Operations & Transmission Planner - Hetch Hetchy Water & Power (moccasin) (5602) (exempt)

Operations & Transmission Planner - Hetch Hetchy Water & Power (Moccasin)

Job Code and Title: 5602-Utility Specialist

Fill Type: Permanent Exempt

Company Description

Application Opening: July 29, 2025

Application Filing Deadline: September 3, 2025 (extended from August 19, 2025 to broaden candidate pool)

Recruitment ID: 151727; RTF0153666-01111427

APPOINTMENT TYPE: Exempt: This position is excluded by the Charter from the competitive Civil Service examination process and shall serve at the discretion of the Appointing Officer. The duration of the appointment shall not exceed 36 months.

WHO ARE WE? San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) Headquartered in San Francisco, we have 2,300 employees operating across eight counties serving more than 2.7 million customers in the San Francisco Bay Area – 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.

Our Mission: To provide our customers with high quality, efficient, and reliable water, power, and wastewater services in a manner that values environmental and community interests and sustains the resources entrusted to our care.

Our Vision: We are an innovative utility leader, recognized for excellent results in service, safety, stewardship, and inclusiveness.

We are an award-winning and industry-leading utilities organization committed to our customers, community interests, and the environment. To learn more about our organization, visit our career site.

The Hetch Hetchy Operating Division is responsible for collecting and transmitting 80% of the drinking water consumed by the SFPUC's 2.7 million water customers. The Division is also responsible for the hydroelectric generation and transmission to the SFPUC's wholesale electric customers. Hetch Hetchy Water & Power (HHWP) is responsible for a diverse set of water and power assets that require electrical engineering expertise to maintain and operate the system which nearly spans the width of the California. The assets that require heavy electrical engineering support include four powerhouses (400MW), eight generating units, six substations/switchyards, 150 miles of power transmission and 50 miles of power distribution systems.

Job Description

Project name: Outage Transmission Planning Project

Essential Functions:

Under general direction of the HHWP Chief Engineer, the 5602 Operations & Transmission Planner performs professional planning, analysis, and studies to maintain the integrity and reliability of the SFPUC 115kV and 230kV electric transmission assets. The successful candidate is expected to work collaboratively with HHWP Power Operations and HHWP Engineering, consultant subject matter experts, and neighboring electric utilities.

Specifically, the 5602 Operations & Transmission Planner will:

1. Assists HHWP Power Operations to adapts system configurations to evolving regional grid conditions.
2. Analyzes and manages studies of proposed changes to the HHWP electric transmission system and communicate secondary effects to HHWP Senior Management.
3. Advocates HHWP's position at regional electric utility planning meetings, presents and justifies HHWP's recommendations, and coordinates decisions among HHWP Senior Management.
4. Monitors operations to ensure compliance with policy directives, laws, regulations and contractual constraints including monitoring the performance of hydroelectric generators & transformers, electric transmission & distribution assets, switchyards & substations, to identify opportunities to improve asset performance and reliability.
5. Develops, maintains, and runs software models and tools to evaluate power flow and transient stability simulation analyses. Selects and updates case studies to reflect projected system configurations for days/weeks-ahead transmission planning. Selects studies and updates for 1 (or 2) year, 5-year and 10-year timeframes. Develops electric transmission operating contingency plans.
6. Runs steady-state, transient stability, voltage stability, short circuit and GMD studies and troubleshoots issues per NERC/WECC and CAISO requirements and procedures.
7. Reviews and submits base case review change files and comments upon request from WECC (e.g., Annual review schedule), CAISO (e.g., Annual Transmission Planning Process) and PG&E (e.g., Grid Expansion Process).
8. Leads electric transmission planning activities by planning, developing, and making recommendations to management and to the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) about innovative, comprehensive, and environmentally acceptable transmission plans to ensure safe, reliable, economic and efficient operation of the electric transmission system.
9. Participates regularly in NERC, WECC, RC West committees, regional study groups, and User Group Meetings.
10. Actively works to ensure compliance with all applicable electric transmission standards and updates documentation regularly.
11. Class 5602 Utility Specialist performs other related duties as assigned.

Qualifications

Education: Possession of a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university preferably with major coursework in Law, Engineering, Environmental Studies, Natural Resources, Computer Science, Business Administration, Mathematics, Statistics, Economics or other field related to the utility business; AND

Experience: Four years of verifiable journey-level work experience in one or more of the following areas: planning, scheduling, cost estimating and resource projecting for mid to large scale projects; water supply/infrastructure management and planning; power operations planning and scheduling; analysis, interpretation and application of utility contracts and regulations in either water, power (electric and/or natural gas), telecommunications, or a wastewater/clean water program; utility market and environmental analysis and planning; power supply and transmission rates and contracts; generation, transmission or distribution planning and design; or long-term utility systems planning.

Substitution: Additional qualifying experience may be substituted for the degree requirement on a year-for-year basis.

Desirable Qualifications: The stated desirable qualifications may be considered at the end of the selection process when candidates are referred for hiring.

• Master's degree in Electrical Engineering
• Knowledge of power system theory and analysis
• Understanding of the CAISO electric transmission system
• Understanding of NERC and WECC reliability standards
• Experience in system operations, engineering, asset strategy, or system protection
• Experience with power system transmission analysis tools, e.g. PSLF, PSSE, VSAT, TSAT, ASPEN, PSCAD.
• Experience in programming languages such as MatLab
• EIT certification or Professional Engineer license, currently registered in California

Verification of Education and Experience: Every application is reviewed to ensure that you meet the minimum qualifications as listed in the job ad. Please review our articles on Employment Application and Minimum Qualifications and Verification of Experience and/or Education for considerations taken when reviewing applications.

Applicants may be required to submit verification of qualifying education and experience at any point during the recruitment and selection process.

Note: Falsifying one's education, training, or work experience or attempted deception on the application may result in disqualification for this and future job opportunities with the City and County of San Francisco.