Power Plant Operator jobs in Chico, CA

General Summary
The Plant Manager determines her/his own work practices and processes, obtains and applies knowledge of competitive business practices in daily work activities and decision making, and performs duties independently within established company policies and procedures. The Plant Manager must perform her/his duties, and ensure all plant staff is performing their duties, in a safe manner resulting in no accidents, in compliance with all environmental regulations at all times, in accordance with company policies and procedures, and to optimize profitability. The Plant Manager must effectively communicate plant conditions, capabilities, risks, and performance to Company executive management and plant leadership staff.

Responsibilities

• Provides supervision and leadership to the plant including directing and controlling all day-to-day Operations, Maintenance, Business, and Administrative activities of the plant.
• Assures the plant is operated and maintained in compliance with applicable business, environmental, and safety requirements.
• Develops the plant’s long-range budgets, plans, and schedules, and must effectively communicate those plans with Company executive management and plant leadership staff.
• Assures an adequate and trained supply of manpower, materials, parts, tools, equipment, and support services are available and utilized as needed to provide for the safe, effective, and efficient operation of the plant.
• Responsible for all aspects of plant performance, including (but not limited to):

o Meeting plant production and profit targets;
o Maintaining a competent and well-trained staff;
o Overseeing compliance with safety and environmental regulatory programs including the preparation of reporting and certifications;
o Maintaining all plant equipment including mechanical, electrical, instruments and controls;
o Administering company policies and procedures; and
o Purchasing and disbursing required materials and services.

• Performs her/his duties, and ensures plant staff performs their duties, in a safe, effective, and efficient manner, in order to achieve the plant’s production, profit, safety, and environmental targets.
• All other related duties as assigned.

Tasks

• Develops and implements short- and long-term budgets, plans, goals, and objectives focused on achieving the plant’s production, profit, safety, and environmental targets.
• Tracks performance against budgets, plans, goals, and objectives and reports regularly to company management; identifies performance deficiencies and develops budgets, plans, and schedules for improvement.
• Continuously improves operations, decreases turnaround times, streamlines work processes, and works cooperatively and jointly to meet company and customer needs.
• Regularly reviews company, plant, and organizational performance with plant employees and addresses opportunities for improvement on a regular basis.
• Promotes productivity and teamwork with open communication, timely decision making, and active leadership skills to set high standards of performance, while providing the direction necessary to achieve that performance.
• Plans, manages and evaluates employee performance; establishes performance requirements and personal development targets for assigned staff; and regularly monitors performance and provides coaching for performance improvement and development.
• Creates and supports an organizational culture that encourages and rewards employee involvement, innovative thinking, responsible risk taking, and continuous improvement.
• Promotes a safe working environment and creates and enforces a safety culture to ensure that all employees and contractors comply with plant and company safety procedures and policies.
• Supports and emphasizes importance of safety and environmental programs and ensures regulatory compliance with all safety and environmental regulations and company policy.
• Manages and oversees the evaluation and selection of external service providers and contractors, and ensures work performed by external service providers and contractors support the plant’s production, profit, safety, and environmental targets.
• Manages and oversees all plant outages, both planned and unplanned; ensures equipment repairs and overhauls are completed on schedule and within budget by utilizing established planning and control methods and providing adequate manpower and supervision; ensures that outage reports are prepared and reported on a timely basis.
• Uses and maintains technical and professional knowledge, shares that knowledge with others, and identifies/applies new technology in a cost-effective manner.
• Communicates with the Director of Fuels and Fuels Buyer regarding fuel quality, opportunity fuels, and fuels processing in order to achieve the optimal operational and financial success of the facility.
• Exercises discretion and independent judgment in the handling of emergency situations, determining and deciding upon procedures to be implemented, setting priorities, maintaining standards and resolving problems. Performs root cause analysis as required to complete appropriate incident reporting.
• Effectively communicates with regulatory, political, business, civic and public representatives consistent with GLP corporate objectives.

Physical Requirements and Working Conditions

• While performing the duties of this position the Plant Manager will work both in an office setting and out in the plant
• Must be able to work in extreme temperatures and will be exposed to heat, cold, wind, rain, dust, confined spaces, elevated areas, dirt, ash particles and fuel particles
• Must be able to lift a minimum of 25 lbs. and up to 100 lbs.
• Must be able to sit for extended periods
• Must be able to work on feet for extended periods
• Requires the ability to climb stairs and ladders in order to work on the boiler and other plant structures.
• Must be able to work from heights
• Plant Manager will be exposed to vibration, moving mechanical parts and loud noises
• Must be capable of using protective equipment such as hard hats, safety glasses/goggles, safety shoes, hearing protection, air masks, respirators, etc. in the performance of job duties
• Working with hazardous materials may be required
• Must be able to respond to emergency calls from the facility at any time of the day when not on site and may be required to report to the plant outside of normal business hours including weekends and holidays

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• General understanding of principles and practices of supervision and leadership including experience managing an organization and demonstrated ability to instruct and coach others.
• Must possess a strong technical background with demonstrated experience and knowledge in methods, practices, tools and materials used in the maintenance of power plant equipment, including boilers, turbines, generators, pumps, valves, motors, and other electrical equipment. Additionally, must have knowledge of computerized maintenance and operations management systems.
• Strong working knowledge of plant safety practices, procedures and requirements.
• Solid familiarity and experience with environmental regulatory standards and requirements.
• Strong technical abilities and demonstrated knowledge of general accounting and reporting practices to ensure accuracy in management of plant financial data, expenditures and accurate reporting of plant metrics.
• Advanced computer skills including the use of spreadsheets and word processing programs.
• Excellent listening and communication skills. Strong aptitude to produce clear and concise written documents, as well as, strong verbal skills.
• Proven ability to work efficiently and effectively balancing multiple priorities and tasks while remaining organized and focused in a high-pressure environment.
• Exceptional problem solving and analytical abilities to interpret data points to make sound and cost-effective judgments on day to day issues and critical long-term operational issues.
• Demonstrated ability to take initiative and work autonomously minimal supervision.
• Strong organizational and time management skills necessary to drive the organization to successful outcomes.
• Demonstrated ability to establish and build business relationships.
• Minimum 7 years of power industry experience or equivalent industrial experience including at least 3 years management and/or leadership experience.
• Solid fuels and fluid bed boiler experience preferred.
• Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited university, in an engineering discipline, preferred.