Who we are
Our central role includes managing the provincial power grid in real-time, overseeing and evolving Ontario's electricity market, engaging with government, municipalities and Indigenous communities, and planning for Ontario's future electricity needs. Our employees play a key role in driving grid innovation, protecting the system from threats, advancing the province's energy conservation programs, and forecasting and procuring the electricity resources we'll need in the decades to come.
This role is a part of the Operations Readiness department in Markets & Reliability and is unionized.
The Operations Readiness group plays a critical role within Operations and across the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) by effectively integrating power system changes and managing key operations projects. Central to this mandate is the application of structured project and change management practices to ensure that initiatives are delivered with clear accountability, strong governance, and effective risk mitigation. Through coordination and oversight, Operations Readiness enables the IESO to manage operational complexity and maintain system reliability.
This position is responsible for providing project management and coordination to operations projects, with a particular emphasis on changes to the grid. In addition, this position provides support to external organizations going through the connection process. The role requires close coordination between external stakeholders and internal IESO teams to align connection activities with project milestones, operational timelines, and regulatory requirements.
The ideal candidate will have a strong understanding of project management principles and their application in operational and technical environments. They will have demonstrated experience in coordinating and managing cross-functional initiatives and operational change projects. Strong organizational skills and the ability to manage multiple timelines, deliverables, and stakeholders are essential. A solid understanding of IESO operational processes, Control Room impacts, and market participation requirements is required, along with excellent communication, reporting, and stakeholder engagement skills.
Please note: This job posting encompasses current and anticipated vacancies at the MP4 and MP5 levels that will support and advance the work outlined below. The final classification Senior Operations Advisor (MP5) or Operations Advisor (MP4) will be determined based on the selected candidate's experience, qualifications, and demonstrated capabilities.
Current Available Vacancies (subject to change):
MP4 - Temporary (up to 18 months)
MP5 - Regular (3 positions)
What makes this role exciting
The energy sector is rapidly evolving, offering exciting new opportunities for those who want to make a difference.
As Ontario's energy landscape evolves, the IESO is taking bold steps to modernize how major projects, from data centres to battery storage facilities and electric arc furnaces, connect to the grid. The IESO is launching a new Project Management Framework bring greater rigour, accountability, and customer focus to the connection process. This shift is about more than executing a process, it's about supporting customers, enabling innovation and ensuring continued reliability, while delivering important economic growth within the province. If you thrive on leading complex projects, tackling meaningful challenges, and want to help shape the future of Ontario's energy infrastructure, this is your opportunity to make a real impact.
- Shape the future of Ontario's grid by driving complex, high-impact projects from concept to implementation, turning strategic priorities into tangible operational outcomes that advance the energy transition.
- Collaborate with some of the brightest minds across engineering, operations, IT, and market development to align decisions, remove barriers, and keep major initiatives moving forward.
- Influence real change in real time by applying disciplined project leadership, seeing your work directly shape how new technologies, market rules, and grid connections come online.
- Own the momentum; lead critical conversations, navigate complexity, and make decisions that enable Ontario's evolving energy system to stay reliable, resilient, and ready for what's next.
What you'll do
In this role as a Senior Operations Advisor, you'll make a meaningful impact by contributing to the IESO team and supporting the electricity needs of the province through:
- Manage the overall authorization process for participation in IESO-administered markets and/or programs with internal IESO business units and organizations seeking such participation.
- Manage the overall "facility registration lifecycle" with internal IESO business units and external participants. This responsibility includes:
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- Facilitate the registration, maintenance and de-registration of physical facilities for IESO-administered markets or programs.
- Review connection assessment documentation, market rules, market manuals and converse with subject matter experts to develop registration requirements for facilities.
- Following up customer issues to expedite their resolution within the IESO. Deal with subject matter experts and customers to achieve an acceptable resolution.
- Lead and maintain the registration system, resolving issues related to registered data, specifying tool enhancements, and championing its role as the central master data library for the IESO.
- Maintain knowledge of market rules for the purposes of identifying the obligations. Provide customers and others in the IESO with updates, interpretations and impacts as needed.
- Issue approval documentation to the participant and within the IESO on recommended decisions pertaining to participation or physical facilities.
- Provide coordination, technical leadership and business systems expertise to internal and external customers regarding, generally more complex, projects and system changes.
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- Represent Operations for items arising from IT change and release management.
- Identify the objectives of business processes, assess the risk of not meeting those objectives and identify process controls to mitigate risk as appropriate.
- Document process objectives, tasks, risks and controls in summary documentation (e.g. risk-control matrices).
- Make recommendations and implement changes on streamlining tasks and procedures. Contribute to the enhancement/development of existing/new business processes, training packages or guides for participants.
- Lead and support the Control Room with respect to changes or problems associated with infrastructure or real-time applications
- Lead and support process improvements and execution in Operations. Prepare and maintain guides and procedures to support the processes consistent with business needs, market rules or other IESO-controlled documents.
- Deliver new or revised IESO-controlled documents in accordance with the IESO baseline process. Maintain an inventory of Operations controlled documentation. Facilitate the baseline process for Operations documents.
- Exercise limited/periodic supervision over assigned staff, in addition to training to staff as needed.
- Provide support to reliability organizations (NERC and NPCC).
- Perform other duties as required.
