Lead Energy Market Analyst

Energy Exemplar Pty Ltd; Chicago (IL); Remote; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Energy Exemplar is seeking a Lead Energy Market Analyst for SPP & WECC. You will work with clients to showcase PLEXOS, Aurora, and Adapt2, translating complex markets into actionable insights and driving regional growth.

You will own the technical narrative, mentor junior analysts, and collaborate with Sales and Product to advance pipeline and win rates in the region.

Qualifications

• 7+ years in wholesale electricity markets, power system planning, energy economics or energy consulting.
• Hands-on experience building production cost, capacity expansion or resource adequacy models in PLEXOS or Aurora.
• Working command of SPP and Western market design: day-ahead, real-time, LMP and congestion.
• Proven customer-facing experience in pre-sales, consulting or client advisory.
• Ability to turn complex quantitative results into a crisp commercial story.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain energy market models focusing on SPP and WECC with PLEXOS/Aurora.
• Translate customer problems into modeling workflows and commercial value.
• Design and deliver demonstrations, workshops and proofs of concept.
• Own technical content of proposals, RFP/RFI responses, and statements of work.
• Deepen accounts by identifying adjacent use cases and cross-sell paths.
• Build, configure and validate PLEXOS and Aurora models for SPP/WECC.
• Execute production cost, capacity expansion, RA, ELCC, LMP, congestion and storage studies.
• Maintain regional reference models and documented workflows for Services.
• Showcase PLEXOS Intelligence capabilities in regional use cases.
• Identify use cases and co-develop regional go-to-market plans with Sales/Marketing.

Skills

Wholesale electricity markets

Power system planning

Energy economics

Pre-sales consulting

Customer-facing

Data analysis

Python or R

SQL

Excel

Communication

Education

Master's degree in electrical engineering or energy economics

PE/CFA/ERP designation

Tools

PLEXOS

Aurora

SQL

Python

Excel

Job description

In an era where the world is rapidly advancing towards a cleaner future through decarbonization, Energy Exemplar’s mission lies in ‘Empowering Transformative Energy Decisions’. Founded in 1999 in Adelaide, Australia, our award-winning software portfolio encompassing the modeling and simulation platform PLEXOS®, Aurora, and Adapt2, is trusted by innovative organizations across the globe. Through our technology and people, we strive to enable stakeholders from across the entire energy value chain to revolutionize the energy ecosystem and to collaboratively plan and execute for a sustainable energy future with unprecedented clarity, speed, and innovation.

Our impact is global and is being recognized across the industry. Some of our recent accolades include:

• SaaS Company of the Year (2025) – Global Business Tech Awards.
• Environmental Impact Award (2025) – E+E Leaders Awards.
• IPPAI (Independent Power Producers Association of India) Power Awards (2025) - Winners
• Finalist: Platts Global Energy Awards (2024) – Grid Edge category
• Finalist: Reuters Global Energy Transition Awards (2024) – Technologies of Change
• Top 50 Marketing Team (2024) – Voted by the public at the ICON Awards.

How We Work

Energy Exemplar is growing fast and that growth is driven by how we work. We trust our team to deliver great results from wherever they work best, whether that’s at home, in the office, or on the move.

We’re a global team that values ownership, integrity, and innovation. You’ll be supported to balance work and life in a way that works for you, and empowered to take initiative, solve problems, and make an impact, regardless of your background, location, or role.

Our four core values, Customer Success, One Global Team, Integrity & Ownership, and Innovation Excellence aren’t just words. They show up in how we collaborate, how we solve, and how we grow together.

About the Position

The Lead Energy Market Analyst – SPP & WECC will work directly with prospective and existing clients to increase sales and deliver technical pre-sales work across the SPP and WECC footprints. Working side by side with Account Directors and Regional VP of Sales, the analyst identifies the customer use cases where PLEXOS, Aurora, and Adapt2 create measurable value, proves that value in demonstrations, proofs of concept and pilot studies built on the customer's own market, and helps shape the regional go-to-market strategy.

The analyst is the company's recognized subject matter expert on SPP and Western market design, resource adequacy, transmission planning and price formation. That expertise shows up three ways: in the room with customers, in published thought leadership that draws new prospects to Energy Exemplar, and in the feedback loop to Product that keeps the platforms ahead of market change.

This is a senior individual-contributor role with wide latitude. The analyst owns the technical narrative for SPP and WECC pursuits, mentors less experienced analysts on the team, and is accountable, with Sales, for pipeline progression and technical win rate in the region.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain energy market models with a focus on the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) and Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) regions, leveraging PLEXOS to analyze market dynamics, transmission constraints, generation dispatch, and regulatory developments while providing technical expertise and modeling solutions to prospective and existing customers.
• Translate customer business problems (resource adequacy filings, IRPs, RFP evaluation, interconnection economics, trading strategy, transmission justification) into modeling workflows and a clear commercial value story.
• Design and deliver tailored demonstrations, workshops, executive briefings and proofs of concept built in the customer's own market, converting them into new-logo and expansion opportunities.
• Own the technical content of proposals, RFP and RFI responses and statements of work for the region, coordinating input from Product, Services and Legal.
• Deepen existing accounts by identifying adjacent use cases, new user groups and cross-sell paths (PLEXOS to Aurora, planning to trading, simulation to AI Studio).
• Build, configure and validate PLEXOS and Aurora models for SPP and WECC: nodal and zonal topologies, generation and storage fleets, fuel and hydro assumptions, load and large-load forecasts, and market rules.
• Execute production cost, capacity expansion, resource adequacy and ELCC, LMP and congestion, storage valuation, transmission benefit and interconnection studies, and present results with commercial takeaways.
• Maintain the team's regional reference models and input libraries, benchmarked against published ISO, WECC and utility results, with documented workflows that Services can inherit.
• Showcase PLEXOS Intelligence capabilities (scenario automation, backtesting and calibration, results interpretation) on regional use cases.
• Identify and prioritize SPP and WECC use cases by segment, size the opportunity, and co-develop the regional go-to-market plan, target accounts, messaging and competitive positioning with Sales and Marketing.
• Create reusable demonstration assets, playbooks and enablement content so the wider Americas team can sell confidently into SPP and WECC.
• Serve as Energy Exemplar's public voice on SPP and Western market topics through white papers, webinars and presentations at SPP, WECC, CAISO, WPTF, NWPPA, WSPP and industry conferences.
• Monitor FERC orders, SPP and CAISO market design changes, WRAP and Markets+ milestones, state dockets and competitor activity, and brief Sales, Product and customers on the implications.
• Channel structured customer requirements to Product, coordinate with post-sales Services on handoffs and renewal signals, and mentor Solutions analysts in market knowledge, modeling practice and customer-facing skills.

Candidate Requirements

• 7+ years in wholesale electricity markets, power system planning, energy economics or energy consulting, with at least 3 years focused on SPP, the Western Interconnection or both.
• Hands-on experience building and running production cost, capacity expansion or resource adequacy models in PLEXOS or Aurora, or in comparable tools with a demonstrated ability to learn new platforms quickly.
• Working command of SPP and Western market design: day-ahead and real-time clearing, ancillary services, LMP and congestion, capacity accreditation, planning reserve margins, WRAP and state RA constructs, transmission planning processes and interconnection.
• Proven customer-facing experience in pre-sales, consulting or client advisory, including scoping engagements, presenting to senior and executive audiences and managing competing stakeholder interests.
• Ability to turn complex quantitative results into a crisp commercial story: what the number means, why it matters to the customer's decision and what to do next.
• Strong data skills: Python or R, SQL and advanced Excel; comfort with large ISO, EIA, FERC and WECC datasets and with building repeatable data pipelines.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; experience producing publication-quality reports, slides and webinar content.
• Self-directed and organized; able to run several concurrent pursuits with Sales and deliver on committed timelines.

Qualifications

• Master's degree in electrical engineering, energy or environmental economics, applied mathematics, operations research, data science, public policy or a closely related field; equivalent professional experience considered.
• Professional Engineer (PE) license, CFA or Energy Risk Professional (ERP) designation.
• PLEXOS or Aurora certification, or completion of Energy Exemplar's advanced training programs.
• Active membership in IEEE PES, IAEE, USAEE or similar professional bodies.

Energy Exemplar is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all team members. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, experiences, identities, and abilities. Please let us know if you require accommodations at any stage of the recruitment process—we're here to support you in showcasing your full potential.

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