Manager, Electrical Engineering

POSITION DESCRIPTION

THE COMPANY

Onward Energy is an independent power platform that owns and operates over 7 GW of utility-scale wind, solar and natural gas generation projects across the U.S. Our Vision is to reliably power a sustainable future. Our Mission is that as North America’s premier independent power generator, we will deliver renewable and reliable power to our customers, opportunities to our employees, sustainable returns to the families who invest in us, and a better world to the next generation. Based in New York, Denver, and Charlotte, Onward Energy is a company where people and power are always on. We are where renewable meets reliable. See www.onwardenergy.com for more information.

THE CHALLENGE

The Manager, Electrical Engineering leads the team of Generation Engineering electrical experts that serves as the internal Owner's Engineer across Onward's generating fleet. This is a leadership role: the Manager is accountable for the performance, capability, and output of the group rather than for personally performing its technical work.

The Manager establishes goals that meet corporate objectives for safety, reliability, and regulatory compliance, and builds the processes, standards, and priorities that allow the team to deliver consistent, high-quality engineering across a large and growing portfolio. The Manager is responsible for organizing a workload in which emergent operational issues regularly compete with planned project work, for developing the technical capability of the engineers on the team, and for identifying and securing the resources the group needs to scale. The Manager provides senior technical oversight and judgment on engineering issues related to the maintenance and optimization of generation facilities, and represents the group's needs, commitments, and recommendations to operations leadership and senior management.

THE RESPONSIBILITIES

• Ensure that corporate goals related to safety, reliability, and regulatory compliance are met.
• Provide leadership through workforce planning, succession planning, and training opportunities.
• Assess the technical capability of the team, identify skill gaps, and close them through mentorship, cross-training, external training, and structured development assignments.
• Provide regular feedback to employees on their performance to allow them to capitalize on their strengths and focus on opportunities for improvement.
• Establish and maintain the processes, standards, templates, and review practices that govern the group's engineering work, ensuring consistency and quality across engineers of varying experience levels.
• Own the intake and prioritization of the group's workload, balancing emergent operational support against planned project and compliance commitments, and communicating priorities and schedule changes to affected stakeholders.
• Devise and implement group improvement projects to increase efficiency and quality of work products.
• Direct the team's engineering analyses and provide recommendations, standards, and guidelines for improved operation, maintenance practices, safety, reliability, procurement, construction, and testing on power plant improvement projects across the company's fleet.
• Oversee the team's project designs, specifications, and engineered solutions for power plant equipment and systems, providing technical review and approval appropriate to the risk of the work.
• Identify and build the business case for resources the group requires — including staffing, tooling, software, external engineering support, and outsourcing of low-value or repetitive work — and present those cases to senior management.
• Provide input to plant managers for annual budgets and spending requirements for maintenance, safety, and efficiency improvements of generation facilities.
• Provide operating and maintenance standards to improve operating reliability and efficiency of generating facilities.
• Coordinate project design with input from plant representatives, contractors, and equipment suppliers to provide functional and cost-effective solutions for generating unit needs.
• Direct the evaluation of generating equipment and process conditions and the preparation of forward projections of operating and maintenance requirements to optimize production.
• Where project oversight is given, assure that generation projects are functional, meet the intended design criteria, and are completed on schedule and within budget.
• Provide outage and routine maintenance support as needed, including planning, budget and business case development, parts/service, and procurement recommendations with respect to major plant equipment, protective schemes, and control systems.
• Ensure Root Cause Analysis is conducted for impact incidences at generation facilities, and that resulting corrective actions are implemented and effective.
• Interact with other Subject Matter Experts and other cross-functional organizations to support various corporate initiatives, and manage the group's commitments to those organizations.
• Coordinate with all levels of management to gather, analyze, summarize, and prepare recommendations in support of electrical planning and generation's technical, operational, and financial mission.
• Develop presentations for senior management and recommend and implement changes for best practices.
• Work under limited to no supervision.
• Ensure all compliance aspects of position are known and followed; understand and comply with all policies, codes, and regulations applicable to position and company.
• Other duties as assigned.

THE PROFILE TO SUCCEED

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or a related engineering discipline. PE license preferred.
• Ten (10) years of related experience in electrical or power engineering. Experience in power generation, transmission, and/or distribution is preferred; experience in other asset-owning or critical-operations environments (data centers, manufacturing, industrial, oil and gas) will be considered.
• Minimum four (4) years of experience managing engineers or comparable technical professionals as direct reports, including responsibility for performance management and development.
• Demonstrated experience establishing processes, standards, or systems that improved the consistency, quality, or efficiency of a technical team's output.
• Demonstrated experience managing a dynamic workload in which urgent, emergent work regularly competes with planned commitments.
• Demonstrated experience developing the technical capability of engineers through structured assessment, training, and assignment.
• Ability to lead, coach, and guide employees and understand the importance of managing employee relations.
• Ability to develop and lead employees so they operate as a team and utilize the most efficient practices.
• Business acumen sufficient to identify resource needs and build persuasive, well-supported cases for them to senior leadership.
• Strong analytical and critical thinking capability.
• Exceptional verbal/written communication and presentation skills.
• Self-starter with ability to make decisions and take necessary actions without specific direction.
• Effective time management and organizational skill; keen multi-tasking capabilities and attention to detail.
• Ability to work well independently, and as part of a cross-functional team.
• Working knowledge of major power plant components, controls, and protection systems, root cause analysis, and risk analysis sufficient to provide technical direction, review, and oversight.
• Valid U.S. Driver license with acceptable MVR history.
• Located in, or willing to relocate to, the Denver, CO metro area preferred; fully remote candidates will be considered.

THE PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS

Must be able to accomplish physical requirements with or without reasonable accommodation.

• Employee will be required to adhere to large amounts of standing, walking, bending, squatting, and lifting. May be required to lift, carry, and move up to 50 lbs. Will use arms and hands to signal, grab, hold, turn, push, and pull: objects, materials, controls, and tools. Will occasionally work at heights, climb ladders, stairways, and work off of platforms. Will use vision abilities to focus, see short and long distances, colors, depth perception and peripheral vision. Will be required to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) including but not limited to: hard hat, safety glasses/goggles, ear plugs/muffs, masks/respirators, safety vests, gloves, and steel-toe boots.
• Able to hear (at some dB limit of loss) in order to hear plant alarms, equipment condition, and to receive oral instructions.
• Able to see to determine plant operating conditions and to avoid safety hazards.
• Ability to travel up to 25%.

THE TEAM

The Onward Energy team is comprised of industry professionals who embrace our values of accountability, adaptability, collaboration, and excellence. At Onward Energy, we seek to find solutions rather than assign blame.

THE WORK ENVIRONMENT

The position functions in a smoke and vaping free professional office environment. The role routinely utilizes standard office equipment such as laptop computer, phone, and scanner/photocopier. Noise levels will be moderate to high. Job site(s) will contain light to heavy equipment vehicles, small to large equipment, materials, communication equipment and tools. People standing, walking, sitting, signaling, and talking. Bells, whistles, and alarms.

THE TOTAL REWARDS

Onward Energy total rewards philosophy is motivated by a key tenet of People First and offers employees a comprehensive total rewards package which includes market competitive compensation, health, life insurance, and retirement savings benefits.

If you require an accommodation for any part of the employment process due to a disability to [email protected].

EEO STATEMENT:

Onward Energy is an Affirmative Action Employer, Females/Minority/Veterans/Disabled/Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity.

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.