Power Plant Senior Controller

Summary

This is a Direct Hire Authority (DHA) solicitation utilizing the DHA for Certain Competitive Positions of the DoD Workforce to recruit and appoint qualified candidates to positions in the competitive service. About the Position: Incumbent will be in charge of power operations during one working shift and responsible for the operation of a complete system of up to thirteen local and remote hydroelectric generating plants under varying and complex operating conditions.

Duties

• Interpret operating instructions, load requests, and priority lists to plan load-shedding schedules, schedule blocks of power, and balance loads.
• Interpret circuit diagrams and equipment layout drawings to determine which equipment can be operated and what rerouting can be done.
• Read and understand electrical and mechanical drawings.
• Read and understand power production schedules, water release schedules, and standard operating procedures.
• Issue, release, and/or track the status of clearances and caution orders for authorized repair work in accordance with Hazardous Energy Control Procedures.
• Prepare switching orders and clearance cards for appropriate controls to ensure the safety of personnel and equipment.
• Operate switches and controls in accordance with meter indications, requiring rapid simultaneous mental and muscular coordination
• Direct electrically qualified maintenance personnel in the switching of electrical power equipment.
• Operationally support power plant and switchyard troubleshooting efforts.
• Take corrective action in an emergency situation when maintenance personnel are not present or available.
• Operate a system of local and remote main generators with different megawatt capacities
• Operate related turbines, governors, switchyards, and other associated auxiliary equipment.
• Calculate the amount of resistive and reactive loads and phase relationships to identify undesirable conditions and their effects.
• Determine the proper time to switch in other feeders, tie in parallel equipment, or adjust transformer taps.
• Analyze a variety of interrelated meter indications to detect abnormal conditions and determine their causes.
• Coordinate generation or transmission line outages with dispatch offices, federal agencies, and private power companies.
• Ensure accurate recording of hourly readings of generator and transmission line meters, indicated loads, reactive loads, voltages, temperatures, and currents
• Make hourly reports of pertinent readings to hydrology and system dispatchers.
• Continually observe all instruments and equipment to maintain awareness of the condition of reservoir regulation, generating equipment, and transmission lines.
• Keep a complete station log of all pertinent activities on the shift, including dispatcher orders, load changes, and clearances.

Qualifications

Who May Apply: US Citizens In order to qualify, you must meet the experience requirements below. Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community; student; social). You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. There is no specific length of training or experience required. However, you must be able to demonstrate, through experience shown in your written application materials that you possess the sufficient knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the work of this position without more than normal supervision. Minimum Qualifications (Screen Out Element): Ability to do the work of an Power Plant Senior Controller without more than normal supervision. Assignments will involve performance of common duties of operating a hydroelectric power plant under normal and abnormal conditions; issuing safe clearance for hydroelectric power plant equipment; operating flood control facilities to reduce flood risk. Work under normal supervision of a work leader or journey-level employee. Ability to do the work of an Power Plant Senior Controller without more than normal supervision- Failure to meet this Screen Out Element will result in an ineligible rating. PHYSICAL EFFORT: Work tasks require that the incumbent be capable of rapid simultaneous mental and muscular coordination in conjunction with hand and eye coordination to operate switches and controls in accordance with meter indications. To respond to emergency situations, incumbent must be able to lift and carry objects up to 45 pounds, climb several flights of stairs in succession, stand, sit, or kneel for prolonged periods of time. To use power plant communications, the incumbent must have normal speech and hearing. To recognize color coded instrument indications, normal correctable vision and color vision are required. WORKING CONDITIONS: Most duties are performed within the confines of Master Power Plant control room. Occasionally duties may be assigned on the generator and turbine floor, spillway and switchyard. Some exposure to moderate discomforts such as noise, heat, cold, moving, and rotating equipment can be expected. This position requires occasional travel outside the normal duty locations for training activities, operational familiarization of other power plants, local control of other power plants and other activities.

How to apply

To apply for this position, you must complete the online questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section above. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on 09/09/2026 to receive consideration To begin, click Apply to access the online application. You will need to be logged into your USAJOBS account to apply. If you do not have a USAJOBS account, you will need to create one before beginning the application (https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13041592). Follow the prompts to select your resume and/or other supporting documents to be included with your application package. As a reminder, your resume must be two pages or less and must support the specialized experience described in this announcement. Resumes exceeding two pages will be removed from consideration. For additional information, refer to the 'Required Documents' section. You will have the opportunity to upload additional documents to include in your application before it is submitted. Your uploaded documents may take several hours to clear the virus scan process. After acknowledging you have reviewed your application package, complete the Include Personal Information section as you deem appropriate and click to continue with the application process. You will be taken to the online application which you must complete in order to apply for the position. Complete the online application, verify the required documentation is included with your application package, and submit the application. Your resume selected in USAJOBS will be included, but you must re-select other documents from your USAJOBS account or your application may be incomplete. It is your responsibility to verify that your application package (resume, supporting documents, and responses to the questionnaire) is complete, accurate, and submitted by the closing date. Uploaded documents may take up to one hour to clear the virus scan. Additional information on how to complete the online application process and submit your online application may be found on the USA Staffing Applicant Resource Center. To verify the status of your application, log into your USAJOBS account (https://www.usajobs.gov/applicant/profile/dashboard/), all of your applications will appear on the Welcome screen. The Application Status will appear along with the date your application was last updated. For information on what each Application Status means, visit: https://help.usajobs.gov/how-to/application/status.