Position Overview
The AI Lead Project Manager for Electric Operations Technology is a senior technical leadership role responsible for the end-to-end delivery of a substation Edge AI product. This role is the functional equivalent of the former Engineering Lead — combining deep technical authority with program ownership to drive a complex, multi-partner integration program from development through field deployment.
The successful candidate owns the full technical integration stack: embedded hardware, software, DSP algorithms, AI/ML engine and models, and OT-grade cybersecurity. They serve as the primary technical interface between internal stakeholders and external partners, and as the accountable delivery lead for integration testing and operational deployment across substation sites.
Key Responsibilities
Product & Program Delivery
Own end-to-end delivery of the substation Edge AI product, from architecture baseline through field commissioning.
Define and maintain the integrated master schedule across hardware, software, DSP, AI/ML, and security workstreams, tracking dependencies and critical path.
Manage partner deliverables: enforce interface control documents (ICDs), integration milestones, and acceptance criteria with each vendor.
Drive risk identification, mitigation planning, and escalation across all technical domains.
Report program status, risks, and decisions to executive and cross-functional stakeholders.
Technical Leadership & Integration
Serve as the authoritative technical lead for the full Edge AI integration stack, including:
Edge compute hardware (selection, qualification, environmental hardening for substation environments)
Embedded and real-time software components from multiple supply partners
DSP signal processing code (protection, power quality, fault detection)
AI/ML inference engine, model integration, and performance validation
OT cybersecurity (IEC 62443, NERC CIP compliance, secure boot, network segmentation)
Integration Testing & Validation
Define and own the Integration Master Test Plan (IMTP) covering hardware-in-the-loop (HIL), software integration, DSP functional verification, AI model performance, and end-to-end system validation.
Oversee lab integration environments; lead multi-partner integration test events.
Drive failure analysis, regression testing, and defect triage to closure.
Ensure test evidence package meets utility interconnection, safety, and regulatory requirements.
Field Deployment
Lead pilot deployment planning and execution at substation sites, coordinating with operations, field engineering, and protection engineering teams.
Manage site readiness criteria, commissioning test procedures, and operational acceptance gates.
Establish and oversee rollout playbooks for scaled deployment, including tooling for remote monitoring, firmware updates, and model refresh.
Act as technical escalation point during field deployment and early operational support.
Partner & Stakeholder Management
Manage technical relationships with hardware vendors, software integrators, AI/ML model providers, and security partners.
Chair integration working groups and architecture review boards.
Coordinate internally with protection engineering, IT/OT security, operations technology, and grid modernization teams.
Align product requirements with regulatory, reliability (NERC), and operational standards of the utility.
Required Qualifications
Education
Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Systems Engineering, or a closely related field. Master's degree preferred.
Experience
10+ years of progressive technical experience in electric power systems, OT product development, or related engineering fields.
5+ years in a technical lead, systems engineering lead, or engineering program management role with multi-partner delivery accountability.
Demonstrated experience integrating complex embedded systems with hardware and software components from multiple vendors.
Prior experience in substation environments (protection & control, SCADA, IEDs, communications) is required.
Proven track record delivering technology products through hardware-software integration, test, and field deployment phases.
Technical Knowledge — Required
Power systems / substation OT: Protection and control systems, IEDs, SCADA, substation automation (IEC 61850, DNP3, Modbus).
Embedded systems integration: Real-time OS, edge compute platforms, hardware bring-up, BSPs, driver-level software.
DSP / signal processing: Familiarity with power system signal processing concepts (phasor estimation, FFT, event detection) as applied to protection or power quality.
AI/ML at the edge: Understanding of inference pipeline deployment — model optimization (quantization, pruning), inference runtimes (ONNX, TensorRT, TFLite), and model performance validation.
OT Cybersecurity: Practical knowledge of IEC 62443 and NERC CIP standards; secure hardware and software architecture in critical infrastructure environments.
Systems engineering: Requirements management, interface control, verification and validation (V&V), configuration management.
Integration testing: Experience authoring and executing integration master test plans across HW/SW stacks; HIL test environments.
Technical Knowledge — Preferred
Experience with grid edge or DER integration (smart grid, AMI, or distributed energy resource management).
Familiarity with AI/ML operations (MLOps) pipelines, model versioning, and inference monitoring in production environments.
Exposure to functional safety standards (IEC 61508 / IEC 61511) in power systems context.
Working knowledge of Linux-based embedded platforms and containerization (Docker, Kubernetes at the edge).
Skills & Competencies
Technical authority: Able to drive engineering decisions, challenge partner designs, and resolve multi-domain integration issues — not just coordinate.
Program discipline: Skilled in integrated scheduling, dependency management, earned value, and risk/issue tracking for complex hardware-software programs.
Communication: Translates technical complexity clearly for both engineering teams and non-technical executive and operations stakeholders.
Partner management: Direct experience holding external vendors accountable to contractual and technical commitments.
Field orientation: Comfortable working in active substation environments; understands the operational constraints and safety requirements of electric utility infrastructure.
Decisiveness under uncertainty: Able to make sound technical and schedule trade-off decisions in complex, multi-variable environments.
Working Conditions
Office, lab, and field-based role. Regular travel to partner sites, integration labs, and substation deployment locations required (estimated 25–40%).
Work in active substation environments; compliance with all utility safety and PPE requirements.
Availability for critical integration events and field deployment windows, which may include off-hours coordination.
Reporting & Organizational Context
Reports to: Director / IIJA Product Delivery Lead
Works closely with: Protection Engineering, OT Cybersecurity, IT/OT Architecture, Field Operations, Procurement, and external product and systems integration partners.
Oversight: Direct or matrixed oversight of integration engineers, test engineers, and partner technical resources.
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