Careers · Power Systems
Director, Special Studies
Leads the A team: wins consulting clients on expertise, delivers each client's first project and defines what the Dashboard automates next.
About the role
What this role is for.
Most of GridStrong's study work runs as automated workflows in the Dashboard. The studies that do not fit yet are the reason Special Studies exists. A new client rarely arrives asking for a routine PRC-029-2 study. They arrive with a harmonics question at a weak point of interconnection, a trip the operator wants analyzed under PRC-030-1, a sub-synchronous oscillation screen or a control interaction between neighboring plants. Someone has to win that work on expertise, deliver it well enough that the client comes back, and hand the repeatable parts to the engine.
You will build and lead that team. You carry the consulting sales motion for Power Systems, deliver each client's first project with your Principal Engineer, hand the repeat customer to Generation Studies or Client Success, and decide with Power Systems Engineering what gets automated next.
Team: Power Systems
Level: Director
Location: Remote, United States or Canada
Works with: The VP of Power Systems, the Principal Engineer, Special Studies, Generation Studies, the Director of Power Systems Engineering, Client Success and Operations, and the engineering and asset management leads at consulting clients.
What you will do
- Win new consulting clients on technical credibility: scope the problem, write the proposal with Client Success and Operations and present it to the client's engineering leadership.
- Lead delivery of each client's first project in PSCAD, PSS®E, PSLF or TSAT, including final review and sign-off as engineer of record.
- Run the studies the Dashboard cannot automate yet: event analysis, EMT control interaction, weak-grid and oscillation studies, custom ride-through work.
- Maintain the ranked list of study types to automate and pair with Power Systems Engineering on specification and validation.
- Hand off repeat clients cleanly, with models, assumptions and evidence already in the Dashboard.
- Hire the Principal and engineers in the division and hold their client load within the two to six client band.
- Speak and publish on the technical problems the industry is working through; that is how this division sells.
What we are looking for
- Twelve or more years in power systems consulting or utility planning, with a record of winning and delivering studies for generation owners or operators.
- Expert in EMT and RMS simulation, with hands-on PSCAD and PSS®E or PSLF work you still do yourself.
- Deep working knowledge of NERC PRC-029-2, PRC-030-1, MOD-026 and MOD-032, and the ERCOT NOGRR 245 ride-through requirements.
- Experience as technical reviewer of record on client deliverables.
- Experience leading senior engineers who are peers rather than subordinates.
- Professional Engineer license in a US state or Canadian province.
Nice to have
- Published work or standards committee participation with NERC, IEEE or operator working groups.
- Experience with inverter OEM model libraries and black-box model validation.
The first 90 days
- You have met every client and prospect that has asked for non-standard work and own a qualified pipeline.
- The first Special Studies engagement is contracted through Client Success and Operations and under way.
- The automation list is ranked and reviewed with Power Systems Engineering.
- The Principal Engineer, Special Studies is hired or at the offer stage.
Other roles
More open roles in Power Systems.
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