Senior Production Cost Modeling Specialist

Be a Part of Something that Matters

At WECC, we enhance the lives of 80 million people by identifying and mitigating risks to the Bulk Power System (BPS) in the West. The grid is changing quickly as environmental regulations, economics, technology, and customer demands continue to push the power industry to new limits.

The Senior Reliability Assessments Engineer promotes BPS reliability by leading and performing interconnection-wide reliability assessments through complex analysis using sophisticated resource adequacy and/or production cost models. Working in the Reliability Assessments department, the Senior Reliability Assessments Engineer is proficient with various system analysis applications and can use them to analyze potential effects on the reliability of the grid. They are fully aware of emerging issues and trends affecting the BPS in the Western Interconnection and work with industry groups to address power system reliability needs.

While WECC’s headquarters are located in Salt Lake City, Utah, this position is remote‑eligible for candidates residing in the lower 48 U.S. states. Time spent traveling is expected to be a minimum of 15% for this role, though business needs may require additional travel on occasion.

• Propose, lead, and conduct WECC/NERC reliability assessments based on emerging issues and trends using commercially available modeling and analysis software.
• Apply deterministic and/or probabilistic resource adequacy, production cost and related model types to support adequacy studies and other reliability assessments.
• Provide technical leadership and partnership with industry groups such as national labs; regulators; federal, state, and provincial government organizations; non-governmental organizations; and academia to identify potential reliability risks and mitigation options.
• Identify the need for, and support the development of, new software tools and processes to assess data and power system reliability.
• Deliver clear, concise presentations to a variety of technical and non-technical audiences.
• Support and provide technical leadership to WECC and NERC committees, task forces, and work groups.
• Engage stakeholders to identify and assess reliability challenges in the short-term to long-term time frames.
• Provide technical expertise and support for other activities at WECC (e.g., standards development, oversight, event analysis, situation awareness).
• Work with colleagues in the ERO Enterprise to plan reliability assessments, identify the lessons learned, and apply best practices.
• Mentor other engineers and analysts and work with management to find opportunities for others to take part in industry initiatives.

• Hold a bachelor’s degree in engineering, mathematics, statistics, computer science, or a related technical field or an equivalent combination of education and related industry experience resulting in a demonstrated ability to perform major duties.
• Have at least eight years of experience in the power industry related to areas such as resource adequacy, production cost analysis, system studies, system modeling, resource planning, transmission planning, etc.
• Have a history of identifying emerging reliability risks and leading reliability-related analyses.
• Have advanced expertise performing studies using resource adequacy and/or production cost modeling tools such as Astrape SERVM, Energy Exemplar Plexos, ABB Grid View, GE MARS, or GE PSLF or similar.
• Have a record of conducting assessments and developing technical reports with a strong understanding of reliability risks to the BPS.
• Possess strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work with stakeholder and member groups with differing interests.
• Have proven decision-making and problem-solving skills.
• Are excited to advocate for reliability in industry groups, bringing back vital information for WECC’s strategic decision-making.
• Have excellent spoken and written communication skills.
• Possess high levels of self‑motivation, initiative, intellectual curiosity, and accountability.
• Desire to act as a knowledge leader, sharing expertise with staff and other departments at WECC.

• Our people and our…