Project Engineer - Principal Engineer

If you have what it takes to become part of the Vistra family and would like to start a promising career with a global leader, take a look at the exciting employment opportunities that are currently available and apply online.

Responsible for initiating, developing, managing, and executing capital and major maintenance projects for Vistra’s fossil generation fleet in alignment with the Project Life Cycle Procedure, Long-Range Plan (LRP) processes, and applicable fleet standards. Provides technically sound project engineering support for irregular capital projects and standardized fleet-wide scopes; emphasis areas may include mechanical rotating equipment, plant control systems, and heavy‑duty steam valves.

Supports scope development, cost estimating, justification, bid specification development, contractor/vendor coordination, execution, budget and schedule development/tracking, and closeout with consideration for safety, operability, maintainability, and financial return.

• Identify, develop, justify, and execute capital and major maintenance projects supporting Vistra’s fossil generation fleet.
• Own projects from identification/justification through execution and closeout, and develop/maintain standardized project plans, templates, playbooks, and fleet standards for recurring work across sites.
• Develop project scopes, conceptual designs, cost estimates, schedules, risk evaluations, and business justifications for LRP and other approval processes; apply the Project Life Cycle Procedure and fleet governance requirements.
• Prepare and maintain bid packages, technical specifications, and project documentation for fleet applications such as gas turbines, steam turbines, generators, pumps, fans, control systems, and heavy‑duty steam valves.
• Support fleet‑significant projects such as gas turbine conversions from black start to dispatchable market operation, plant control system upgrades, plant winterization projects, gas turbine upgrade balance‑of‑plant projects, and steam turbine or gas turbine overhauls/inspections.
• Develop and maintain standardized playbooks for recurring work such as gas turbine and steam turbine overhauls/inspections, cooling tower rebuilds, and similar fleet‑wide projects.
• Develop project schedules, incorporating regulatory, safety, and environmental requirements, milestone timing for long‑lead equipment/materials, workforce plans, hold points, construction and installation sequencing, schedule risks and contingency plans, startup, and closeout, and project turnover.
• Use asset operating history and reference data, including starts, operating hours, outage history, and inspection findings, and incorporate industry operating experience, OEM recommendations, technical advisories, and vendor bulletins in scope development, justification, planning, and bid preparation.
• Coordinate with internal stakeholders, including plant personnel, fleet engineering, operations, maintenance, supply chain, and environmental, and interface with external engineering firms, contractors, OEMs, and suppliers to support evaluations, outage planning, and issue resolution.
• Communicate project status, risks, financial justification, execution strategy, technical decisions, and lessons learned; support site visits, project meetings, outage planning, and field execution as needed.
• Up to 50% travel is required.
• Level of position will be determined by applicable skills and experience.

• 8+ years of related experience in project engineering, project development, project execution, major maintenance, or capital project management in power generation or similar heavy‑industrial environments.
• Bachelor of Science in an engineering field relevant to the power generation industry, such as mechanical, electrical, civil, or similar, from an ABET‑accredited university OR a licensed professional engineer (within the U.S.).
• Experience developing and executing projects for fossil generation assets, major plant systems, or comparable industrial facilities.
• Preferred technical knowledge or experience in one or more of the following: mechanical rotating equipment, including gas…