Liberty Utilities – Specialist III, Maintenance QAQC

About Liberty

Our purpose is sustaining energy and water for life, and it is demonstrated in everything we do as a business, and as an employee team.

At Liberty, we hire passionate people who care about doing the right thing for our customers. We are entrepreneurial, creative, and outcome-focused. Here, your natural talent and achievements will flourish in an inclusive environment of teamwork, trust and continuous learning. We are always pursuing excellence to exceed our ambitions goals, rewarding both the goal outcome and how we achieve it. 

Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. is a growing renewable energy and utility company with over $15 billion of assets across North America and internationally.

For more than 30 years, Algonquin has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to delivering clean energy and water solutions. Our rapid growth has led both our regulated utility services and renewable energy business groups into different geographies and commodities, but our purpose remains unchanged – Sustaining Energy and Water for Life.

Through our operating business (Liberty), we provide regulated electricity, water, and natural gas utility services to over 1 million customer connections, primarily in North America. And, our growing portfolio of clean, renewable wind, solar, hydro and thermal power generation facilities represent over 3 GW of renewable generation capacity in operation and under construction.

With our robust, diversified, and growing presence in communities across North America and internationally, we are continually demonstrating our “Think Global,  Act Local” business model.

Job description

The QA/QC Specialist position is part of the Maintenance-Engineering organization and supports the development, deployment and execution of a focused QA/QC program within Liberty. The position interacts very closely with Liberty Operations teams, as well as Equipment OEM’s, and external/internal O&M service providers to ensure conformance of operational, and maintenance/retrofit/upgrade activities, in accordance with Liberty’s processes, procedures, work instructions, standards, and other systems, for our Unregulated Renewable Energy Assets in North America. This position supports the Maintenance-Engineering Manager in setting and driving divisional maintenance and quality goals, resulting in the reduction of maintenance and quality incidents including overall maintenance costs reductions.

Accountabilities

  • Support the development, optimization, and deployment of existing and/or new Quality Assurance and Quality Control Strategies, Plans, Procedures, expectations, standards, and initiatives related to Operations, Engineering, and Maintenance at all LPCo facilities (wind, Solar, hydro & thermal).
  • Analyzes and interprets QA/QC data & metrics, and prepares and presents performance reports, including summarizing methods employed and results obtained.
  • Leads and Supports RCCA investigations by utilizing various QA tools, processes and methodologies.
  • Performs, Supports, and Analyzes and interprets formal QA/QC audit activities (including Maintenance-related data & metrics), prepares and presents performance/Audit reports, including summarizing methods employed and results obtained.
  • Works as an effective member of the Maintenance-Engineering team while providing guidance, direction and coaching to Operations personnel in response to QA/QC issues
  • Communicates closely with Operations, Regulatory & Compliance, Engineering, Asset Strategy, Asset Performance Management, and other internal stakeholders as well as external partners Contractors and Service Providers
  • Supports the goal of ensuring that maintenance and project activity (performed by LPCo or contractors) complies with internal processes, procedures, standards and applicable external / regulatory rules and regulations.
  • Provide project planning services for projects related to QA/QC (Auditing) of Internal and external service providers including preparing; (1) SOW definition, (2) budget estimating, and (3) project scheduling for the purpose of project justification and obtaining project approval, including revisions as required
  • Able to react to changes in work assignments and priority and undertake all other tasks as assigned.
  • Treats worker and public safety as paramount and operates in compliance with environmental and other regulatory requirements. 

Education and Experience

  • Must have experience in QA/QC discipline, tools, processes and activities including Auditing, and project activities (field operations) with strong focus on Operations & Maintenance
  • Experienced in power (renewables) generation and operations with preference in Wind, Solar, followed by Hydro & Thermal
  • Technical understanding of (Renewable) Energy producing equipment
  • Must have working knowledge of Electrical and Mechanical components and systems, including but not limited to: Electrical systems, Generators, Inverters, Structures, Solar facilities, generators, gearboxes and associated equipment, Familiarity with computerized DAS/SCADA/Monitoring systems, power system equipment including medium to high voltage and Protection & Control
  • Must have a high aptitude for technical learning and information assimilation noting there is not an expectation that the individual will be an expert in all areas of power generation utilized by Liberty but that they will be able to develop the expertise when required, including acknowledging when outside expertise resources should be engaged, and identifying and procuring those resources as need.
  • Must have strong communication skills for sharing and transferring critical developed expertise a cross functional group of people, as well as communicating QA/QC Audit results, recommendations, and decisions.
  • Familiarity with NERC Standards is an asset.
  • Strong analytical and technical as well as problem-solving skills.
  • Must be disciplined, able and capable to fulfill job requirements with minimum supervision and with often challenging performance expectations and measures.
  • Must have a basic understanding of worker and public safety issues and environmental regulations.
  • Must have the ability to succeed in Algonquin provided safety training including practical and tabletop training.
  • Must hold a valid driver’s license and the ability to rent vehicles on the corporate account.
  • Must be able and flexible to travel within Canada, and the United States

What we offer

  • Company funded Pension program
  • 401k with Company match
  • Full insurance benefits (health/dental/vision/life)
  • Collaborative environment with a genuine flexible working policy
  • Share purchase/match plan
  • Defined Contribution savings plan
  • Top Talent Program
  • Volunteer paid days off
  • Employee Assistance Program
  • Achievement fund
  • Free parking, including free electrical charging

We are focused on building a diverse and inclusive workforce.  If you are excited about this role and are not certain you meet the all the qualification requirements, we encourage you to apply to further investigate the opportunity.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value each person’s unique background, diversity, experiences, perspectives and talents. Full participation of all employees in a safe, healthy and respectful environment is key to individual and company success. We are committed to fully utilizing the abilities of all of our employees and expect each of our employees to honor this commitment in their daily responsibilities.