System Performance Engineer

At Hydro Ottawa, we empower the lives of the people in the communities we serve.

We help to power your professional growth at every step of your engineering career. For those starting out, we provide the training and skills needed to achieve your P.Eng. designation, and for established engineers, our structured framework offers a clear, transparent pathways to intermediate and senior levels. Wherever you are in your career, there’s a path for growth ahead of you here.

As the electricity distributor to the Nation’s Capital, our work powers the essential activities that make up our lives - at home, at work and  as Ontario’s largest municipally-owned producer of green power, we are leading the way to a greener tomorrow.

We are seeking a System Performance Engineer, a strategic thinker who can take initiatives from concept to completion and engineer the way to a smart energy future.

Are you ready to make a difference in our community?

JOB SUMMARY

Reporting to the Supervisor, Distribution Engineering, the System Performance Engineer is the technical driver behind the continuous improvement of Hydro Ottawa’s distribution system performance and resilience. This role transforms outage data and asset performance metrics into actionable strategies that reduce the probability and impact of outages, directly improving customer service. Acting as a critical link between engineering planning and field operations, the System Performance Engineer facilitates root cause investigations, provides oversight and governance, and develops technical justifications for reliability investments.

The System Performance Engineer ensures that theoretical reliability models translate into practical, safe solutions for the crews operating and maintaining the grid every day.

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES

• Analyze distribution system constraints, outage trends, and equipment performance to identify vulnerabilities and develop strategic solutions that directly improve grid reliability and resilience.

• Facilitate detailed root cause analyses for asset failures and significant reliability incidents, partnering with field staff to determine the underlying causes and ensure practical corrective actions are implemented.

• Provide expert technical leadership and real-time engineering support to field operations during outage investigations and system deficiencies to expedite restoration and prevent recurrence.

• Develop the scope and financial justification for reliability improvement projects and programs, ensuring that capital investments are targeted effectively to deliver maximum value in outage reduction and impact.

• Manage the reliability governance framework, providing direction and oversight for reliability initiatives by determining necessary operational improvements.

• Perform comprehensive reviews of system performance during extreme weather events to design and implement targeted mitigation strategies that harden the grid against future storms.

• Establish and maintain robust reporting protocols that satisfy all internal and regulatory frameworks, ensuring consistent and accurate delivery of performance metrics through regular data audits.

• Ensure all reliability activities and mitigation strategies strictly comply with relevant regulatory standards and internal risk management policies.

• Mentor and coach internal staff on reliability engineering principles to foster a data-driven decision-making operational culture.

• Drive the adoption of preventative reliability strategies and provide technical support in the development and updating of internal engineering standards to reflect current industry best practices.

• Represent Hydro Ottawa at external working groups and conferences to stay aligned with emerging industry trends and transfer innovative reliability insights into the organization.

• Participate in Hydro Ottawa’s Electricity Emergency Response Program (EERP) including potential after-hours and or on-call responsibilities, as required.

• Lead special projects and perform other related duties as required.

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

• Undergraduate degree in Engineering from an accredited university

• Professional Engineer, licensed or able to be licensed in the…