Associate Director - Transmission

Associate Director - Transmission 

About You

We look for people who combine deep experience in electric transmission project delivery with strong project management, commercial, and stakeholder coordination skills. You bring subject matter expertise in bulk-system transmission and substation development and thrive in complex, multi-party project environments.  

For this role specifically, we are looking for a candidate to lead our clients in an advisory capacity—guiding them in the development of an integrated transmission planning organization bringing together planning, engineering, construction, commercial, and regulatory considerations. You bring structure to ambiguity, proactively identify risks, and drive projects forward with clarity and accountability. You have experience working across utilities, EPC contractors, owner’s engineers, and regulators, and can effectively align stakeholders and influence decisions in high-stakes environments. You are equally comfortable diving into project controls and stepping back to provide strategic guidance.  

Internally, our Associate Directors take on a pivotal role to help manage, shape, and continue to develop an E3 Practice Area.  In this position, you will help to drive the continued growth of E3’s business through strategic project and thought leadership, developing our next generation of leaders, and further advancing our reputation for best-in-class solutions to our broad case of clients.  You bring curiosity, thrive in a rigorous and quantitative solution-finding environment, take a collaborative approach to project work, are comfortable coaching and providing feedback to others, and are practiced at working closely with clients and stakeholders while supporting the execution of our business and mission.  We seek those that are inquisitive and look at all sides of an issue to make informed recommendations with confidence and clarity.  You pride yourself in your technical aptitude and deep subject matter expertise.  You bring a strong attention to detail and your project management and leadership techniques help you independently create and actualize work plans that are efficient while delivering an elevated level of guidance to our customers. 

About the Role

• Hours: Full Time 
• Travel: 0-10% 
• Office Location: Hybrid work schedule from our San Francisco office or client’s site in the Bay Area, as needed 

Work Environment

E3 has adopted a hybrid and flexible work environment that adapts to changing needs of our projects and our people. Because E3 thrives in a strong collaborative office-based working environment, we encourage our E3 employees to work from the office at least 2-3 days per week, usually including Tuesdays and Thursdays. Must be able to work for extended hours in front of a computer screen and conduct meetings on the telephone and virtually.

The Role

The Associate Director - Transmission will lead strategy engagements for utilities and their transmission businesses. Your team will work with our clients to develop and execute an end-to-end process for the delivery of transmission and substation projects across multiple development models. Initially executing the work while training and transitioning that work to client staff.


Key Areas of Expertise

• Project delivery oversight and governance, including managing scope, cost, schedule, quality, safety, and risk; supporting stage-gate readiness; preparing decision materials; and providing clear executive reporting and escalation  
• Interface management and stakeholder coordination across internal teams (Engineering, Commercial, Planning, Finance, etc.) and external stakeholders (permitting agencies, landowners, regulators)  
• Integrated planning and project controls, including development and management of master schedules, cost baselines, forecasts, and KPI-driven performance tracking  
• Cost estimation and lifecycle forecasting, with experience developing robust owner’s cost baselines aligned with AACE standards and stage-gate requirements 
• Risk and opportunity management, including maintaining risk registers, facilitating cross-functional risk reviews, quantifying financial impacts, managing contingency, and proactively escalating material risks 

Responsibilities 

• Lead the delivery of customer work through client interactions, guiding analytical work streams, delivering presentations, writing and owning customer requests
• Design and implement a Transmission Strategy for clients:  work with the client to define key success factors and organization governance including decision rights, an executive steering committee, scope, schedule, and execute across work streams
• Guide the definition of a new internal strategy and processes for transmission and guide the business processes from current state to desired state:  org structure, resource plan, capability gaps, governance, and interfaces with ISO/RTO, regulatory and community stakeholders 
• Build the KPI framework for transmission buildout (e.g., miles energized per year, permit lead times, ROW acquisition progress, deliverability milestones, cost and schedule variance); design dashboards and routines to use them 
• Lead stakeholders alignment across utility executives, ISO/RTO, regulators, communities, and delivery partners, design strategies to unblock tough issues and drive to decision
• Conduct independent research using your ingenuity and curiosity to make reasonable assumptions and produce appropriate solutions, at times with incomplete information
• Fulfill end-to-end project obligations
• Deliver presentations to customers and reply to questions
• Translate results of research and evaluations into clear visual representations
• Track and manage actual performance of project teams against the established plan, with ongoing communication to project team members
• Capture project learnings and repeatable products and work samples for future use according to knowledge management processes
• Assist with internal initiatives as needed 

Requirements 

• Master's Degree or Ph.D. in engineering, economics, computer science, public policy or related field (or Bachelor's and equivalent work experience)
• Demonstrated hands-on experience or extensive knowledge in, or related to our practice areas
• 7- 10+ years of experience in transmission, substation, or generation project delivery, engineering, or construction management
• Significant experience/subject matter expertise in electric transmission development or planning (e.g. interconnection and deliverability concepts, corridor/ROW and permitting basics, capital planning, utility regulation)
• Experience working with or advising on transmission and substation asset delivery models
• Strong understanding of project controls (cost, schedule, risk, and change management)
• Experience coordinating across engineering, procurement, construction, and regulatory functions
• Demonstrated experience working with utilities, developers, or large infrastructure projects
• Extensive project management experience leading collaborative project efforts while helping each member of your team do their finest work
• Aptitude to write and communicate clearly
• Experience crafting a clear and compelling message both in writing and via presentations
• Demonstrated experience working directly with clients, stakeholders or customers
• Passionate about the transition to a low-carbon economy
• Demonstrated success guiding ideas, people, and projects
• High fluency in Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint; quantitative modeling methods and/or programming knowledge and experience are also valued  
• Desire to work in a dynamic office environment with other staff

Things That Set you Apart 

• Deep subject matter expertise specifically in energy, economics or finance, and climate change issues  
• Significant project management and leadership experience in a technical or analytical environment 
• Extensive experience coordinating with customers on a regular basis 
• You believe it is essential to achieve a transition to a low-carbon economy and love thinking about the future of energy 
• You work collaboratively and help each member of your team to do their finest work, aware that each brings different experiences, techniques, and qualifications to the table 
• You enjoy translating technical concepts to a broader audience  
• You take ownership of your work, proactively seeking out answers to questions and enjoy finding creative solutions to issues you encounter