Applied Scientist – Operations Research/Optimization

Position Description

Seattle City Light, a department of the City of Seattle, is one of the nations largest municipally owned utilities in terms of the number of customers served. Over the years we have worked very hard to keep Seattle’s electricity affordable, reliable, and environmentally sound. Today, City Light is a recognized national leader in energy efficiency and environmental stewardship.

Seattle City Lights Resource Planning & Analysis unit is looking for an Applied Scientist – Operations Research/Optimization (Strategic Advisor 2). This role will act as a subject matter expert in analyzing and evaluating City Lights power supply portfolio to meet the current and future electric needs of the City of Seattle. This position will work with staff in Resource Planning & Analysis to plan for our customers near-term, mid-term, and long-term electric resources to meet reliability, environmental, and risk management goals. This position leads and performs complex modeling and analysis including the development of simulation, economic, and optimization models for valuing, planning, and marketing cascading hydro resources, battery storage resources, and other electric generation.

This position will report to the Manager of Resource Planning & Analysis.

Job Responsibilities

Here is more about what youll be doing:
This position will be responsible for applying operations research and optimization techniques to model, analyze, value, simulate, and plan Seattle City Lights portfolio of energy resources including modeling the capability of Boundary and Skagit resources as well as evaluation of battery storage resources as part of comprehensive resource planning and resource acquisition. The position will support generator capability modeling for long-term, md-term and short-term decision making. The successful candidate will demonstrate creative problem solving and effective leadership, teamwork, and interpersonal skills. If you enjoy using advanced modeling techniques to identify cost-effective and environmentally responsible electric utility resource choices and operating strategies, we want to hear from you.

Duties of this position include:

• Apply scientific and mathematical methods to study and evaluate the value of electric power supply to meet Seattle City Light electricity demand.
• Employ state-of-the-art methodologies, algorithms, and techniques to model power systems to answer business needs and plan for the operation of power supply resources under uncertainty.
• Model, analyze, value, and optimize hydro system storage and generation plans for long-term portfolio evaluation, mid-term portfolio management, and dispatch in structured markets.
• Model, analyze, value, and optimize battery storage resources for long-term portfolio evaluation, mid-term portfolio management, and dispatch in structured markets.
• Research, model, and analyze the value and capability of wholesale power resources, including the selection of resources to add to the power supply portfolio.
• Support scoping, design, and development of studies, simulations, and reports on the ability of City Lights power supply portfolio to cost-effectively and reliability meet its demand in the near-term, mid-term, and long-term.
• Provide technical leadership in defining, developing, testing, deploying, maintaining, and updating the decision-making tools used for planning, managing, dispatching, and scheduling City Light’s hydro resources and load in regional electric markets.
• Provide technical consultation on price formation policies for existing and emerging regional electric markets.
• Coordinate with teams across the utility including power marketing, risk management, financial planning, customer energy solutions, engineering, and operations staff.
• Develop summaries and reports to help explain technical analysis to decision makers.
• Create documentation and procedures for business continuity.
• Present and depict the rationale of findings in easy-to-understand terms for senior management and external stakeholders.
• Lead, design, and supervise studies for assigned projects and coordinate job tasks as needed.
• Perform other related duties of a comparable level/type as assigned.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications: In addition to the skills and experience mentioned below, a successful applicant will have experience that reflects a commitment to creating fair and equitable outcomes and has:

A combination of education and/or training, and/or experience that provides an equivalent background to perform the work of the class.

Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Engineering, Economics, Mathematics, Statistics, Mechanical Engineering, or related quantitative field plus five years of experience related to operations research, electric resource dispatch optimization, production cost modeling, electricity market design, and/or quantitative analysis, or

Master’s Degree in Operations Research, Industrial Engineering, Economics, Mathematics, Statistics, Mechanical Engineering, or related quantitative field plus four years of experience related to operations research, electric resource dispatch optimization, production cost modeling, electric market design, and/or quantitative analysis, or

Doctorate in Operations Research, Industrial Engineering, Economics, Mathematics, Statistics, Mechanical Engineering, or related quantitative field with research related to operations research, electric resource dispatch optimization, production cost modeling, or electricity market design.

Work is usually performed in an office environment.

Desired Qualifications
At this point, we hope you’re feeling excited about the job description youre reading. Even if you don’t feel that you meet every single desired qualification, we still encourage you to apply. We’re eager to meet people who believe in our mission and can contribute to our team in a variety of ways – not just candidates who check all the boxes. We want people to feel comfortable expressing their true selves and to come, stay, and do their best work here.

You will be successful if you have the following experience, skills, and abilities:

• Advanced degree in Operations Research
• Knowledge of:
  • Cascading hydro operations and modeling.
  • Battery storage modeling and dispatch optimization.
  • Long-term electric resource planning models like capacity expansion models, production cost models, and loss of load probability models.
• Experience in:
  • Mathematical modeling and/or optimization for decision making under uncertainty.
  • Building optimization models and implementing them on OR tools (e.g. CPLEX, Gurobi, XPRESS)
• Expertise in:
  • Optimization: linear, non-linear, mixed-integer, large-scale, network, robust, stochastic.
  • Validating and simulating math optimization model.
  • Designing and supporting large-scale optimization systems in a production environment.
• Proficiency in using:
  • Programming languages like Python;
  • Statistical software like R;
  • Productivity software like Microsoft Excel, Word, and Power Point; and
  • Relational databases and structured query languages.
• Proficiency in:
  • Designing studies, numerical experiments, and secondary research.
  • Simulation modeling.
• Ability to:
  • Communicate complex issues to both technical audiences and the public.
  • Manage shifting priorities well and to think strategically about the problems faced by City Light.
• Creative problem-solving skills.
• Excellent teamwork and communications skills.
• Comfortable working with policy-makers and stakeholders from varied backgrounds.

Please note this job advertisement is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

Additional Information

The full salary range for this position is $52.50 to $78.78 per hour.

Application Process
Please submit the following with your online application:

• A cover letter in which you clearly describe how your knowledge, experience, skills, and abilities prepare you for the job responsibilities and qualifications outlined in the job announcement
• A current resume of your educational and professional work experience.

Incomplete applications may not be considered.

Who May Apply: This position is open to all candidates that meet the qualifications. Seattle City Light values diverse perspectives and life experiences. Applicants will be considered regardless of race, color, creed, national origin, ancestry, sex, marital status, disability, religious or political affiliation, age, sexual orientation, or gender identity. Seattle City Light encourages people of all backgrounds to apply, including people of color, immigrants, refugees, women, LGBTQIA+, people with disabilities, veterans, and those with diverse life experiences.

Job offers are contingent on the verification of credentials and other information required by the employment process, including the completion of a background check. The background check will involve a criminal history check, which includes conviction and arrest records in compliance with the Seattles Fair Chance Employment Ordinance, SMC 14.17 and the City of Seattle Personnel Rule 10.3 (Download PDF reader). A driving history review may be conducted in compliance with SMC 4.79.020. Applicants will be provided an opportunity to explain or correct background information.

The City of Seattle offers a comprehensive benefits package including vacation, holiday, and sick leave as well as medical, dental, vision, life and long-term disability insurance for employees and their dependents. More information about employee benefits is available on the City’s website at: https://www.seattle.gov/human-resources/benefits/employees-and-covered-family-members/most-employees-plans.

Want to know more about Seattle City Light? Check out our web page: http://www.seattle.gov/light/.

The City of Seattle offers a comprehensive benefits package including vacation, holiday and sick leave as well as medical, dental, vision, life and long-term disability insurance for employees and their dependents.