Application Guide

How to Apply for Lead GIS Engineer

at Electric Power Engineers

๐Ÿข About Electric Power Engineers

Electric Power Engineers (EPE) is a consulting and software firm focused on enhancing grid reliability and resiliency for a sustainable energy future. They build geospatial data and energy intelligence software that helps utilities modernize the grid, making it a great place for engineers passionate about clean energy and large-scale infrastructure.

About This Role

As Lead GIS Engineer, you'll be the senior technical voice for EPE's GIS team, owning the architecture, data quality, and automation roadmap for geospatial datasets that power both software and consulting deliverables. This is a hands-on leadership role where you'll design and implement high-leverage ETL workflows, set schema and QA standards, and mentor other engineers while still shipping critical code yourself.

๐Ÿ’ก A Day in the Life

You might start by reviewing pull requests from your team, then dive into designing a new attribute rule or refactoring an ETL script for a regional dataset. Later, you'll meet with stakeholders to align on data quality standards, and mentor a junior engineer on a complex geospatial problem. You'll balance hands-on coding with architectural discussions and team guidance.

๐ŸŽฏ Who Electric Power Engineers Is Looking For

  • Deep expertise in the Esri ecosystem (ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Enterprise, ArcGIS Online) and building production geospatial services.
  • Proven experience designing and operating production ETL pipelines on utility data, including data quality checks and automation.
  • Strong technical leadership skills, with a track record of mentoring engineers, guiding architectural decisions, and raising team standards.
  • Hands-on coding proficiency in Python (or similar) for geospatial automation, and experience with version control, CI/CD, and cloud environments.

๐Ÿ“ Tips for Applying to Electric Power Engineers

1

Highlight specific projects where you built or refactored ETL workflows for utility-scale geospatial data, using Esri tools and Python.

2

Emphasize any experience you have with data quality frameworks, attribute rules, and QA/QC processes in a GIS context.

3

Showcase leadership examples where you mentored engineers or led technical direction, even if you weren't a formal manager.

4

Tailor your resume to include keywords like 'ArcGIS Enterprise', 'geospatial ETL', 'utility data', 'data quality', and 'automation roadmap'.

5

In your cover letter, connect your work to EPE's mission of grid reliability and sustainable energy, demonstrating passion for the domain.

โœ‰๏ธ What to Emphasize in Your Cover Letter

['Your hands-on experience building and operating production ETL pipelines on utility data, with specific tools and outcomes.', 'Your approach to defining and enforcing data quality standards, including schema design, attribute rules, and automated QA/QC.', 'Your experience mentoring engineers and leading technical architecture decisions while remaining a hands-on contributor.', "Why you're excited about EPE's mission to enhance grid reliability and how your skills directly contribute to that."]

Generate Cover Letter โ†’

๐Ÿ” Research Before Applying

To stand out, make sure you've researched:

  • โ†’ Explore EPE's website and recent projects to understand their focus areas in grid modernization and energy intelligence software.
  • โ†’ Research the Esri utility network model and common geospatial data challenges in the energy sector to speak fluently about industry trends.
  • โ†’ Look into EPE's company culture and values, especially around sustainability and innovation, to align your answers in interviews.
  • โ†’ Check if EPE has published any case studies, white papers, or blog posts about their GIS work to reference in your application.

๐Ÿ’ฌ Prepare for These Interview Topics

Based on this role, you may be asked about:

1 Walk us through a complex geospatial ETL pipeline you designed and implemented. What were the key challenges and how did you ensure data quality?
2 How do you approach setting technical direction for a GIS team, especially when consolidating regional datasets into shared service layers?
3 Describe your experience with Esri's utility network model or other utility data models. How have you used them in production?
4 Give an example of a time you mentored a junior engineer or raised the technical bar on your team. What was the outcome?
5 How would you automate QA/QC processes for geospatial data? What tools and techniques do you prefer?
Practice Interview Questions โ†’

โš ๏ธ Common Mistakes to Avoid

  • Focusing only on general GIS skills without demonstrating depth in Esri's ecosystem and utility-specific data.
  • Downplaying hands-on technical work in favor of pure management experienceโ€”this role requires you to still ship code.
  • Ignoring the data quality and automation aspects of the role, which are central to the job description.

๐Ÿ“… Application Timeline

This position is open until filled. However, we recommend applying as soon as possible as roles at mission-driven organizations tend to fill quickly.

Typical hiring timeline:

1

Application Review

1-2 weeks

2

Initial Screening

Phone call or written assessment

3

Interviews

1-2 rounds, usually virtual

โœ“

Offer

Congratulations!

Ready to Apply?

Good luck with your application to Electric Power Engineers!