Sr Engineer - Energy Efficiency

Position: Sr. Engineer – Energy Efficiency

Reports to: Lead Engineer

Compensation*: Competitive starting salary $95,900 – $122,800 commensurate with skills and experience, Full Pay Range: $95,900 – $149,700

Employment Classification: Full-Time

Anticipated Start Date: As soon as possible

Classification: Full Time, Exempt

Office Location: Portland Metro Area, Oregon, USA

About Energy Trust of Oregon

Energy Trust of Oregon is an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to energy efficiency and renewable energy development. We serve Oregon customers of Portland General Electric, Pacific Power, NW Natural, Cascade Natural Gas and Avista, and SW Washington customers of NW Natural. Year over year Energy Trust is recognized as one of the 100 Best Nonprofits to Work For in Oregon.

Our Vision

Clean, affordable energy for everyone.

Our Commitment to Diversity

We recognize the lack of diversity in our industry, and we actively seek to address it with our hiring and retention practices as well as our values. We believe every person and their lived experience is integral to building a vibrant culture and delivering effective services to all customers we serve. We are committed to the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion, and we encourage candidates with diverse backgrounds and experience to apply.

Our Location

Energy Trust provides for a range of work location options, including remote, hybrid and in-office work. This position will represent Energy Trust in public settings and potentially at community events. We are open to candidates who live throughout Oregon and Washington. The Sr. Engineer would be expected to report to the office on a quarterly basis, at minimum.

The Sr. Engineer is a leader in the Planning and Evaluation group. They focus on the development, review and approval of energy efficiency measures, including new measures proposed by Program Delivery Contractors (PDC’s) and Program Management Contractors (PMC’s). The Sr. Engineer works with the Measure Development Manager and other engineers to review, approve, and document prescriptive and semi-prescriptive efficiency measures and their associated incentives, particularly related to residential or commercial HVAC equipment including heat pump systems.

As a subject matter expert, the Sr. Engineer develops and delivers training and coaching to others and contributes to efforts to update and continuously improve the measure development process and associated tools, templates, and documents. The Sr. Engineer ensures that approved offerings are technically sound and cost-effective or attain exception approval, and are consistent with Energy Trust requirements. In this capacity, the Sr. Engineer has final measure approval authority of their assigned measures, subject to Lead Engineer or Director review if required.

The Sr. Engineer is responsible for scanning for emerging products and relevant market and regulatory information. This may involve representing Energy Trust in regional bodies such as the Regional Technical Forum, committees and working groups of the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance or other regional and national organizations. The individual will engage with program staff to develop and prioritize pilots, and other research to inform measure development. The Sr. Engineer also contributes to the oversight of technical field trials commissioned by Energy Trust and/or regional and national groups to verify measure savings or inputs. The Sr. Engineer is a technical resource for the organization, serving as an internal consultant for the review of new technologies, evaluations and market research.

This individual reports to the Lead Engineer.

· Develops cost-benefit analyses of energy saving measures, and documents information sources, analysis, and findings.

· Reviews PMC- and PDC-provided measure development work scopes, draft measure approval documents and associated cost-benefit analyses, provides feedback and suggestions for improvement, and decides when measures analyses are acceptable to be published. Works with the Measure Development Manager to consider program design impacts and/or changes while scoping analyses.

· Identifies which key assumptions included in measure analyses need to be verified through evaluations or other market research; coordinates and communicates with Energy Trust staff, PMCs, and regional organizations to obtain information needed to verify assumptions.

· Acquires information on changes in federal and state codes and standards, anticipates effects on baseline efficiencies, and incorporates into estimates of cost, savings and cost-effectiveness for efficiency measures. Provides this information to Planning department for incorporation into Energy Trust’s Resource Assessment and to programs to inform goals.

· As a subject matter expert, contributes to maintenance and continuous improvement of the measure development process, training and mentoring both internal staff and contractors and associated tools and templates.

· Represents Energy Trust in outside emerging technology committees, working groups, projects and pilots through organizations such as the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA), Regional Technical Forum (RTF), and Consortium for Energy Efficiency (CEE), to assist in their efforts and also to help identify products, services or data sources to inform new measures and measure updates.

· Manages or consults with evaluation project managers regarding research contracts and projects.

· Prepares documents for the Public Utility Commission or other public and regulatory groups.

· Research and help define and design pilot projects and evaluations for emerging technologies and approaches.

· Provides technical advice to the development of market transformation models for measures for which the costs are justified by multi-year, market-wide changes in market preferences.

· Maintains and enhances project and measure archives to support measure analysis and cost-effectiveness decision making.

· Makes public presentations and facilitates discussions with regional and national energy efficiency organizations and forums.

· Serves as a resource for ad hoc requests for information and engineering support.

· Perform other job-related duties as assigned.

· Perform all functions of the job in a safe manner.

· This position oversees the work of contractors, suppliers, and/or vendors as necessary in the course of managing specific projects.

· Supervises and mentors engineering interns.

Requirements

· Bachelor’s degree in electrical or mechanical engineering, industrial engineering, or other relevant quantitative degree strongly preferred, or equivalent professional experience.

· Professional Engineering License and/or Certified Energy Manager (CEM) are highly desired.

· 6 years of experience in an engineering role in the implementation or evaluation of energy efficiency programs. Experience with utility regulation of efficiency programs is preferred.

· Advanced technical knowledge of residential, commercial, or industrial energy-using processes equipment and systems, such as HVAC, pump systems, water heating, or heat recovery and weatherization. Specific technical experience, such as HVAC, may be strongly preferred to meet the needs of the department at a given time.

· Experience interpreting the effects of codes and standards changes on energy efficiency measures and programs.

· Experience applying engineering concepts pragmatically to help assess typical costs and savings for efficiency measures.

· Demonstrated proficiency with energy modeling software (such as EnergyPlus and eQUEST), and ability to read results from energy models is preferred.

· Experience applying business and economic analysis techniques including life cycle cost analysis, cost effectiveness, internal rate of return, or other quantitative economic criteria, ideally for consideration of investments in energy efficiency or renewable resources.

· Energy-related research experience such as utility pilot development, evaluation or implementation preferred.

· Proficiency with Excel; ability to review and troubleshoot complex spreadsheet analyses.

· Willingness and skills to do a combination of communications and coordination, negotiation, documentation, and detailed technical work.

· Demonstrated ability to work at the detailed analytical level and at strategic levels.

· Project management experience, or management of technical contractors preferred.

· Excellent organizational awareness and effectiveness, with demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively with technical and management level individuals with many different roles, cultures, and experience levels.

· Excellent verbal and written communication skills. In particular, ability to analyze complex technical issues and succinctly convey conclusions, inferences, and applications in general terms for diverse technical and public audiences.

· Must be able to interact with a diverse workforce and be comfortable working in culturally diverse settings and groups.

· Ability to work independently with minimal supervision.

The above information is designed to outline the major functions and position requirements of this job. It does not identify all tasks that may be expected, nor address the performance standards that must be maintained.

Benefits

· Health/dental/vision insurance

· Employer sponsored and paid life/disability

· 401(k) with a company contribution of 6% of your salary after 90 days of employment

· TriMet pass

· Access to health and dependent FSA/HSA accounts

· Generous paid vacation, holidays and sick days

· Paid volunteer hours

· Employee assistance program

· Career advancement opportunities

· Great colleagues and culture

· Flexibility to work from home and/or an office space at the Portland, OR location

· Work from home laptop provided

· Read more about our benefits here