Principal Data Scientist || W2 Local Only

Title:

Data Scientist ,

Principal Job No:

#

PCGJP00004435

Location:

5875 Arnold Rd, Suite 200, Dublin, CA 94568

United States Duration:

12 months

Description:

• LOCAL CANDIDATES ONLY

• The role is Hybrid. 1-2 days a week in Dublin at 5875 Arnold Dr Ste 200, Dublin. There may be times when we need to travel to other locations such as Oakland, Concord, or field sites around the service area.
• Client laptop will be provided

• PPE:

  PG&E will provide, if needed, hardhat, vest, safety glasses, etc.
• With prior PG&E Manager approval, may submit expense, at a set amount for internet/phone reimbursements

Job Description:

Data Scientist - Transmission ROW Risk Analytics Position Summary We are seeking a highly analytical and mission-driven Data Scientist to support the development of a quantitative risk analysis and predictive analytics capability for Transmission Right of Way (ROW) Risk Reduction Strategy. This role will help design and operationalize data-driven methods to quantify risk, prioritize encroachments, and predict the likelihood of safety and reliability events associated with transmission right of way encroachments. The successful candidate will partner with cross-functional teams across electric operations, asset management, vegetation management, engineering, risk, compliance, GIS, inspection, and program management to translate field, asset, and operational data into actionable insights. The Data Scientist will build models that enable proactive decision-making by identifying where encroachments pose the greatest potential threat to public safety, worker safety, grid reliability, asset integrity, and wildfire risk. This role is ideal for someone who combines deep technical expertise in statistical modeling and machine learning with the ability to work in complex operational environments and communicate insights to business and executive stakeholders. ________________________________________ Key Responsibilities Quantitative Risk Modeling Develop quantitative risk frameworks to assess the risk posed by encroachments within or adjacent to transmission rights of way. Define risk equations, scoring methodologies, and analytical models that estimate both: o Likelihood of an event occurring (e.g., safety incident, reliability event, asset damage, access impairment, wildfire ignition, clearance violation, line contact, third-party interference), ando Consequence / impact of that event. Incorporate multiple risk dimensions into a unified analytical framework, including: o Public and employee safetyo Electric reliability / outage exposureo Wildfire and ignition risko Regulatory and compliance exposureo Asset damage and access limitationso Financial and operational impactPredictive Analytics & Machine Learningo Logistic regressiono Survival analysis / time-to-event modelingo Random forests / gradient boostingo Bayesian methodso Scenario modeling and simulationo Geospatial and spatiotemporal modelingo Proximity to energized assetso Encroachment type and severityo Clearance deficitso Structure condition / asset ageo Land use and development patternso Historical incident patternso Inspection findingso Environmental and weather conditionso Access constraintso High Fire Threat District (HFTD) or other high-risk locationsData Integration & Analytical Pipeline DevelopmentDecision Support & Program Prioritizationo Rank encroachments by risko Identify high-priority mitigation opportunitieso Forecast emerging risk hotspotso Evaluate tradeoffs across mitigation optionso Support resource allocation and investment decisionsMonitoring, Validation & Continuous ImprovementCross-Functional Collaboration________________________________________ Required Qualifications o Statistical inferenceo Machine learningo Risk modelingo Forecastingo Feature engineeringo Data wrangling and data quality management________________________________________ Preferred Qualifications ________________________________________ Technical Skills o Classification and probability predictiono Risk scoring frameworkso Time-to-event / hazard modelso Explainable AI / interpretable modelso Scenario analysis and Monte Carlo methods________________________________________Key Competencies Build predictive models to estimate the likelihood of future safety or reliability events resulting from existing or emerging encroachments in transmission rights of way. Apply statistical and machine learning techniques such as: Identify leading indicators and risk drivers that increase the probability of an event, such as: Aggregate, clean, and structure data from multiple enterprise and operational systems, including GIS, asset management, inspections, outage history, incident data, vegetation data, work management, and field observations. Develop repeatable analytical pipelines to support risk scoring, trend analysis, forecasting, and prioritization. Assess data quality, completeness, and lineage; identify data gaps and recommend improvements to enable stronger analytics. Partner with IT, data engineering, GIS, and business teams to improve data architecture and enable scalable model deployment. Translate model outputs into practical prioritization tools that support program strategy, annual planning, and execution. Develop dashboards, visualizations, and decision-support tools to help the business: Support the development of business cases and analytical narratives for leadership, regulators, and governance forums. Establish model validation, calibration, and performance monitoring processes to ensure analytics remain accurate, explainable, and fit for purpose. Track model precision, recall, false positives/negatives, drift, and operational usefulness over time. Conduct sensitivity analyses, scenario testing, and back-testing against historical events. Continuously improve methodologies as new data sources, field intelligence, and business requirements emerge. Partner closely with subject matter experts in transmission operations, inspection, engineering, wildfire mitigation, risk management, land/ROW, and compliance to ensure models reflect real-world operating conditions. Facilitate discussions to define risk taxonomy, modeling assumptions, thresholds, and action triggers. Communicate technical findings clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders, including senior leadership. Bachelor's degree in Data Science, Statistics, Applied Mathematics, Engineering, Computer Science, Operations Research, Economics, or a related quantitative field. 5+ years of experience in data science, predictive analytics, quantitative risk analysis, or statistical modeling. Experience building predictive models using Python, R, SQL, or similar tools.

Strong knowledge of:

Experience working with large, complex, and imperfect datasets from multiple business systems. Ability to explain technical results to operational and executive audiences in a clear, concise, and decision-oriented manner. Demonstrated ability to turn ambiguous business problems into structured analytical approaches. Master's or PhD in a quantitative discipline. Experience in electric utility, transmission operations, wildfire risk, asset risk management, infrastructure risk, public safety risk, or reliability analytics. Experience with geospatial analytics, including GIS-based risk modeling. Familiarity with transmission asset data, ROW management, encroachment data, inspection data, outage/event history, or utility asset health data. Experience in regulated industries where transparency, traceability, and model explainability are essential. Knowledge of safety and reliability risk concepts in utility operations. Experience developing dashboards or decision-support tools using Power BI, Tableau, or similar platforms. Familiarity with cloud analytics environments and productionizing models for business use.

Programming:

Python, R, SQL Analytics:

Statistical modeling, machine learning, forecasting, simulation, optimization Data tools: Data wrangling, ETL concepts, data quality assessment

Visualization:

Power BI, Tableau, matplotlib, seaborn, or similar

Geospatial:

ArcGIS, QGIS, GeoPandas, spatial analysis techniques Modeling concepts: Strong problem-solving and structured thinking Ability to work across technical and operational disciplines High attention to detail and analytical rigor Strong business acumen and decision orientation Comfort working in evolving, ambiguous problem spaces Ability to balance model sophistication with usability and explainability Excellent written and verbal communication skills

Pay:

$90.00 - $100.00 per hour

Work Location:

Hybrid remote in Dublin, CA 94568