Market Settlement Analyst (Hybrid)

The California Independent System Operator (ISO) manages the flow of electricity across the high-voltage, long-distance power lines that make up 80 percent of California's power grid. We safeguard the economy and well-being of 30 million Californians by operating the grid reliably 24/7.

As the impartial grid operator, the California ISO opens access to the wholesale power market that is designed to diversify resources and lower prices. It also grants equal access to 25,865 circuit-miles of power lines and reduces barriers to diverse resources competing to bring power to customers.

The California ISO's function is often compared to that of air traffic controllers. It would be grossly unfair for air traffic controllers to represent one airline and profit from allowing that company's planes to go through before others. In the same way, the California ISO operates independently—managing the electron traffic on a power grid we do not own—making sure electricity is safely delivered to utilities and consumers on time and reliably.

The California ISO is committed to the health, safety and work/life integration of its employees and is proud to offer flexible work arrangements. This position would be eligible to participate in a hybrid work capacity.

Relocation assistance is available.

Under the general direction of the Manager, provide technical support related to electricity market applications, and power systems operations.  Support processes and activities required for accurate and timely publication of settlement statements and invoices including verification and correction of market transactional data, ensuring complete and accurate calculation of energy accounting, and commitment cost determination. Participate in issue management process to resolve software issues and eliminate workarounds. Identify and implement process improvements for efficiency, prevention, and accuracy.

 

PRINCIPAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:  

• Generates accurate and timely calculations of expected energy, commitment costs, settlement statements, and invoices. Proactively supports processes and activities related to daily production workflow to ensure accurate and timely settlement statements including verification and correction of market transactional data execution of post-market processes and publication of data to downstream systems; and supports calculation, validation, and publication of settlement statements and invoices according ISO Payment Calendar. Develops basic metrics and tools for data analysis, building upon established templates and guidance. Collects data using query logic in SQL, assists in applying business rules and analytics within software like SAS or R, and prepares preliminary summaries for team review.    

 
• Validates and corrects market transactional data. Identifies root causes of data anomalies including market, operations, and scheduling data. Applies foundational knowledge related to energy market results, expected energy calculations, and commitment cost determinations. Interprets and validates settlement outcomes based on observed market behavior, system conditions, and resource attributes. Identifies potential causes of data discrepancies across market, operations, and scheduling information. Participates in collaborative, cross-departmental discussions to address software or process-related issues. Contributes to user-acceptance testing for new business processes or system updates to help ensure quality outcomes.

 
• Analyzes business processes to identify areas of control weaknesses. Develops and implements process control improvements and enhancements to ensure control compliance.  Identifies potential areas for process improvement, assisting in efficiency enhancement, accuracy increase, compliance support, and early error detection. Creates business documentation as required to support analysis and foster understanding among team members.

 
• Reviews tariffs, BPMs, protocols, procedures, and processes related to market changes and assesses impacts on business operations to facilitate validations and accurate settlements as appropriate. Provides business requirements and performs acceptance testing for new business processes or system changes to promote quality implementations from an end-user and business needs perspective.  Creates action plans for impacted processes under guidance.  Adheres to ISO Tariff, BPMs, and audit standards, supporting settlement production tasks that involve validating and correcting market data for accurate and timely settlement.

 
• Responds to inquiries from external clients and internal business partner in an informative, professional, and timely manner.  Interacts with other teams throughout the ISO including System Operations, Market Services Support, Accounting, Regulatory, Compliance, and Customer Service on matters pertaining to settlements, invoicing, transmission access charges, disputes, ADR/Litigation or other related areas.   

Level of Education and Discipline:

A Bachelor's degree (BA, BS) or equivalent education, training or experience in Business, Accounting, Finance, Economics, Management of Information Systems or related technical field.

 

Amount of Experience:

Equivalent years of education and training, plus two (2) or more years related experience.

 

Type of Experience:

• A combination of experience in any of the following disciplines required: utility/power industry, preferably in a similar ISO; system analysis; regulatory, energy accounting, commitment cost determination, or settlements. 
• Exposure and experience with applied optimization principles and techniques, power system operations and market design. 
• Experience with identification of data quality issues (accuracy, completeness, etc.) and creation of specific SQL queries to access large volumes for data analysis is required.

 

Additional Skills and Abilities:

Strong verbal and written communication and documentation skills required, with a demonstrated attention to detail.  Ability to use deductive reasoning and analytical thinking with sound judgment and decision-making skills.  Strong interpersonal and conflict resolution skills are also essential.  Must be self-starting and willing and able to work independently in a dynamic corporate organization under pressure of tight deadlines and aggressive expectations.  Problem solving skills with the ability to influence others without direct authority. Must be able to work effectively in a team environment as facilitator and team member.  Must be proficient with Microsoft Office Suite. 

Advanced Excel skills, SQL, and analytics software such as SAS, or R, is strongly preferred.

The pay range for the Market Settlement Analyst position is $39.62 - $55.47 per hour.