Senior Associate, Transmission Market Analysis

As the Senior Associate, Transmission Market Analysis, you will be responsible for helping enhance, elevate, and drive our in-house market analysis and forecasting capabilities. This role will help shape the future of our projects by leveraging historical pricing data to inform future strategies, including scenarios where transmission reports are unavailable. You will help implement industry software tools and collaborate closely with cross-functional teams to ensure our analyses are robust, accurate, and actionable. 

As a critical driver behind our market analysis efforts, you will play a pivotal role in helping to shape the direction of Scout's greenfield development and acquisitions targets. As a SME with experience in production cost modeling, stochastic dispatch analysis, and/or transmission congestion assessment, you will be instrumental in providing analysis and insights that drive key decisions across our development, origination, structuring, M&A, financing, and asset management teams. By aiding in the implementation of industry-leading software and bringing additional technical depth to the Scout team you will empower us to forecast market trends with accuracy and efficiency. You will report to the Director, Transmission Market Analysis. 

Key Responsibilities 

1. Market Analysis, Forecasting, and Support: 

• Analyze and forecast nodal pricing and broader market trends, utilizing historical data analysis ("backcasts") and future pricing predictions. 

• Identify potential risks related to grid reliability and economic feasibility of projects, advising on necessary upgrades and system improvements. 

• Assist in implementation and use of advanced software tools for price forecasting and market analysis, such as PROMOD or EnCompass. 

2. New Project Development and Origination Support: 

• Assist in identifying new sites by analyzing historical data using established methodologies for backcasting. 

• Evaluate historical nodal prices at substations to determine the strength or potential issues from a nodal pricing perspective. 

• Collaborate with third-party service providers to process historical data, integrating their insights to form comprehensive opinions on site viability. 

• Facilitate renewable energy project developer access to market analysis, providing necessary insights without requiring them to be experts in locational marginal pricing (LMP). 

3. Structuring, Asset Management, M&A, and Financing Support: 

• Assist with early-stage project analysis, providing historical and future pricing data for RFPs and bilateral arrangements. 

• Analyze formal reports from third parties, (i.e. ICF, Leidos, and nFront), as projects advance, refining covariance and basis assumptions. 

• Develop models to forecast future covariance risk, allowing for better-informed decisions and reducing reliance on third-party studies. 

• Support the M&A team with nodal analysis and pricing evaluations for existing projects, ensuring competitive pricing and risk assessment for new offtake agreements. 

• Provide detailed market analysis and pricing forecasts to support M&A activities and collaborate with the financing team to assess market risks and opportunities. 

4. Cross-functional Collaboration: 

• Work closely with transmission consultants and internal teams to analyze transmission reports, validate assumptions, and ensure accuracy. 

• Interface with various internal departments to provide market opinions and strategic insights, supporting the creation and management of pricing tools. 

• Contribute to interconnection studies by providing market price inputs and assisting in the economic analysis of project feasibility. 

• Manage relationships with external consultants like nFront and ICF to ensure the delivery of high-quality and relevant market studies. 

• Possess a technical and commercial blend, proactive and analytical mindset, collaborative approach, and openness to exploring new technologies and methodologies to enhance forecasting accuracy and efficiency. 

• Ideal candidate has 3 to 4 years of experience in the energy industry with significant experience in market analysis, price forecasting, or similar analytical role. The candidate must have established expertise in the power markets throughout the U.S. 

• Minimum of 1 year experience with Security Constrained Economic Dispatch (SCED) modeling using tools like PROMOD, Encompass, Dayzer, PLEXOS, AURORA, UPLAN, PROBE 

• Knowledge: Knowledge in production cost and stochastic dispatch modeling for all generation resource types. Experience in conducting transmission congestion and curtailment analyses, including security-constrained economic dispatch (SCED) modeling. 

• Bachelor’s degree in in Engineering, Economics, Mathematics, Finance or a related field. 

• Proficiency with market analysis resources (e.g. VelocitySuite, YesEnergy) and strong Excel skills. 

• Strong experience in data mining and working with large datasets; Programming skills preferred (e.g. Python, SQL, R) 

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to present complex information clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences. 

Core Competencies 

• Proficiency with Microsoft Office, Excel, and Word 

• Strong financial modelling skills, understanding of tax equity structures is a plus 

• Strong verbal, written, and visual communication skills. 

• Ability to concisely frame issues by providing context, analysis, recommendations and risk/benefit tradeoffs, both in written, verbal, and presentation format, to project teams and to senior management. 

• Willing and available to travel as needed (10%+). 

Organizational Fit: 

• Strong project management, process development, and team-building skills. Experience working with cross-functional internal and external technical advisors and stakeholders. 

• Ability to prioritize and deliver top-quality work product in multiple areas in a fast-paced work environment without direct supervision. 

• Experience using influence rather than authority to achieve desired outcomes. 

• Authorized to work in the United States. 

Desired Personal / Leadership Characteristics 

• Ability to inspire confidence and create trust at all levels across an organization. 

• High emotional IQ – very strong interpersonal skills. 

Scout Values 

• Mission-Orientation. High achievers who want to make a difference in this world and contribute to Scout’s stated mission. 

• Teamwork. Respectful and appreciative colleagues with strong interpersonal skills and a commitment to fostering positive relationships across organizational boundaries to deliver on shared team goals. 

• Safety. Uncompromising advocates for the health and safety of fellow employees, contractors, customers, and community members. 

• Integrity. Ethical professionals who do the right thing even when it is difficult. 

• Initiative. Resourceful self-motivators who thrive in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment because of their exceptional leadership, work ethic, and organizational skills. 

• Intelligence. Problem-solving learners who can make informed decisions quickly and create innovative and pragmatic solutions to challenging problems. 

Timeline and Location 

Scout aims to fill the Senior Associate, Transmission Market Analysis position as soon as possible, ideally by January 2025. 

Our ideal candidate will be able to commute to our Boulder office on a 3/2 hybrid schedule.  

Invitation to Women and U.S. Underrepresented Groups 

We encourage applications from all demographics and especially those that are traditionally underrepresented in the energy industry. Consistent with our core values, Scout celebrates the diversity of thought and experience that comes from a range of backgrounds including, but not limited to, gender, race, and ethnicity. 

Invitation to Veterans 

Scout welcomes veterans of the United States Armed Forces to apply for this position. Scout includes veterans of all branches and a diverse set of occupational specialties. We value the independent thinking, problem solving, leadership, and teamwork that our veterans have developed through their service. We welcome applications from any service and any military occupational specialty. 

Target base salary: $100,000 - $120,000 depending on experience. Attractive bonus potential. 

Scout offers a full range of benefits, including medical/dental/vision insurance with attractive premiums, 401(k) match, STD, LTD, an Employee Assistance Program, and a range of optional supplemental insurance coverage.