Dir Engineering

Consumers Energy is Michigan’s largest energy provider, providing natural gas and/or electricity to 6.8 million of the state’s 10 million residents in all 68 Lower Peninsula counties. Consumers Energy knows job number one is to keep the lights on for customers. We are committed to delivering reliable, clean, and affordable energy to our customers 24/7.

This position is not eligible for immigration sponsorship, e.g., H-1B, TN, etc. Please do not apply if you will need immigration sponsorship for a work visa now or in the future, including sponsorship for H-1B, TN, etc., now or in the future. We are unable to hire individuals with CPT, OPT, or STEM OPT for this position as the position is not eligible for participation in the H-1B lottery program and is not eligible for current or future immigration sponsorship for a work visa.

Location : This is a hybrid (virtual/onsite) position with required onsite days on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday assigned to the Parnall Office located in Jackson, MI. May consider other Service Centers that support Electric Distribution. This job will be required to be in Jackson approx. 2 days a week on average to report out in the HVD and Reliability Rally Rooms in addition to normal team meetings.The selected candidate must be within a commutable distance or willing to relocate (relocation package is available for those that qualify).

General Summary of Job Responsibilities

The Director of System Protection is responsible for the electrical protective relaying schemes of the entire Consumers Energy electric system including generation, High Voltage Distribution (HVD), Low Voltage Distribution (LVD) and fault analysis, as well as HVD communications infrastructure and SCADA configuration. Generation protection includes those devices within the generating stations including the main generator, main step-up transformer and associated station power systems. HVD System Protection includes all the protection schemes associated with the 138kV and 46kV CE owned electrical system. LVD System Protection includes the protection schemes associated with the low voltage CE distribution system (below 25kV). The Fault Analysis team monitors the operational performance of the protection schemes and helps locate faults on the power system to assist in timely customer outage restoration, as well as troubleshoot and assess protection scheme issues. The Technology Solutions team is responsible for communications to HVD assets as well as the configuration of RTUs. Responsibility for the interconnection protection of distributed energy resources (DERs) is also included.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Establish and monitor systems and procedures for measuring progress and for problem-solving
• Coordinate the preparation of reports required by senior leadership or regulatory agencies
• Develop budgets, schedules, and performance standards for engineering programs
• Evaluate and select vendors for engineering supplies and equipment. Negotiate research contracts and agreements with outside contractors
• Review project proposals and plans to determine time frame, funding limitations, procedures for accomplishing project, staffing requirements, and allotment of available resources to various phases of project. Oversee all engineering projects from conception to completion, ensuring adherence to budget, schedule, and quality standards
• Develop the direction of activities for department projects to ensure projects progress on schedule and within prescribed budget
• Confer with project personnel to outline work plan and to assign duties, responsibilities, and scope of authority
• Investigate complaints about engineering products or services and take corrective action
• Monitor project progress and make necessary adjustments to ensure timely completion
• Other duties as assigned or may be necessary

Additional Duties and Responsibilities

• Direct a highly specialized team of engineers that provides protection and SCADA engineering support to CE electrical projects through the creation of relay recommendations and relay settings.
• Support the ongoing operation and performance of electrical protection systems on HVD, LVD & generation through fault analysis, problem solving and statistical analysis.
• Oversight of the group’s NERC compliance for all applicable PRC (Protection and Control) standards.
• Responsibility for the scheduling and management of the obsolete relay replacement capital budget and communications & RTU replacements.
• Responsibility for the O&M budget for routine HVD relay maintenance, demand failures and project relay setting changes.
• Coordinate team response to emergent outages, system reconfigurations and fault analysis to support prompt customer outage restoration by monitoring System Control pages.
• Represent CE system protection interests in meetings with customers, METC/ITC, contractors, EFL, MPSC, NERC and upper management.
• Provide guidance in evaluating the latest technology and applications of protective schemes and SCADA systems, developing specifications, and functionally design protection scheme standards.

Knowledge/Skills/Abilities

• Excellent problem-solving, analytical, and decision-making skills
• Outstanding verbal and written communication skills
• Managing one's own time and the time of others
• Ability to plan, implement, and evaluate programs
• Ability to effective manage a project
• Strong understanding of quality assurance processes and best practices
• Working knowledge of agile development methodology
• Expertise working with multiple engineering disciplines
• Detailed knowledge and familiarity with electric utility protection systems and operations.
• Ability to read, understand and navigate engineering drawings such as one-line diagrams, detailed AC and DC schematic control diagrams.
• Ability to provide technical direction on the operation of the major components in an electric system including symmetrical components, electrical short circuit modeling, and protective relay performance and characteristics.
• Ability to use and promote the use of new technology and innovation, specialized computer software, macros and program development to manage the large protection system databases necessary to provide detailed documentation of protection system recommendations, settings and maintenance.

Education/Experience

• Bachelor's Degree in Engineering from an ABET accredited program with ten (10) or more years of experience in project management in regulatory environment.
  • [OR] Bachelor's Degree in Engineering from a non-ABET accredited program plus a Professional Engineering license with ten (10) or more years of experience in project management in regulatory environment.

Why should you join our team?

At Consumers Energy, we offer more than just a place to work. We foster a culture that supports career development, growth, and stability, and we take pride in offering our co-workers excellent benefits and compensation packages. We are deliberately creating an inclusive culture that makes our diverse team of co-workers feel valued, supported, and empowered every day. We're a company made up of thousands of people, all with different stories to share and work to do, but we stand united in our company purpose: world class performance delivering hometown service.

What we offer:

• Competitive compensation packages
• Medical, Dental and Vision
• 401k with company match
• Paid parental leave
• Up to 13 paid Holidays
• Paid time off
• Educational Assistance Program

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion:

We, at CMS Energy, value Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion. It is part of our DNA. We treat our employees with respect, we treat each other fairly and we value the opinions of others. We are passionate about building and nurturing an environment where everyone feels included. We don’t discriminate. We seek to learn about each other and better understand our unique differences. Our uniqueness makes us authentic. We create safe spaces where everyone can be who they truly are. We invite difficult conversations and uncomfortable topics. We value diverse perspectives; this is what makes us great together. We harbor an inclusive environment where employees feel empowered to share their backgrounds, experiences, and ideas. Our Employee Resource Groups, Women in Energy (WE), Minority Advisory Panel (MAP), Pride Alliance of Consumers Energy (PACE), GENERGY (Different Generations), capable (Different Abilities), Interfaith, People Planet Partners, and Veterans Advisory Panel (VAP) are key enablers to living the values of our company culture: Caring, Empowered, Deliberate, Agility, and Ownership.

All qualified applicants will not be discriminated against and will receive consideration for employment without regard to protected veteran status, disability, race, color, religion, sex, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin.

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Consumers Energy is an Equal Opportunity Employer, please review our Equal Employment Opportunity Policy, Family and Medical Leave Act, and Military Leave Allowance. CMS Energy endeavors to make accessible to any and all users. If you would like to contact us regarding the accessibility of our website or need assistance completing the application process, please contact our team at View email address on click.appcast.io. This contact information is for accommodation requests only and cannot be used to inquire about the status of applications. ACCOMMODATION NOTICE: Federal law and many state laws require employers to make accommodations to disabled applicants and employees where the accommodation does not impose an undue hardship on the employer. For those applicants seeking a position within the State of Michigan, a disabled individual needing accommodation for employment must notify the employer in writing within 182 days after the need is known or should have been known. Michigan law provides that failure of a Michigan employee to properly notify the employer will preclude any claim that the employer failed to accommodate the disabled individual. However, this does not waive an individual’s right under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, as amended, which sets no time limit for requesting an accommodation nor does it require such accommodation to be in writing.