SCADA Field Engineer

SCADA Field Engineer

Role Summary

Our client is hiring a SCADA Field Engineer to own RTU/telemetry integration and site support across our generation fleet. You will shadow and be mentored by a senior SCADA engineer before assuming the responsibility for field work new integrations outage support and ongoing reliability.

Position Details

Location: Preference Houston TX (remote day-to-day with regional travel)

Employment Type: Possibility of conversion to FTE for the right candidate

Team: Wholesale Operations IT EMS/SCADA/Plant Applications

Key Responsibilities

• Configure program and troubleshoot RTUs for plant and dispatch use (new builds upgrades and day-to-day reliability).
• Build and maintain data links between plant DCS and corporate EMS (RTU as pass-through device; ensure signals are mapped scaled and validated end-to-end).
• Stand up and repair communications paths: Modbus (serial & TCP) DNP3 serial links fiber communication media converters (communication protocol converters) and cell gateways.
• Perform point-to-point testing and field validation of analogs digitals and alarms; resolve scaling timeout and frozen point issues.
• Partner with plant engineers/operations transmission owners/vendors and corporate IT/network/firewall teams to maintain telemetry health.
• Support outages projects and integrations on siteincluding occasional short-notice visitsand coordinate contractors and vendors as needed.
• Working knowledge of industrial generation metering counters/accumulators
• Contribute to standardization (templates documentation/as-builts and basic change control) as you learn the fleet.

Qualifications Must Have

• Hands-on RTU configuration/programming experience in the field and familiarity with RTU platforms (e.g. SEL Orion Telvent/Schneider or similar).
• Practical protocol experience: Modbus (serial & TCP) and DNP3 (configure and troubleshoot).
• Working knowledge of basic networking concepts (IP addressing ports) and comfort with field diagnostic tools (protocol analyzers).
• Ability to translate between plant/DCS signals and SCADA/EMS needs; strong cross-team communication across IT Operational Teams and plant groups.
• Ability to read and interpret P&ID drawings
• Field experience in power plants or heavy industrial environments (comfortable around cabinets I/O cards drawings and site safety norms).
• Hands-on experience with communication hardware including media converters I/O cards and related interface devices.
• Valid drivers license and willingness to travel regionally.

Nice to Have

• Knowledge of power plant metering schema and ability to utilize SCADA tools to develop plant generation reporting
• Energy Management System experience (Hitachi - Network Manager preferred)
• Generation Meter accounting software (Itron - MV90)
• Experience working with transmission owners and external vendors/contractors.
• Exposure to fiber troubleshooting media converters and serial-to-IP gateways.
• Awareness of NERC CIP practices (access patching windows evidence basics).
• Comfort creating as-builts architectural drawings (CadVisioBlock diagrams) point lists and simple HMI updates when needed.

Work Setup Travel & On-Call

• Houston-based: remote most days; routine driving within 2 hours of Houston.
• Periodic travel to out-of-region sites (e.g. Northeast Region) for projects and integrations.
• On-call rotation after ramp (approximately 1 in 6 weeks for full-time employees); contract-to-hire employees may not be on-call initially.

Requirements:

• Hands-on RTU configuration/programming experience in the field and familiarity with RTU platforms (e.g. SEL Orion Telvent/Schneider or similar).
• Practical protocol experience: Modbus (serial & TCP) and DNP3 (configure and troubleshoot).
• Working knowledge of basic networking concepts (IP addressing ports) and comfort with field diagnostic tools (protocol analyzers).
• Ability to translate between plant/DCS signals and SCADA/EMS needs; strong cross-team communication across IT Operational Teams and plant groups.
• Ability to read and interpret P&ID drawings
• Field experience in power plants or heavy industrial environments (comfortable around cabinets I/O cards drawings and site safety norms).
• Hands-on experience with communication hardware including media converters I/O cards and related interface devices.
• Valid drivers license and willingness to travel regionally.