Specialist Engineer - Grid Modernization

BC Hydro; Burnaby; On-site; CAD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

A minimum of 15 paid vacation days

Flexible work model

Training and development courses

Job summary

BC Hydro's Grid Modernization team leads strategic modernization initiatives across the utility, coordinating stakeholders to deliver an integrated vision. The Specialist Engineer provides technical leadership and governance across the portfolio, including DA, BESS, DER, VPP, and grid visibility technologies.

This role develops business cases, deployment plans, and roadmaps, aligns cross-functional teams, manages dependencies, and supports performance measures and risk assessments to advance

Qualifications

• Electrical engineering degree recognized by EGBC or equivalent.
• Experience in planning, engineering, transmission/substation, or distribution grid applications.
• Minimum of 10 years of progressive electrical engineering experience in an electric utility.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership and stewardship for Grid Modernization initiatives across BC Hydro.
• Lead development of modernization business cases, investment analyses, and implementation plans.
• Develop and maintain deployment plans, program roadmaps, and recommendations integrating technical, operational, regulatory, and business considerations.
• Lead assessment and improvement of current-state and future-state business processes and governance structures.
• Monitor implementation progress and support portfolio management activities.

Skills

Technical leadership

Stakeholder management

Strategic thinking

Cross-functional collaboration

Verbal & written communication

Education

Electrical Engineering degree

Tools

GIS

SCADA

ADMS

OMS

DERMS

Asset management systems

Telecommunications systems

Job description

Hours of work: Full-time (37.5 hrs/week)

No. of positions: 1

About the job:

The Grid Modernization team leads strategic stewardship, governance, coordination, and enablement of modernization initiatives across BC Hydro, ensuring that diverse stakeholders work together to deliver an integrated and coherent modernization vision.

Reporting to the Technical Strategic Principal, Grid Modernization, the Specialist Engineer provides technical leadership and modernization stewardship across BC Hydro's modernization portfolio, including Distribution Automation (DA), Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), Distributed Energy Resources (DER), Virtual Power Plants (VPP), grid visibility technologies, climate resilience initiatives, and future modernization opportunities.

This role provides an opportunity to work across organizational boundaries, influence modernization priorities and implementation approaches, and contribute to some of BC Hydro's most significant modernization initiatives.

What you’ll do:

• Provide technical leadership and stewardship for the development, coordination, and advancement of Grid Modernization initiatives across BC Hydro's modernization portfolio, including Distribution Automation (DA), Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), Distributed Energy Resources (DER), Virtual Power Plants (VPP), grid visibility technologies, climate resilience initiatives, and future modernization opportunities.
• Lead development of modernization business cases, investment analyses, implementation plans, and recommendations that support modernization priorities and strategic initiatives.
• Develop and maintain deployment plans, program roadmaps, implementation strategies, and recommendations that integrate technical, operational, asset-management, regulatory, and business considerations.
• Lead assessment and continuous improvement of current-state and future-state business processes, governance structures, stakeholder interfaces, operating models, and organizational accountabilities.
• Develop recommendations that improve modernization governance, decision-making processes, coordination, accountability, organizational effectiveness, and modernization outcomes.
• Develop and maintain an integrated view of modernization initiatives across the portfolio, including priorities, risks, dependencies, implementation status, portfolio performance, benefits realization, and emerging opportunities.
• Gather and synthesize information from stakeholders across Transmission and Distribution Planning, Sustainment, Engineering, System and Field Operations, Telecommunications, Technology, Finance, and Project Delivery.
• Build alignment among business units with differing priorities, operational requirements, funding responsibilities, and organizational objectives.
• Lead and facilitate cross-functional workshops, working groups, assessments, and discussions that support modernization initiatives and portfolio objectives.
• Identify and manage technical, operational, schedule, resource, and organizational dependencies, resolving issues where possible and escalating significant risks, conflicts, and decisions when required.
• Monitor implementation progress and support modernization governance, reporting, and portfolio management activities.
• Support the assessment, planning, and implementation of initiatives to improve the climate resilience of BC Hydro's transmission and distribution systems.
• Contribute to development of performance measures, benefits realization approaches, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Prepare recommendations, decision materials, progress reports, investment analyses, risk assessments, and presentations for management and program governance.
• Conduct and lead technical research, utility benchmarking, technology assessments, and engineering analyses to support modernization decision-making.
• Support research, pilots, demonstrations, technology-transfer activities, and modernization assessments.
• Monitor utility best practices, emerging technologies, industry developments, and regulatory trends, and provide recommendations regarding opportunities, risks, gaps, and future modernization requirements for BC Hydro's modernization portfolio.
• Provide technical leadership, coaching, mentoring, and guidance to engineers, project teams, and modernization initiatives.
• Acts as key liaison to stakeholders including Community Relations, Indigenous Relations, and Key Accounts. Provides coordination and support in regulatory matters.

What you bring:

• A recognized Electrical Engineering degree recognized by EGBC and/or Canadian Universities. Consideration may be given to other recognized and accredited degrees (such as Integrated Engineering, Mechatronic Systems Engineering, Engineering in Smart Grid Systems and Technologies, etc.) with a demonstrable focus in Electrical Engineering in Power Systems applications and utility environment.
• Registered, or eligible for immediate registration, as a Professional Engineer with Engineers and Geoscientists of BC (EGBC).
• A minimum of 10 years of progressive electrical engineering experience focused in the areas of planning, engineering, transmission/substation/distribution smart grid applications, electric vehicle charging, design of power systems or system analysis within an electric utility. Preference will be given to candidates who have experience in two or more of these areas.

Technical Leadership, Business Acumen, Relationships

• Think forward by understanding utility best practices, emerging technologies, industry developments, and regulatory trends that may impact BC Hydro. Identify opportunities, risks, capability gaps, and future requirements, and translate insights into recommendations that support modernization initiatives and long-term portfolio development.
• Provide technical leadership and stewardship across complex modernization initiatives involving multiple business units and stakeholder groups.
• Strong understanding of utility modernization technologies and practices, including Distribution Automation (DA), Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), Distributed Energy Resources (DER), Virtual Power Plants (VPP), grid visibility technologies, operational technologies, and emerging industry trends.
• Knowledge of utility systems and platforms such as GIS, SCADA, ADMS, OMS, DERMS, asset management systems, telecommunications systems, and enterprise business applications.
• Ability to think conceptually and strategically, integrating technical, operational, asset-management, regulatory, and business considerations to support effective decision-making.
• Ability to assess and improve current-state and future-state business processes, governance structures, stakeholder interfaces, operating models, and organizational accountabilities.
• Ability to analyze and resolve complex technical and organizational challenges while balancing competing priorities and perspectives.
• Excellent written, verbal, presentation, facilitation, negotiation, and relationship-management skills, including the ability to communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Ability to build alignment among stakeholders with differing priorities, operational requirements, funding responsibilities, and organizational objectives.
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional initiatives and influence outcomes without direct reporting authority.
• Strong engineering judgment, systems thinking, analytical capability, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
• Strong business acumen and an ability to connect technical capabilities with reliability, resiliency, operational, customer, and organizational outcomes.
• Ability to develop and maintain effective working relationships across, BC Hydro and with external stakeholders, utilities, consultants
• Demonstrated coaching, mentoring, leadership and interpersonal skills.
• Successful, creative and persistent approach to problem solving, influencing outcomes, and achieving business objectives.
• High professional credibility, integrity, accountability, resilience and commitment to safety.

What we offer:

• A minimum of 15 paid vacation days
• Flexible work model, depending on your role type
• Training and development courses

For more information on the benefits we offer, visit bchydro.com/benefits.

What else you should know:

• This posting is for a Full Time Regular position.
• Occasional travel within BC, including remote locations and sometimes outside the province/country, may be required
• Part of the interview process may include a written assignment, details to be discussed in the recruitment process.
• A condition of employment for this job is that you maintain your Class 5 Driver's License: In good standing.
• A condition of employment for this job is that you maintain good standing with Engineers & GeoScientists BC (EGBC).
• Please be advised that this role has been assessed as safety sensitive and pre-qualification alcohol and drug testing will be required as a pre-condition to employment.