Expert, Outage Quality Specialist (Flexible location)

Requisition ID # 174866 

Job Category: Maintenance / Construction / Operations 

Job Level: Individual Contributor

Business Unit: Energy Delivery

Work Type: Hybrid

Job Location: Oakland

Position Summary

The Outage Quality Specialist is responsible for ensuring outage events and results are reported accurately. The outage records and processes are subject to review by Internal Auditing and are submitted for regulatory filings.  Outage Quality Specialists provide expertise on all aspects of electric outage reporting performed by distribution control centers (DCC) to meet all internal and external regulatory reporting requirements, including ongoing audit and review of outage records, identification of corrective actions for process improvement, developing and/or updating standards, procedures, and guidelines, training and coaching outage reporting processes, participating in system-wide enhancement initiatives, and partnering with other departments to provide technical expertise in outage reporting. 

This role is instrumental in ensuring continuity and expansion of outage quality excellence during the transition from ILIS to ADMS, supporting system implementation activities while helping define and sustain future-state outage reporting, data governance, and operational practices.

This position follows a hybrid work model, with employees expected to report to their assigned office location approximately two to three days per month based on business needs. The headquarters location is flexible within the PG&E service territory and will be determined at the time of hire based on the selected candidate's location.

PG&E is providing the salary range that the company in good faith believes it might pay for this position at the time of the job posting. This compensation range is specific to the locality of the job.  The actual salary paid to an individual will be based on multiple factors, including, but not limited to, specific skills, education, licenses or certifications, experience, market value, geographic location, collective bargaining agreements, and internal equity. Although we estimate that the successful candidate hired into this role will be placed toward the middle or entry point of the range, the decision will be made on a case-by-case basis based on these factors. This job is also eligible to participate in PG&E’s discretionary incentive compensation programs.
 
A reasonable salary range is:
Bay Area Minimum: $122,000
Bay Area Mid-Point: $158,000
Bay Area Maximum: $194,000
&/OR
CA Minimum: $116,000
CA Mid-Point: $150,000
CA Maximum: $184,000

Job Responsibilities

•    Reviews outages entered into outage management systems, including the current Outage Quality (OQ) Integrated Logging Information System (ILIS) and future Advanced Distribution Management System (ADMS) platforms, and evaluates outage event accuracy related to reliability metrics, asset attribution, customer impact, and outage reporting utilizing all available resources (for example, AMI/Smart Meter data, switching logs, trouble reports, SCADA history, OMS/ADMS event records, transmission operations reports, and operator comments).
•    Supports the transition from ILIS to ADMS by participating in testing, validation, documentation, training, business process development, and operational readiness activities while developing expertise in future-state outage management capabilities. Becomes a company subject matter expert for Outage Quality in ADMS. 
•    Contacts appropriate personnel to retrieve missing outage details.
•    Updates ILIS (ADMS in future state) system records to ensure correct reporting of outages, identifies wire down events, corrects identification of customer counts, and correctly identifies outage event types and durations.
•    Updates outage records in ILIS (ADMS in future state) for key stakeholders (for example, Incident Investigators, Vegetation Management, Reliability Engineers, and Asset Strategy).
•    Coaches and develops less experienced personnel.
•    Identifies work procedure errors, reviews DMS (ADMS in future state) history, ED PI, and abnormal states for switching to ensure outages are reported correctly.  
•    Initiates Corrective Action Program (CAP) items as required.
•    Participates on a team to develop process improvement initiatives, standards, and work procedures.
•    Develops and/or updates department documentation including electric outage reporting standards, utility procedures, guidelines, and 5MM’s.
•    Provides subject matter expertise to other departments in areas of electric outage reporting.
•    Provides training and coaching to DCC Distribution operators and leadership.
•    Leads a team to develop process improvement initiatives, standards, work procedures, and corrective action plans.
•    Develops presentation and training material to assist in the rollout of enhanced tools and process changes to DCC and field personnel.  Provides the necessary group or one-on-one training.
•    May lead larger system-wide initiatives or may work on more complex issues requiring more comprehensive methods.
•    Partners with field superintendents and DCC leadership to accurately document and process all Non-Restorable outage applications and apply Non-Restorable metric minutes to the ILIS (ADMS in future state) outage event. 
•    Reviews and updates priority outages so other departments are able to utilize accurate information.
•    Utilizes the FocalPoint and future state database to identify and/or explain reliability information relative to outage quality performance to DCC leadership.
•    Provides support to control center leadership during emergencies (for example, storms, fires, earthquakes) to ensure accuracy of outage reporting.

Qualifications

Minimum:

• Bachelor's degree in a job-related discipline or equivalent experience
• Job-related experience, 5 years
• Ability to travel up to 20 percent of working time

Desired:

•    10 years of job-related experience, including experience as a System Operator and/or Senior Outage Quality Specialist
•    ADMS experience or capability of training and working in ADMS in future state

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, and Technical Competencies: 

•    Ability to work independently with limited oversight.
•    Competency in developing and delivering multi-mode communications that convey a clear understanding of the unique needs of different audiences.
•    Expert knowledge of electric utility operations and business processes as needed to perform at the job level.
•    Competency in knowing the most effective and efficient processes to get things done, with a focus on continuous improvement.
•    Knowledge of principles, methods, and technology for curriculum and training design, for teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and for the measurement of training effects as needed to perform at the job level.
•    Competency in building strong-identity teams that apply their diverse skills and perspectives to achieve common goals.