Engineer Technician - System Protection
Date: Dec 10, 2025
Location: PHOENIX, AZ, US, 85021-1807
Company: APS
Arizona Public Service generates reliable, affordable and clean energy for 2.7 million Arizonans. Our service territory stretches across the state, from the border town of Douglas to the vistas of the Grand Canyon, from the solar fields of Gila Bend to the ponderosa pines of Payson. As the state’s largest and longest-serving energy provider, our more than 6,000 dedicated employees power our vision of creating a sustainable energy future for Arizona.
Since our founding in 1886, APS has demonstrated a strong commitment to our customers in one of the country’s fastest growing states, earning a reputation for customer satisfaction, shareholder value, operational excellence and business integrity.
Our present and future success depends on the creative and dedicated people of our company who demonstrate the principles outlined in the APS Promise: Design for Tomorrow, Empower Each Other and Succeed Together.
Summary
The Engineering Technician – System Protection provides critical support for APS’s NERC PRC and CIP compliance programs through high-volume, accuracy-critical data entry, workflow management, and documentation control. This role manages SigmaFlow and Industrial Defender records, prepares recurring compliance deliverables, and ensures audit-ready evidence for protection-related assets. Responsibilities also include short-circuit model data preparation, stakeholder meeting representation and engagement, project coordination support, and protection system reporting. By absorbing recurring non-engineering tasks essential to APS’s processes, this role enables engineers to focus on core engineering duties.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Compliance Data Managemen
- Perform high-accuracy data entry and workflow staging in SigmaFlow and Industrial Defender for CIP compliance processes.
- Ensure audit-ready documentation by maintaining accurate, complete, and traceable evidence.
- Track regulatory deadlines, documentation gaps, and change management requirements.
System Protection Engineering Support
- Maintain and validate protection device metadata across PowerBase, SigmaFlow, and internal databases.
- Generate recurring reports, including monthly relay comparison and quarterly protection operations summaries.
- Attend stakeholder meetings, capture scope details, and provide project documentation support.
- Prepare short-circuit modeling data for CAPE/APA to include line constant, Local Zones of Protection (LZOPs), and respond to distribution line data requests.
- Assist with coordination and documentation across multiple transmission projects.
Minimum Requirements
- High school diploma/GED, at least 60 semester hours in engineering or related discipline (electrical, mechanical, physics, math, computer science, drafting, etc.) or two years of experience managing technical data, documentation, or analytics using databases or spreadsheet tools. Experience in IT analytics or database management.
- Two years of experience using Microsoft Office tools, including Excel, Power BI, Word, Outlook, and CoPilot, with strong ability to organize, analyze, and report on technical data.
- Knowledge of applicable basic engineering principles and practices, mathematics and computer applications.
- Ability to interpret engineering documents (e.g., drawings, device lists, event reports) without performing engineering judgment.
- Demonstrates excellent verbal and written communication skills across diverse teams and stakeholders.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:
- Experience with utility compliance or technical data systems such as SigmaFlow, Industrial Defender, PowerBase, CAPE, or similar tools.
- Familiarity with NERC PRC and CIP standards, protection system terminology, or transmission system components.
- Strong organizational and multitasking skills suited for compliance-driven environments.
Key Responsibilities
Compliance Data Management
- Perform high-accuracy data entry and workflow staging in SigmaFlow and Industrial Defender for CIP compliance processes.
- Ensure audit-ready documentation by maintaining accurate, complete, and traceable evidence.
- Track regulatory deadlines, documentation gaps, and change management requirements.
System Protection Engineering Support
- Maintain and validate protection device metadata across PowerBase, SigmaFlow, and internal databases.
- Generate recurring reports, including monthly relay comparison and quarterly protection operations summaries.
- Attend stakeholder meetings, capture scope details, and provide project documentation support.
- Prepare short-circuit modeling data for CAPE/APA to include line constant, Local Zones of Protection (LZOPs), and respond to distribution line data requests.
- Assist with coordination and documentation across multiple transmission projects.
Export Compliance / EEO Statement
Pinnacle West Capital Corporation and its subsidiaries and affiliates ('Pinnacle West') maintain a continuing policy of nondiscrimination in employment. It is our policy to provide equal opportunity in all phases of the employment process and in compliance with applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations. This policy of nondiscrimination shall include, but not be limited to, recruiting, hiring, promoting, compensating, reassigning, demoting, transferring, laying off, recalling, terminating employment, and training for all positions without regard to race, color, religion, disability, age, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status, protected veteran status, or any other classification or characteristic protected by law.
For more information on applicable equal employment regulations, please refer to EEO is the Law poster. Federal law requires all employers to verify the identity and employment eligibility of every person hired to work in the United States, refer to E-Verify poster. View the employee rights and responsibilities under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
In compliance with the Drug Free Workplace Act of 1988, the Company is committed to a work environment that is free from the effects of alcohol and controlled substances, and free from the abuse or inappropriate use of prescribed and over-the-counter medications. The Company requires employees to be subject to drug and alcohol testing that is job-related and consistent with business necessity, regulatory requirements and applicable laws.
CIP Requirement:
This position requires Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) access consistent with North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) standards. The applicant considered for this role will be required to obtain and maintain CIP access for the duration of employment in this position. A full seven (7) year criminal history will be obtained through the pre-employment background check process (or, for current employees, through supplemental background check process) to fulfill the CIP access requirements. In addition, this position requires an additional background check every seven years to maintain access.
Hybrid: Employees in hybrid roles work both in their home offices (virtually) and alongside their colleagues (in person).
In order for employees to build strong relationships and to promote meaningful in-person interactions, hybrid employees are expected to work about 40% of their time in-person at an APS or other (non-home office) location.
- Employees are expected to reside in Arizona (or New Mexico for Four Corners-based employees).
- Working from a home office requires adequate technology and an appropriate ergonomic set up.
- Role types are subject to change based on business need.
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