knowledge of protection schemes and device states to perform fault location prediction and validation in real-time.

Knowledge/Skills/Abilities:

• Ability to prioritize work to meet changing schedules and deadlines Professional Standard
• Capable of working effectively individually and in a team environment Professional Standard
• Effective verbal and written communications Broad Knowledge
• Electrical Power Engineering background with strong technical knowledge of the function and operation of the LVD and/or HVD power system Professional Standard
• Emergent work - Ability to perform and make effective decisions in a stressful environment Professional Standard
• Experience performing power flow analysis Professional Standard
• Knowledge of SCADA and Advanced Power Flow Real Time Applications Broad Knowledge
• Leadership skills including the ability to guide a group of individual contributors and supervisors through problem solving and process development Broad Knowledge
• Strong analytical thinking, logic, and data analysis skills while well organized Professional Standard