Industry Economist (Data Scientist)

Quick Facts

• Role: Industry Economist (Data Scientist)
• Focus: Short-, mid-, and long-term modeling and price forecasting for the Western Interconnection

Description

You will support official price forecasts by operating, maintaining, and extending production and risk models used for Western Interconnection analyses. The role includes running complex simulations across varied future technological, economic, policy, and environmental scenarios and producing distributions of prices and key outputs. You will present results clearly to senior executives and external stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Operate and maintain Aurora (a third-party production cost model) and develop, operate, and maintain associated fundamental risk models
• Generate projections of resource builds across the Western Interconnection to support official price forecasts
• Use existing models to analyze the system and produce price distributions and other key outputs
• Run complex and routine simulations under a wide range of conditions and policy formulations
• Extend models with new features (e.g., risk-informed, mixed integer programming-based commitments; improved modeled behavior of energy storage) and integrate new models as needed
• Manage relationships with software providers and ensure integration with BPA systems
• Summarize and present results to senior committees, customers, stakeholders, and internal technical experts
• Solicit and incorporate feedback from study consumers to refine analysis and conclusions

Requirements

• U.S. citizenship; e-Verify participation; Selective Service registration for eligible males
• Background investigation suitability for federal employment; possible probationary period
• In-person reporting to the official duty location as required
• Education: economics degree with required coursework (21 semester hours in economics; 3 semester hours in statistics/accounting/calculus) OR equivalent education/experience combination
• Level-specific specialized experience (GS-11/12/13): economic/energy data analysis, applying economic/statistical methods to support modeling, and communicating findings; no education substitution at GS-12 and GS-13
• Provide required college transcripts from an accredited institution

Benefits

• Federal employee benefits package (eligibility depends on position type)
• Programs supporting flexible work environments and employee wellness (Be Well program)