Pinnacle West Capital

Arizona Public Service generates clean, reliable and affordable energy for 2.7 million Arizonans. Our service territory stretches across the state, from the border town of Douglas to the vistas of the Grand Canyon, from the solar fields of Gila Bend to the ponderosa pines of Payson. As the state’s largest and longest-serving energy provider, our more than 6,000 dedicated employees power our vision of creating a sustainable energy future for Arizona.

Since our founding in 1886, APS has demonstrated a strong commitment to our customers in one of the country’s fastest growing states, earning a reputation for customer satisfaction, shareholder value, operational excellence and business integrity.

Our present and future success depends on the creative and dedicated people of our company who demonstrate the principles outlined in the APS Promise: Design for Tomorrow, Empower Each Other and Succeed Together. 

Summary

The Data Scientist Senior is responsible for providing new insights from predictive statistical modeling activities, advanced data analysis, and specialized analytical support for business operations. The Data Scientist will work directly with large amounts of structured and unstructured data from different sources to create meaningful analyses, discover insights and identify opportunities for various business units within the organization. He or she should recommend creative and leading approaches trend analyses, what-if analyses, prescriptive and predictive data modeling and provide thought provoking ideas, methods and algorithms to support business decision making. By applying advanced analytics, this role will build mathematical models like Machine Learning, AI, Regression Analysis, supervised and unsupervised modeling techniques to validate findings using experimental and iterative approach.

Works closely with, subject matter experts, project and program managers, architects, data engineers, partners and vendors to turn data into critical information and insights to make sound business decisions. He or she will be able to work effectively independently as well as in a team environment with focus on collaboration and customer satisfaction. The Data Scientist should have creative thinking, strong analytical skills, innovative and curious mindset and excellent organizational and communication skills.

Minimum Requirements

• BS degree in Data Science, Computer Science, Information Sciences, Mathematics, Engineering or related field and minimum 6 years directly related data analytics, data science, predictive modeling, machine learning, statistical modeling and/or user experience role
• OR advanced degree and 4 years directly related experience. Possesses a combination of strong analytical and problem-solving skills and programming knowledge, or an equivalent combination of education and experience with demonstrated comparable knowledge and abilities.
• A high level of proficiency in commonly used programming languages and tools like R Programming, Python and SQL.
• Strong communication, presentation and writing skills. Must be able to lead teams in evaluations and implementation of solutions.
• Must be able to work with key internal and external stakeholders and all levels of management.

Preferred Special Skills, Knowledge or Qualifications:

• Masters or Doctorate degrees in related fields.
• Knowledge/experience in utility industry and business functions.
• Certification in Data Science and/or predictive analytics

Major Accountabilities

1) Collaboration with customers and partners:

• Consult with stakeholders and subject matter experts to understand business needs and operations, goals and objectives and key drivers for performance.
• Work closely with the business units to complete data analytics efforts. Build and maintain strong working relationships with customers, partners and vendors.

2) Data requirements and preparation:

• Identify available and relevant data and the data sources.
• Collaborate with SMEs, data stewards and architects for data collection, preparation, integration, quality, exploration and retention.
• Gather data, formulate cluster or nodes and establish performance checks on the large data models.
• Design and implementation of solutions including data acquisition, storage, transformation, and analysis

3) Modeling and Deployment:

• Design, develop and deploy innovative models. Provide insights from predictive statistical modeling activities. Test theories by creating models and experimenting with data.
• Design models, algorithms and visualizations that help distill insights from huge volumes of chaotic data.
• Modeling complex problems, discovering insights/identifying opportunities through statistical, algorithmic, mining and visualization techniques using new front-end reporting & analytics tools.
• Play key role in turning data into critical information and knowledge that can be used to make sound organizational decisions.
• Propose innovative ways to look at problems by using data mining approaches and validate findings using experimental and iterative approaches.
• Understand data transforming platforms and technologies and maintain a knowledge of discipline maturity.

4) Programming and Coding

• Utilize programming language, such as R, Python, SQL, .net, Java or C++ to evoke the data from data source and model
• Familiarity with Cloud structure and building, utilizing cloud technologies
• Performing data acquisition using JSon, SQL, ODBC, JScript, or API for Big Data extracts
• Transform and utilize streaming data with programming languages such as: KAFKA, SQL, Spark, and/or Azure

5) Present results, provide recommendations and lead analytics efforts:

• Present findings to the business in a way that can be easily understood by business counterparts.
• Make recommendations based on business requirements and knowledge of industry best practices.
• Make technical decisions on advanced analytics initiatives.
• Participates in industry forums to provide input for changes and understands impacts to APS.
• Influences the strategic direction of the planning, functioning and advancement of data science and analytics practice within the organization.

Export Compliance / EEO Statement

This position may require access to and/or use of information subject to control under the Department of Energy's Part 810 Regulations (10 CFR Part 810), the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) (15 CFR Parts 730 through 774), or the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) (22 CFR Chapter I, Subchapter M Part 120) (collectively, 'U.S. Export Control Laws'). Therefore, some positions may require applicants to be a U.S. person, which is defined as a U.S. Citizen, a U.S. Lawful Permanent Resident (i.e. 'Green Card Holder'), a Political Asylee, or a Refugee under the U.S. Export Control Laws. All applicants will be required to confirm their U.S. person or non-US person status. All information collected in this regard will only be used to ensure compliance with U.S. Export Control Laws, and will be used in full compliance with all applicable laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of national origin and other factors. For positions at Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Stations (PVNGS) all openings will require applicants to be a U.S. person.

Pinnacle West Capital Corporation and its subsidiaries and affiliates ('Pinnacle West') maintain a continuing policy of nondiscrimination in employment. It is our policy to provide equal opportunity in all phases of the employment process and in compliance with applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations. This policy of nondiscrimination shall include, but not be limited to, recruiting, hiring, promoting, compensating, reassigning, demoting, transferring, laying off, recalling, terminating employment, and training for all positions without regard to race, color, religion, disability, age, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status, protected veteran status, or any other classification or characteristic protected by law.

For more information on applicable equal employment regulations, please refer to EEO is the Law poster. Federal law requires all employers to verify the identity and employment eligibility of every person hired to work in the United States, refer to E-Verify poster. View the employee rights and responsibilities under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

Arizona Public Service is a smoke free workplace.

Flex Role:

This position is not required to be performed at a specific APS facility as long as adequate technology and a solid ergonomic set up are present. Pending agreement with leadership, employees hired into this role will be able to choose where they prefer to perform their work. Employees will have two options to choose from: 

• APS office based: The employee prefers to work most of the time from an APS facility.
• Home based: The employee prefers to work most of the time from his/her home.
• Employees in Flex roles are required to reside in Arizona (or NM for Four Corners-based employees). Role types are subject to change based on business need.