Industrial Controls Specialist

Vicinity Energy is North America’s largest provider of district energy solutions, offering low carbon energy to most of the iconic buildings you see in the skylines of Boston, Cambridge, Philadelphia, Baltimore and many other cities in the US. As a member of the communities we serve, all of us at Vicinity understand the critical role we play in reducing the impacts of climate change and being a leader in decarbonization. We are committed to net zero and eliminating our reliance on fossil fuels, but we need the best and the brightest minds on our team to help us reach our goal, not only for us as a company, but for our customers, our communities, and our planet.

Summary

The IM&E Specialist maintains all instrumentation, controls, meters, electrical machinery, and auxiliaries for Company cogeneration, chilled water, steam and hot water plants, distribution system, and customer facilities. The IM& E Specialist safely and reliably operates boilers and ancillary equipment within Baltimore and OM Sites. This is a full-time, non-exempt, union position located in Baltimore, Maryland. The IM&E Specialist reports to the Maintenance Manager. The compensation for this position is $48.65 per hour plus a 10% bonus target.

Responsibilities

- Maintain safe working conditions in accordance with established Company policies. Identify, report and/or correct unsafe work environments. Assures compliance with all applicable environmental regulations.

- Operate all hand/power tools in a competent manner.

- Perform periodic cleaning, inspection, testing, repairing, and calibration of electrical, electronic, and pneumatic control systems. Typical equipment serviced includes temperature and pressure instruments, gages, flow transmitters, switches, solenoids, and control valves.

- Perform repairs and modifications to control circuitry with a high degree of precision and understanding of technical data and systems.

- Install and program electronic instruments. Install sensing elements, wiring, tubing, and fittings. Clean and repair electrical power switching equipment.

- Test, analyze, and troubleshoot electrical power supply circuits.

- Remove, install, clean, and repair, motors, circuit breakers, & transformers.

- Create, maintain, and update diagrams, drawings, and plans for plant electrical, electronic, and pneumatic controls and instruments.

- Install, maintain, and calibrate computerized controls and instruments and programmable controllers.

- Completes preventive, corrective maintenance and scheduled maintenance; improves operation of systems, instruments, controls, metering, relaying and electrical equipment, including generator and high voltage switchgear protective relaying, installed in Company plants and in customer facilities.

- Provides technical support to the start-up team on new Company installations especially those which include state-of-the-art controls, internal combustion engines, combustion turbines, heat recovery boilers, high voltage electrical generation, chillers and distribution systems.

- Controls, maintains, and monitors pressure, temperatures, and flow of steam and/or chilled water systems, including boilers, feedwater, and distribution system if assigned to oversee operations of a facility.

- May be asked to operate boilers, chillers, controls, and ancillary equipment.

- Writes work orders for identification and repair of plant equipment.

- Maintains required records of operation and maintenance in a clear and precise manner. This may include maintaining records and files of readings and data taken during preventative maintenance.

- May act as the primary representative for contact with customers and the public requiring accurate logging of complaints and resolution of the problems or passing of the information on to the appropriate supervisor immediately.

- Trouble shoots and analyzes instrument, control, and metering problems and takes appropriate action to correct deficiencies.

- Ensures compliance with environmental regulations, including proper operation of steam plant outfall(s).

- Performs other duties as assigned by management.

- Works mandatory overtime when required.

- Takes rotating, on-call assignments on weekends, back shifts, and holidays as needed.

Basic Qualifications

- Technical or trade school degree in electronics, computer science, or equivalent industry training and experience.

- Minimum 4 years of progressive experience as a technician performing maintenance and repair in central plant, power generation, or other process plants.

- Ability to write logic using industry-standard languages; such as Ladder Logic, Structured Text, and Function Block Diagrams, for automating equipment operation.

- Must be able to diagnose and resolve issues in existing PLC programs involving control systems, and machinery to minimize downtime.

- Previous work experience conducting preventative maintenance, optimizing existing control logic to improve efficiency, and implementing system updates.

- Experience creating and maintaining comprehensive documentation; including system schematics, wiring diagrams, and programming logic.

Preferred Qualifications

- Thorough understanding of electrical safety procedures and Lock-Out-Tag-Out procedures.

- Familiarity with principles of refrigeration and thermodynamics.

- Ability to read and understand logic diagrams, electrical and mechanical drawings and sketches, and technical manuals.

- Demonstrated experience and knowledge at reading process flow diagrams and control and instrumentation diagrams and interpreting manufacturer's manuals and drawings.

- Ability to correctly troubleshoot and take corrective action on complicated co-generation plant instrumentation, controls, and electrical and mechanical systems.

- Familiar with and able to use various test equipment such as multi meters, dead weight testers, combustion analyzers, and frequency generators and counters in order to calibrate and troubleshoot instruments and metering equipment.

Other Qualifications

- Ability to work with minimum supervision.

- Ability to perform basic computer operations and use email.

Physical Requirements

- Must possess a valid driver’s license and insurable by Company’s vehicle insurance carrier. Must have and maintain a driving record meeting the standards of the company.

- Ability to lift and maneuver up to and including 50 pounds.

- Ability to work in confined spaces.

- Ability to climb and tolerate heights up to 100 feet.

- Must be able to walk, stand, lift, climb, bend, kneel, stoop, and/or reach.

- Ability to tolerate heat in an industrial production plant environment.

Benefits

- Personal Leave

- FMLA up to 12 weeks based on approval

- Nonpaid benefit

- Paid Time Off (PTO)

- 120 hours accrued annually which equals 4.62 hours per pay period

- Sick Leave

- 40 hours per calendar year prorated based on month of hire

- Paid Parental Leave

- 100% pay up to 160 hours upon birth or adoption of a child; must be used in weekly increments

- 7 paid holidays annually

- Floating holidays

- 40 hours per calendar year prorated based on month of hire

- 401K plan

- Including Roth option with matching contributions: 100% of first 1% your contributions and 50% of the next 5% of your contributions.

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY POLICY STATEMENT Vicinity North America is an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) employer. It is the policy of the Company to provide equal employment opportunities to all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, protected veteran or disabled status, or genetic information.