Career Center

The City
The City of Santa Clara is a "full service" city – one of only a few communities in the Bay Area that has its own police, fire, library, recreation, and electric, water, and sewer utilities, as well as all of the other departments and civic amenities expected in a thriving community. Santa Clara is a family-oriented and business-friendly city, led by a city government that has developed an award- winning ethics program and a commitment to fostering public trust. Located in Santa Clara County at the southern tip of San Francisco Bay, about 45 miles south of San Francisco, Santa Clara is a strategic regional hub, convenient to freeways, airports, railroads, expressways, light rail, and other public transportation.

The Department - Silicon Valley Power (SVP)
SVP currently provides over 40 percent of Santa Clara’s electricity from carbon-free renewable resources. In addition to using green energy from large-scale wind, solar, geothermal and hydroelectric projects outside of the area, SVP employs innovative ways to locally produce electricity by capturing and burning methane gas from a closed city landfill and using power from solar generating systems on city-owned garages and vacant, unusable land. It is the mission of Silicon Valley Power to be a progressive, service-oriented utility, offering reliable, competitively priced services for the benefit of Santa Clara and its customers. Being competitive in the marketplace with a continuous focus on customer service, SVP can provide economic value to the City of Santa Clara and its customers while maintaining low residential rates and offering competitive rates for all customers.

The Position - Principal Electric Utility Engineer
Silicon Valley Power seeks a dynamic, engaging, and highly qualified professional for two current vacancies in thePrincipal Electric Utility Engineer position. This unclassified management position will be responsible for performing and managing the work related to planning, engineering, design construction, operations, maintenance, and regulatory compliance of electric utility transmission, distribution and generation facilities in addition to leading department priorities.
 
The City of Santa Clara’s Silicon Valley Power (SVP) is hiring two Principal Electric Utility Engineer within the Capital Projects and Project Management Division. The Principal Electric Utility Engineer is an “at will” management position responsible for managing a division of the Electric Department. The ideal candidates will be a proven professional who enjoys working in an environment of growth and expansion. Individuals should enjoy contributing to a collaborative culture and influencing progress by offering new solutions and ideas. Strong candidates will be equally adept at managing technical information and contractual terms as well as working with people inside and outside of their organization. 
 
Capital Projects (System Expansion Plan):  This position will take a lead role in direct oversight of SVP System Expansion Plan to meet significant load growth of 400 MW in the next decade.   Silicon Valley Power’s (SVP) 3-year Growth Plan Strategy Report identified $200 million in term system expansion projects required to be initiated in the near term to meet this increased load demand safely and reliably.   SVP has contracted with AECOM to provide program management and project management services to support these expansion projects.  This high profile position is expected to work collaboratively with utility operations, field forces communicate effectively with SVP’s larger customers (data centers, developers).
 
Engineering Analytics, Maps and Records:  This position will manage the Engineering maps and records section which is responsible for managing encroachment permit reviews, supporting all electric divisions with records requests and maintenance of CAD drawings for substations and substructures as well as overhead electrical infrastructure that is maintained within the Geographic Information System (GIS).  In addition to the Principal Engineer will be expected to manage consultants in performing project management for one or more capital projects.   As part of implementing SVP’s Strategic Plan, this position will lead the team to implement the vision for GIS for fully support engineering for enterprise asset management, transmission & distribution system analytics, system planning, interactive voice response, distribution management systems, and distributed energy resource management.           
 
This recruitment may be used to fill multiple positions in this, or other divisions or departments. If you are interested in employment in this classification, you should apply to ensure you are considered for additional opportunities that may utilize the applicants from this recruitment.  

This is a management position in the unclassified service, responsible for performing and managing the work related to planning, engineering, design construction, operations, maintenance and regulatory compliance of electric utility transmission, distribution and generation facilities. The position requires a demonstrated ability to work well with management, professional and administrative support employees in the Department and with customers, professionals, managers and all City Departments. As a member of the City's unclassified service, this is an "at-will" position, and the incumbent serves at the discretion of the City Manager. An incumbent in this classification demonstrates strong ethical, professional, and service-oriented leadership and interpersonal skills; sets a good example; and correctly applies the tenets of the City's Code of Ethics and values.