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Job Description
Description
Career Opportunity
City of Palo Alto Utilities (CPAU) is privileged to provide more than 25,000 customers with five municipal utility services: electricity, natural gas, water, wastewater, and fiber optics across a 26-square-mile service territory. CPAU manages 100% carbon neutral electric and gas portfolios and is a leader in innovative utility planning and community-wide electrification programs covering homes, commercial buildings, and vehicles.
We're seeking a Senior Resource Planner in the Resource Management Division (RMD) who wants to be an integral part of a team within a locally-owned utility that's dedicated to delivering cost-effective, dependable, and safe utility services. This position offers abundant opportunities for personal and professional growth, enabling you to make meaningful contributions while collaborating with passionate energy professionals.
This position supervises one or more Resource Planners, Associate Resource Planners, Assistant Resource Planners or interns. The primary focus of this role is electric, gas, and wastewater utility financial planning, including long-term financial forecasting, cost of service analysis and rate design. Depending on the candidate’s experience and the evolving needs of the organization, this position may also contribute to water utility financial planning and water supply portfolio planning, as needed.
The ideal candidate will possess the following attributes:- Expertise in Utility Financial Planning and Analysis: Proven experience developing and maintaining long-range financial forecasts, including revenue requirements, reserve analysis and policies, load forecasting, and scenario analysis for electric and gas utilities: experience with water and wastewater utilities is highly desirable.
- Cost of Service and Rate Design: Demonstrated expertise in cost-of-service studies, rate design, and rate implementation for utilities particularly electric and gas utilities; experience in water and wastewater cost of service and rate design is a plus.
- Energy Industry Knowledge: Strong understanding of the electric and natural gas utility sectors, including regulatory frameworks, market dynamics and key cost drivers; broader utility experience, including water and wastewater systems is valued.
- Policy Acumen: Familiarity with utility ratemaking principles, regulatory processes, and policies affecting utilities, including experience supporting rate cases or regulatory filings.
- Communication and Persuasion: Exceptional written and verbal communication skills. Ability to articulate complex issues clearly and persuasively to diverse audiences.
- Analytical and Modeling Skills: Proficiency in analyzing complex financial, operational and customer data, with strong proficiency in financial modeling tools (e.g., Excel or similar platforms). Strong ability to synthesize information to formulate strategic recommendations.
- Stakeholder Engagement: Demonstrated ability to build and maintain relationships with governmental bodies, community stakeholders, and industry partners.
- Financial Planning and Rate-setting: Proficiency in utility ratemaking, including utility reserve analysis and policies, long-range financial planning, new rate structure development, and detailed cost-of-service studies.
- Adaptability and Initiative: Proactive and adaptable in a dynamic regulatory environment with the ability to manage multiple priorities and drive projects forward both independently and collaboratively.
Join us at CPAU and play a vital part in preserving the unique benefits of locally-owned utilities for the Palo Alto community, while making a lasting impact on regional sustainability and climate resilience!
Compensation (UMPAPA): Comprehensive compensation plan. To learn more, click here.
Benefits: The City offers a fantastic benefits package including:- Schedule: Option of a 9/80 work schedule with every other Friday off
- Hybrid work: Ability to work remotely and onsite (current policy allows for 2 days/week remote and 3 days/week on-site)
- Professional development: Tuition reimbursement, leadership training, and career growth opportunities
- Education benefits: Potential enrollment for dependents in the Palo Alto Unified School District (pilot program, subject to change)
- Childcare support: $10,000 in childcare subsidies (pilot program, subject to change)
- Commute benefits: Incentives for walking, biking and taking transit to work. The City of Palo Alto participates in the Clipper Bay Pass program (Employee Cost: $5 per month).
- Defined-Benefit Retirement Plan: with competitive pension benefits
To learn more about benefits, clickhere.
Essential Duties
Essential and other important responsibilities and duties may include, but are not limited to, the following:- May supervise technical, clerical, and lead staff to include: prioritizing and assigning work; conducting performance evaluations; ensuring staff is trained; and making hiring, termination and disciplinary recommendations.
- Facilitates strategic planning processes through data acquisition, analysis, decision process facilitation, report preparation, and critical activity analysis and tracking.
- Performs research and interprets utilities data related to assigned area of responsibility.
- Coordinates/leads development and implementation of short and long-term water, gas, electric portfolio management plans.
- Develops and evaluates recommendations for management and Council policy adoption.
- Devises methods and procedures to obtain, maintain, and update large sets of market-related data; provides leadership, participates in, and/or oversees the evaluation of data.
- Manages and oversees specialized studies in assigned area of responsibility.
- Identifies and analyzes operational problems; works with applicable internal staff and/or external agencies to evaluate alternatives and implement effective solutions.
- Develops and recommends revisions to applicable municipal codes, ordinances, rules, regulations, policies, and/or procedures.
POSITION SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES:
This position will be assigned to Assistant Director Utilities - Resource Management and may be responsible for:- Coordinating the planning and management activities associated with electricity, natural gas, and/or water supply portfolios;
- Overseeing and participating in ratemaking functions, including utility reserve analysis and policies, long-range financial planning, new rate structure development, and detailed cost of service studies;
- Assisting in the management of utility supply resource portfolios by performing resource planning, acquisitions, management, and contract administration activities, including structuring and origination of energy products and deal
To review the full job description, click here.
Minimum Qualifications
Sufficient education, training and/or work experience to demonstrate possession of the following knowledge and skills, which would typically be acquired through- Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Economics, Business Administration, or a related field and seven years of progressively responsible related experience; or, an equivalent combination of education and experience sufficient to successfully perform the essential duties of the job such as those listed above.
- Master's degree preferred.
Licensing Requirements:- Valid California Driver's License.
Supplemental Information
The Selection Process:- Applicants will receive recruitment status notifications via email. Governmentjobs.com account also has notification status updates.
- Applicants will be screened throughout the posting process and highly qualified candidates may be invited to interview at any time.
- The screening process for this position typically may include a virtual recorded interview and/or panel interviews preceding final interviews with the hiring manager or their designee.
- More than one position may filled using this posting.
Our online application system is provided by NeoGov. If you have problems while applying online, please contact NeoGov's Live Applicant Support at (855) 524-5627 between 6:00 AM and 5:00 PM Pacific Time, Monday - Friday.
The City of Palo Alto is an Equal Opportunity Employer. In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the City will provide reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities and encourages both prospective and current employees to discuss potential accommodations with the employer.
See our Benefits at a Glance Bookletfor more details.
Learn more about our Memorandum of Agreements (MOAs) between the City and its bargaining units, by clicking HERE.
Closing Date/Time: 4/12/2026 11:59 PM Pacific -
ABOUT THE COMPANY
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City of Palo Alto
Show moreThe Community
The birthplace of Silicon Valley, Palo Alto, is a community of approximately 68,000 residents and nearly 100,000 jobs. Located on the mid-Peninsula between San Francisco and San Jose, Palo Alto is recognized worldwide as a leader in cutting-edge technology, medicine, and green innovation. The community's treelined streets and historic buildings reflect its California heritage, and, at the same time, many world-class businesses maintain or started offices here, such as Stanford Health Care and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Amazon, Broadcom, Hewlett-Packard, Houzz, Rivian, SAP and SAP Ariba, Tesla, and Varian Medical Systems. Numerous start-ups are also at home in Palo Alto, arguably making it the start-up capital of the world. Stanford University is foundational to the history and prestige of Palo Alto, reflected in the community's dedication to lifelong learning. Stanford's cultural and educational offerings are integral to the vibrancy and charm of Palo Alto, while the City's exceptional K-12 school district ranks among the top public-school systems in the country. With more than 50% of adult residents holding a graduate degree or higher, Palo Alto is frequently listed as one of the most educated cities in the nation. Palo Alto boasts a genuine sense of community and an active citizenry with strong environmental values. Beautiful neighborhoods are complemented by vibrant commercial corridors and a bustling economy featuring premium shopping and dining options. Excellent healthcare facilities, performing arts, and diverse recreational opportunities are some of the community's incredibly desirable and cherished amenities. To learn more, visit https://www.paloalto.gov/Departments/City-Manager/Latest-NewsCity Government
Palo Alto is a full-service charter city with a council-manager form of government. The seven-member City Council is elected at large, and the City Council annually selects the Mayor and Vice Mayor from among its members. The Mayor and City Council appoint the City Manager, City Attorney, City Clerk, and City Auditor. The City Manager is responsible for the strategic direction and day-to-day operations of the City. Palo Alto is organized into 15 departments/offices with 1,093.10 authorized positions in FY 2025. There is also a FY 2025 capital budget of $316.2 million. Palo Alto owns and operates its own utilities, including electricity (carbon-neutral), gas, water, wastewater, and an expanding fiber network. This dynamic municipal environment ensures an ever-engaging platform for unique problem-solving and advances new initiatives, including sustainability, broadband, and effective service delivery. Community assets also include five libraries, 36 parks, five community centers, a museum and zoo, youth centers, a general aviation airport, an 18-hole golf course, a regional water treatment plant, and wildland open space preserves at the San Francisco Bay and in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains offering 41 miles of walking/biking trails in addition to its police, fire, and ambulance services. Palo Alto has long been a leader in sustainability, and the City's ambitious greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction goals are part of what sets it apart. Since the City's first Climate Protection Plan was passed in 2007, Palo Alto has set goals that exceed State and Federal targets. Today, the City's goal to reduce emissions 80% below 1990 levels by 2030 (the "80x30" goal) and achieve carbon neutrality by 2030 guides sustainability efforts. An award-winning City, Palo Alto is recognized nationally as innovative and well-managed. City services and performance also receive impressive marks from community members in the Palo Alto Community Survey.
Many of those ratings put City programs and services in the highest percentiles among the hundreds of benchmark cities. Palo Alto makes decisions through comprehensive processes and proactively seeks to involve its extremely informed, educated, and engaged residents. Projects are naturally a cooperative effort among the City Council, Boards, Commissions, Committees, engaged residents, neighborhoods, businesses, property owners, and staff.
Join an Award Winning Team
Palo Alto is an award-winning City recognized nationwide as innovative and well-managed. Palo Alto is one of a small number of California cities with a AAA bond rating. Recently, Palo Alto became one of the most livable cities in the U.S. by Livability.com. It's the only city to receive the Platinum Beacon Award in sustainability best practices by California’s Institute for Local Government. We offer a variety of career paths that relate to building and improving communities. The City has fourteen departments employing 1,000 full-time staff. Police officers, fire fighters, paramedics, and building inspectors keep us safe. Engineers and public works staff build and re-build the physical infrastructure. City planners help envision and shape future community growth. Recreation, arts and library professionals enhance community life. Utilities provides electric, gas, water, sewer and other services. Internal services departments help manage, staff, and protect the City.
Want to learn more about our benefits? Learn more by reviewing our "Benefits at a Glance Booklet."
Contact Us
Phone: 650-329-2376
Email: Recruit@paloalto.gov
Location: City Hall, 1st Floor | 250 Hamilton Ave 94301 | View Map
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