Automation SME Manager

Automation SME Manager

Job Description

Department: Engineering

Job Status: Full-Time

FLSA Status: Salary-Exempt

Reports To: Director of Engineering

Location: Houston, TX (Channelview Area)

Amount of Travel Required: Varies

Work Schedule: Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Positions Supervised: Automation SME’s

AIP Level: 5

POSITION SUMMARY: The Automation SME Manager leads and manages a multidisciplinary team of Subject Matter Experts supporting advanced power generation technologies, automation, digital infrastructure, telemetry, and power station electrical systems. This role provides technical leadership across multiple product lines and serves as the organization's center of expertise for complex system integration, technical problem solving, technology development, and engineering standardization. The position works across Product Engineering, Electrical, Controls, Mechanical, Project Engineering, Product Service, Remote Operations, and Field Operations to ensure specialist knowledge is effectively deployed throughout the full product lifecycle, and provides strategic direction for automation, connectivity, data acquisition, system integration, and advanced monitoring technologies to improve the reliability, scalability, and performance of the company's power generation portfolio.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS: (The following duties and responsibilities are all essential job functions, as defined by the ADA, except for those that begin with the word "may")

• Provide leadership, direction, and technical oversight for a multidisciplinary SME team supporting power generation, automation, telemetry, digital infrastructure, power station generators, protection, and associated technologies.
• Establish and maintain SME ownership across critical technologies and systems, ensuring clearly defined technical authorities and appropriate specialist coverage across all product lines.
• Serve as the senior technical escalation point for complex engineering, integration, commissioning, and operational issues requiring multidisciplinary expertise.
• Provide technical leadership for gas turbine and power generation systems, including controls, automation, generator systems, protection, power management, instrumentation, and balance of plant interfaces.
• Lead the development and standardization of automation architectures, control philosophies, communication protocols, system interfaces, and integration requirements across power generation products.
• Provide technical direction for telemetry and digital infrastructure, including data acquisition, industrial networking, edge computing, communication architectures, remote connectivity, and integration with enterprise and cloud based platforms.
• Drive the development and implementation of advanced monitoring, analytics, and predictive technologies utilizing high resolution telemetry and operational data.
• Support the development and deployment of AI driven predictive analytics, condition monitoring, anomaly detection, and asset performance technologies.
• Provide technical oversight of power station generator systems, including excitation, synchronization, protection, monitoring, and integration with turbine controls and Power Management Systems (PMS).
• Lead complex Root Cause Analysis (RCA) activities and coordinate multidisciplinary technical resources to identify failure mechanisms and implement effective corrective and preventative actions.
• Establish engineering standards, technical specifications, design philosophies, best practices, and reusable architectures within SME areas of responsibility.
• Evaluate emerging technologies, platforms, vendors, and engineering solutions and provide recommendations for adoption across current and future product lines.
• Support new product development through concept development, design reviews, technical risk assessments, system architecture definition, testing, validation, and commissioning.
• Collaborate with Product Engineering, Electrical, Controls, Mechanical, Project Engineering, Product Service Engineering, Remote Operations, Manufacturing, and Field Operations to resolve complex technical challenges.
• Ensure lessons learned, field performance data, and operational feedback are incorporated into engineering standards and future product development.
• Develop, mentor, and grow SME capabilities within the organization while ensuring specialist technical knowledge is documented, standardized, and effectively transferred across engineering teams.
• Promote a culture of technical excellence, innovation, engineering ownership, collaboration, and continuous improvement across the organization.
• Perform other related duties as assigned to assist with successful operations and business continuity.