Systems Administrator A

FirstEnergy at a Glance

We are a forward-thinking electric utility powered by a diverse team of employees committed to making customers’ lives brighter, the environment better and our communities stronger.

FirstEnergy (NYSE: FE) is dedicated to integrity, safety, reliability and operational excellence. Headquartered in Akron, Ohio, FirstEnergy includes one of the nation's largest investor-owned electric systems, more than 24, miles of transmission lines that connect the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions, and a regulated generating fleet with a total capacity of more than 3, megawatts.

Preferred work location is Akron, OH

This is an open position with FirstEnergy Service Company, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp. [SC00]

Members of the OT System Administration team manage the application software to support FirstEnergy’s Energy Management System (EMS) and Distribution Management System (DMS). DMS contains two major components Distribution (Dx) SCADA and the Network Management System (NMS) used for advanced applications and Outage Management (OMS). The team focuses on ensuring a world class EMS and DMS system for use by Transmission and Distribution Operations. This position is focused on the administration and development of vendor software platforms (GE/Alstom eterra and Oracle NMS) as well as interfaces to systems. Key skills include vendor management and related system administration, scripting, and development to ensure a cohesive OT Systems landscape built with components from various vendors. Members of this team are expected to specialize in an area, as well as provide general support for the entire OT Systems landscape.

System Administrators have a fundamental responsibility to ensure the computing health of the overall OT Systems Landscape. Members of the team must ensure compliance with industry standards and regulatory requirements, including NERC CIP and NJ ICS standards.

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES:

ALL:

• Support a diverse OT Systems landscape including a combined EMS/DMS OT Systems Administration team and a combined OT Systems Advanced Applications Team including SCADA
• Installs, Manages and Tunes complex software applications and mission-critical real-time architecture that supports transmission and distribution operations 24x7x with zero downtime - utilizing real-time databases, software and networking technologies and an emphasis on Real-Time Systems (RTS) practices and standards
• Developing and maintaining integrations between systems and components of systems
• Understand the structure and design of application databases.
• Assist with the ETL development as necessary using vendor specific tooling, bulk/batch import/export processes, Perl, Oracle SQL and PL/SQL following RTS best practices.
• Utilize approved tooling to customize vendor applications and write custom applications using C++, C#, Perl, Python and when necessary Java.
• Manage, compare, configure, build and debug vendor software that comprises these systems and work with internal, contact and vendor resources to resolve issues and effectuate enhancements to these vendor platforms.
• Manage the compilation, deployment and testing of patches and software upgrades across numerous environments
• Perform system security administration tasks.
• Solve complex problems and troubleshoot functionality for issue identification (including debugging); work in conjunction with other IT personnel across various teams and departments.
• Manage code, scripts and other artifacts in source control tools to ensure governance and providence of deployed software
• Develop technical designs specific to the RTS landscape to meet business needs while supporting the overall direction and standards of RTS.
• Be an active participant in the collaboration of managing and maintaining OT Systems based on IT needs, business requirements and regulatory pressures.
• Support real-time data acquisition and control of the electrical grid in a reliable and secure manner.
• Work with enterprise server, storage, networking, datacenter, NOC and desktop teams to deliver robust redundant real-time system and data collection architectures.
• Standardize on common platforms, integration methodologies, coding languages and tool sets across OT Systems.
• Develop data queries and reporting solutions to meet customer requirements both internal and external to the team.
• Execute work to assure on-scope, on-schedule, and landscape compliant deliveries with excellent attention to detail.
• Excellent communication skills and a desire to clearly communicate in both written and oral mediums to peers on the team and department leadership.
• Ability and willingness to travel to company sites, work flexible hours, and be available for call-in and after-hours support (7X24 operations).
• Eager and active participant in training activities – including training activities at remote vendor locations as required by supervision to become proficient in vendor tool sets.
• Exhibits FE’s Core Values & Behaviors

EMS:

• Support the GE (legacy Alstom) eterraHabitat database platform, eterraArchive based Oracle platform, PI Historian and/or LiveData RTI interfaces.
• Support the GE (legacy Alstom) eterraPlatform suite of advanced applications for Transmission electrical system support
• Support GE (legacy Alstom) eterraControl module running on the EMS Front End Processors (FEP)
• Support data extraction and transformation through the GE (legacy Alstom) eterra provided tool set as well as PERL scripts.

DMS:

All EMS items, plus the following:

• Support GE (legacy Alstom)eterraDistribution module for building electrical models for simulator use
• Maintain interfaces between FirstEnergy IT systems, including LiveData RTI platform and integrations to the Oracle NMS platform

NMS:

• Manage Oracle Network Management System (NMS) software, including database technologies, schemas, and associated application database administration
• Develop Oracle database objects, SQL scripts and interfaces using industry standard tools
• Develop custom applications, including .NET, to augment the overall DMS landscape

QUALIFICATIONS

Required:

• Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science, Information Systems Management, Electrical Engineering, Electrical Engineering Technologies a similar related technical discipline, or commensurate experience. Commensurate experience includes but is not limited to an additional 4 years of professional experience working with EMS/DMS/OMS systems beyond what is required below.
  
  
• For levels 3 and above, required experience from at least one of these two experience categories, higher levels require additional years of experience A minimum of 2 years of experience with GE (legacy Alstom) eterra systems – including but not limited to one or more of the following: eterraHabitat, eterraPlatform, eterraControl, eterraSource and associated tools. Experience in the following specific areas is preferred: Experience with GE (legacy Alstom) eterra EMS/DMS system components, software and management principles. Ability to manage PROCMAN, CFGCTRL, NETIO, ISD and associated system configurations, code, and architectures. Experience performing Habitat system builds Experience with hdbrio, hdbimport/export, HabConnect tools Familiarity with eterra database schemas including SCADAMOM and/or ALARM
• A minimum of 2 years of experience with Oracle NMS systems. Experience in the following specific areas is preferred: Experience developing custom ETL integrations for OMS dashboards Experience developing custom applications for OMS reporting and health Experience with High-Availability zero down time architectures where NMS was deployed
• A minimum of 4 years architecting, developing, or administrating in a major SCADA vendor’s platform that is not the eterra or NMS system: Major vendors shall be determined to be acceptable based on similar data sizes, application complexities and deployment methodologies. Similar technical complexities to the various areas requested shall be able to be explained by applicants.
  
  
• Highly motivated to work independently and productively within a virtual environment (i.e. working with remote co-workers using virtual technologies).
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively as part of a team.
• Demonstrated ability to effectively prioritize and plan work, work on multiple concurrent tasks, and meet deadlines.
• Proven ability to troubleshoot and solve non-routine problems with little or no guidance.
• Willingness to openly share knowledge with others on the teams.
• Ability to be on-call 24x7

Preferred:

• Proven track record of implementing IT software projects or upgrades.
• Experience with IT general controls which include but are not limited to change management, release management, and cyber security policies and procedures
• Functional knowledge of Relational Databases
• Experience with Oracle databases with proven ability to develop SQL Queries, Stored Procedures, Packages, and Views.
• Proven ability to troubleshoot and solve non-routine problems with little or no guidance.
• Knowledge in areas such as security, network, integration.
• Knowledge of dynamic routing protocols such as EIGRP, OSPF, BGP.
• Knowledge of MPLS transport systems.
• Working knowledge of IP network communications architectures including routing and switching, DNS, TCP and UDP communications.
• Knowledge of firewall ruleset management practices.
• Knowledge in Active Directory integration activities such as multi-domain forests and their interaction with complex applications.
• Experience with databases, particularly Habitat and/or Oracle. Database replication, partitioning and failover experience preferred.
• Computer programming or scripting skills such as C++, C# , .NET, Perl
• Electrical background in Power Systems Engineering or Communications Engineering
• Experience with DNP3.0 SCADA protocol.
• Experience with RS, RS communications.
• Working knowledge of industry standard SCADA Commissioning practices

-Direct SCADA design experience, (DNP, RTU configurations, etc) while potentially helpful for this position, does not count as experience in a System Administration Role.

Benefits, Compensation & Workforce Diversity

At FirstEnergy, employees are key to our success. We depend on their talents to meet the challenges of our changing business environment. We are committed to rewarding individual and team efforts through our total rewards philosophy which includes competitive pay plus incentive compensation, a company-sponsored pension plan, (k) savings plan with matching employer contribution, a choice of medical, prescription drug, dental, vision, and life insurance programs, as well as skills development training with tuition reimbursement. Please visit our website at to learn more about all of our employee rewards programs. FirstEnergy proudly supports workforce diversity. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, status as a protected veteran, or status as a qualified individual with a disability. No recruiters or agencies without a previously signed contract. Unable to sponsor or transfer H-1B visas at this time.

Safety

Safety is a core value for FirstEnergy and is essential to all of our business activities. We ensure employees have the tools, information, and processes to perform their duties in a manner that assures safety for themselves, their co-workers, our customers and the public. Our goals are to provide a safe work environment, to maintain an accident-free, injury-free workplace, and to promote and maintain public safety. To meet these goals, we dedicate ourselves to achieving world-class safety standards.

Position Classification

Exempt

FirstEnergy Human Resources Team