Operations Data, Metrics and Analysis Lead (Remote or Hybrid)

The California Independent System Operator (ISO) manages the flow of electricity across the high-voltage, long-distance power lines that make up 80 percent of California's power grid. We safeguard the economy and well-being of 30 million Californians by operating the grid reliably 24/7.

As the impartial grid operator, the California ISO opens access to the wholesale power market that is designed to diversify resources and lower prices. It also grants equal access to 25,865 circuit-miles of power lines and reduces barriers to diverse resources competing to bring power to customers.

The California ISO's function is often compared to that of air traffic controllers. It would be grossly unfair for air traffic controllers to represent one airline and profit from allowing that company's planes to go through before others. In the same way, the California ISO operates independently—managing the electron traffic on a power grid we do not own—making sure electricity is safely delivered to utilities and consumers on time and reliably.

The California ISO is committed to the health, safety, and work/life integration of its employees and is proud to offer flexible work arrangements. This position can support a hybrid or remote schedule.

Relocation Assistance is available.

Under the general direction of the Manager, responsible for monitoring, analyzing, and developing operations metrics.  Performs technical analysis of operations related events.  Creates the Operations Scorecard, associated notifications and leads associated meetings.  Works cross-functionally with applicable teams to uncover root causes to operational issues; creates and implements improvement action plans.  Participates in the development of operations metrics summaries and presents to Operators and applicable business units.  Participates in efforts to identify, clean, and standardize operational data across teams.  Serves as a subject matter expert on operational data and analytics.  Supports grid operations and market data, processes and systems for Reliability Coordinator, Balancing Authority and Market operations.  Represents the ISO and independently coordinates with management, operators, engineers, operational readiness staff and technology staff and advises on any changes as needed to ensure that operational needs across functional areas are appropriately represented.  Provides leadership and training for operators, engineers and others as needed. 

PRINCIPAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:  

• Performs complex technical analyses that support control room planning, day ahead and real-time operations activities.  Monitors and evaluates operational data to identify trends, uncover issues and identify opportunities for improvement and innovation.  Works independently and collaborates cross-functionally to perform deep-dive analyses to determine root causes, performance drivers, and solutions for unique and complex operational challenges.  Leverages insights to inform strategic initiatives and provide data-driven recommendations.
   
• Leads Operations efforts to develop an integrated mature strategy for data governance, data management, business intelligence, and advanced analytics that aligns with and supports the strategic plan.  Integrates, identifies, cleans and standardizes operational data across systems and teams.  Represents and advocates for Operations in the development of data governance frameworks, policies, ownership, data integrity, and procedures.  Collaborates with cross-functional teams to ensure data accuracy, consistency, and usability.  Leads the development, implementation and continuous evaluation for advanced AI use cases,
   
• Creates the daily Operations Scorecards and notifications and leads the associated daily meetings.  Leads in the design and enhancement of current and future Operations Scorecards and continuous improvement of additional operations metrics.  Collaborates cross-functionally with Operations Scorecard Metric owners and business units to create and deliver improvement action plans.  Leads the creation and streamlining of reporting processes to improve timeliness and accessibility of insights.
   
• Serves as a subject matter expert on operational data and analytics. Participates in the development of operations metrics summaries and presents to Operators and applicable business units.  Mentors junior analysts on a culture of data literacy and continuous improvement.

Level of Education and Discipline:

A Bachelor's degree (BA, BS) or equivalent education, training or experience in Engineering, Computer or Data Science, or Business. Master Degree preferred.
 

Amount of Experience:

Equivalent years of education and training, plus six (6) or more years related experience.
 

Certifications:

NERC RC Operator certification preferred.
 

Type of Experience:

Extensive experience and demonstrated knowledge and performance of tasks in electric system operations, market operations, real time operations support, operations engineering, data science, or operations training. 

Technical expertise of applications used by California ISO operations and engineering staff to perform tasks.

Technical expertise in event and data analysis.

Additional Skills and Abilities:

Demonstrates fundamental leadership skills with the ability to work effectively in a team environment as a leader, facilitator and team member.  Ability to provide practical and feasible solutions to problems, keeping multiple conflicting considerations into account. Excellent interpersonal, communication, and writing skills required. Excellent analytical skills are required, including the ability to effectively communicate complex technical materials and concepts in a non-technical manner.  Must be able to handle a dynamic and changing work environment, and work independently. Strong computer skills in Microsoft Office Suite. Self-motivated, problem solving skills and the ability to influence others without direct authority.

The following is highly desired:  Proficiency in MS Office (including Excel, Access, Word, Visio, PowerPoint, and VBA) and relational database software tools such as TOAD and SQL plus.  Ability to understand and maintain SQL scripts or similar software code and algorithms, including code written by others.  Knowledge of analytical and generative AI and how to integrate the use of Large Language Models (LLMs).  Knowledge of how to present data metrics via excel, Power BI, R, or related software.

The pay range for the Operations Data, Metrics and Analysis Lead position is $125,250 - $175,350 per year.