Senior Process Controls Engineer / Project Engineer II at Essential Utilities

Aqua, an Essential Utilities company, employs people in a variety of roles within our eight-state footprint, ranging from field workers and customer service representatives who are on the front lines working with customers, to scientists and engineers who help ensure we’re delivering reliable water and wastewater services to our communities.  If you’re looking for a rewarding career helping improve our environment and protect our natural resources, we encourage you to join our team!

About Essential Utilities

Essential Utilities, Inc. delivers safe, clean, reliable services that improve quality of life for individuals, families, and entire communities.

Operating as the Aqua (water and wastewater services) and the Peoples and Delta (natural gas) brands, Essential serves approximately 5.5 million people across 10 states. We are committed to sustainable growth, operational excellence, a superior customer experience, and premier employer status - including a competitive and comprehensive benefits package as well as a commitment to career growth opportunities.

We are advocates for the communities we serve and are dedicated stewards of natural lands, protecting more than 7,600 acres of forests and other habitats throughout our footprint.

Our company is one of the most significant publicly traded water, wastewater service and natural gas providers in the U.S. 

ESSENTIAL DUTIES: 
• System administrator of servers and systems used for the Aqua Ohio process control network.
• Develops and troubleshoots PLC code and SCADA interface.
• Assists in defining and maintaining programming standards across all PLC and HMI platforms.
• Directs and manages work by systems integrators to ensure adherence to programming standards and associated testing and elevation processes.
• Provides technical support and expertise for divisional offices and staff to ensure all control systems are operational and that any control and communications issues with process control are addressed in a timely manner.
• Coordinates and manages systems issues and problem responses.  Activities include logging problems in the appropriate databases, assigning resources as appropriate, providing status updates, documenting resolutions, and providing operational and system configuration recommendations to ensure issues are addressed throughout the state.  Implements system changes to ensure repeat incidents are minimized or eliminated whenever possible.
• Works with operations staff to ensure issues are resolved properly and expediently.
• May manage an assigned team of internal and contract staff.
• Manages process control system operations.  Schedules and prioritizes activities, determines internal and external resource needs. 
• Audits work performed on the system by others to ensure standards are met.
• Monitors and oversees SCADA reporting.  Ensures a high level of data availability and accuracy. 
• Develops and/or generates reports as requested by operations managers.
• Analyzes system information including alarm and event history.  Identifies trends and leads post-event analysis of issues and incidents.  Recommends and implements modifications based on incident analysis.
• Coordinates and manages system elevations, patches, updates, changes, and enhancements in accordance with established timelines.  Activities include major control system upgrade projects at Water and Wastewater treatment plants and other facilities.  Ensures projects stay on time and within budget.
• Adheres to cyber security best practices and assists with control systems cyber security incident response as needed.
• Coordinates and/or leads training sessions for SCADA users and contracted systems integrators.  Provides advice and guidance as needed to less-experienced staff.
• Assists in the review and application of new technologies that would improve monitoring and automation processes.
• Serves as a technical resource on capital planning and other pertinent subjects as needed to support engineering and operations.
• Supports and services instrumentation associated with control systems including pressure, level and other analytical transmitters – work incudes calibration, configuration, and troubleshooting.
• Responsible for complete project management of other projects, including planning, design, permitting and construction management.  Examples include but are not limited to – tanks, boosters, lift stations, WTP projects, WWTP projects, regulating vaults, etc.
• Responsible for Due Diligence for possible new acquisitions.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS:
• A bachelor's degree is required and degrees in Electrical Engineering, Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering, Computer Engineering, or similar programs are preferred. 
• At least 5 years of related control system experience is preferred.
• Water or Wastewater process control experience is preferred.
• Experience with PLC and HMI programming.
• Electrical hazard safety awareness training, including, but not limited to arc-flash safety awareness training.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES: 
• Prefer proficiency in SCADA programming applications such as GE iFi,x RSLogix, Unity, Wonderware System Platform or Wonderware Intouch.
• Proficient in SCADA reporting software such as XLReporter, etc.
• Basic understanding of networking and Ethernet communications.
• Basic understanding of Microsoft Server, vLans, and Remote Desktop
• Basic understanding of instrumentation associated with control systems.
• Excellent written and verbal communications skills; communicate effectively (clearly, concisely, and professionally) with internal and external customers.
• Strong customer service skills.
• Ability to work well under pressure.
• Ability to work on multiple projects simultaneously and adapt to changing priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• A team player able to work effectively in a team fostered multi-tasking environment.

WORKING CONDITIONS/PHYSICAL DEMANDS:
• Perform sedentary work- exerting up to 20 pounds of force occasionally, and/or a negligible amount of force frequently or constantly to lift, carry, push, pull, or otherwise move objects, including the human body. Sedentary work involves sitting most of the time                    
• Working conditions includes travel to Aqua Ohio’s 44 water and wastewater systems, as well as other Essential Utilities locations.
• Travel Requirements are more than 40% with overnight travel.
• Respond to after-hour emergencies and  attend periodic meetings outside of normal work hours (as needed).

Aqua, an Essential Utilities company is an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action employer. Equal employment opportunity is provided to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to the following legally protected characteristics: race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, pregnancy (including childbirth and related medical conditions, including medical conditions related to lactation), physical or mental disability, covered-veteran status, genetic information (including testing and characteristics), sexual orientation, gender identity or expression or any other characteristic protected by applicable local, state or federal law.
Aqua is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities.  If you have a condition that may prevent you from applying for a job online or need to request an accommodation during the interview process, please call (1-877-271-9012).  
To maintain the integrity of the recruitment process and to avoid real or perceived conflicts of interest due to employment and/or assignment of family members and personal referrals, specific guidelines apply to the hiring and assignment of these individuals including, but not limited to:

• Family members cannot result in a supervisor/subordinate reporting relationship
• Family members cannot work in the same department.