SCADA Field Engineer

Location: Houston, TX (Hybrid) (US)

Description

SCADA Field Engineer

Role Summary

Our client is hiring a SCADA Field Engineer to own RTU/telemetry integration and site support across our generation fleet. You will shadow and be mentored by a senior SCADA engineer before assuming the responsibility for field work, new integrations, outage support, and ongoing reliability.

Position Details

Location: Preference Houston, TX (remote day-to-day with regional travel)

Employment Type: Possibility of conversion to FTE for the right candidate

Team: Wholesale Operations IT – EMS/SCADA/Plant Applications

Key Responsibilities

• Configure, program, and troubleshoot RTUs for plant and dispatch use (new builds, upgrades, and day-to-day reliability).
• Build and maintain data links between plant DCS and corporate EMS (RTU as pass-through device; ensure signals are mapped, scaled, and validated end-to-end).
• Stand up and repair communications paths: Modbus (serial & TCP), DNP3, serial links, fiber communication, media converters (communication protocol converters), and cell gateways.
• Perform point-to-point testing and field validation of analogs, digitals, and alarms; resolve scaling, timeout, and frozen point issues.
• Partner with plant engineers/operations, transmission owners/vendors, and corporate IT/network/firewall teams to maintain telemetry health.
• Support outages, projects, and integrations on site—including occasional short-notice visits—and coordinate contractors and vendors as needed.
• Working knowledge of industrial generation metering counters/accumulators
• Contribute to standardization (templates, documentation/as-builts, and basic change control) as you learn the fleet.

Qualifications – Must Have

• Hands-on RTU configuration/programming experience in the field, and familiarity with RTU platforms (e.g., SEL, Orion, Telvent/Schneider, or similar).
• Practical protocol experience: Modbus (serial & TCP) and DNP3 (configure and troubleshoot).
• Working knowledge of basic networking concepts (IP addressing, ports) and comfort with field diagnostic tools (protocol analyzers).
• Ability to translate between plant/DCS signals and SCADA/EMS needs; strong cross-team communication across IT, Operational Teams, and plant groups.
• Ability to read and interpret P&ID drawings
• Field experience in power plants or heavy industrial environments (comfortable around cabinets, I/O cards, drawings, and site safety norms).
• Hands-on experience with communication hardware, including media converters, I/O cards, and related interface devices.
• Valid driver’s license and willingness to travel regionally.

Nice to Have

• Knowledge of power plant metering schema and ability to utilize SCADA tools to develop plant generation reporting
• Energy Management System experience (Hitachi - Network Manager preferred)
• Generation Meter accounting software (Itron - MV90)
• Experience working with transmission owners and external vendors/contractors.
• Exposure to fiber troubleshooting, media converters, and serial-to-IP gateways.
• Awareness of NERC CIP practices (access, patching windows, evidence basics).
• Comfort creating as-builts, architectural drawings (Cad,Visio,Block diagrams), point lists, and simple HMI updates when needed.

Work Setup, Travel & On-Call

• Houston-based: remote most days; routine driving within ~2 hours of Houston.
• Periodic travel to out-of-region sites (e.g., Northeast Region) for projects and integrations.
• On-call rotation after ramp (approximately 1 in 6 weeks for full-time employees); contract-to-hire employees may not be on-call initially.

Requirements

• Hands-on RTU configuration/programming experience in the field, and familiarity with RTU platforms (e.g., SEL, Orion, Telvent/Schneider, or similar).
• Practical protocol experience: Modbus (serial & TCP) and DNP3 (configure and troubleshoot).
• Working knowledge of basic networking concepts (IP addressing, ports) and comfort with field diagnostic tools (protocol analyzers).
• Ability to translate between plant/DCS signals and SCADA/EMS needs; strong cross-team communication across IT, Operational Teams, and plant groups.
• Ability to read and interpret P&ID drawings
• Field experience in power plants or heavy industrial environments (comfortable around cabinets, I/O cards, drawings, and site safety norms).
• Hands-on experience with communication hardware, including media converters, I/O cards, and related interface devices.
• Valid driver’s license and willingness to travel regionally.