Distribution Portfolio Review Engineer Location: Akron, OH
Job Type: Full-Time
Work Environment: On-Site / Client-Facing
Travel: Approximately 10–20%, depending on project and client needs About Us CARIAN is a purpose-driven, woman-owned consulting and advisory firm dedicated exclusively to the power sector. We partner with leading electric and gas utilities to provide strategic advisory and disciplined execution across program management, business intelligence, and field execution oversight. Guided by integrity, trust, excellence, and accountability, our team helps deliver complex capital programs and build the resilient energy infrastructure that communities depend on. Position Overview CARIAN is seeking a Distribution Portfolio Review Engineer to support the review, validation, and coordination of electric distribution capital projects for a major utility client. This role will provide engineering and portfolio-level review of proposed capital projects, project changes, estimates, scopes, schedules, budgets, and supporting documentation before projects are incorporated into or modified within the utility's long-range capital portfolio. The Distribution Portfolio Review Engineer will work closely with project sponsors, engineering teams, portfolio engineers, project managers, project controls, finance, operations, and other utility stakeholders to help ensure capital projects are technically supported, appropriately scoped, accurately estimated, and aligned with portfolio priorities and investment plans. The ideal candidate brings a strong engineering foundation, knowledge of electric distribution infrastructure, and the ability to critically evaluate project information and identify gaps, inconsistencies, risks, and opportunities before projects advance into execution. Key Responsibilities - Review proposed electric distribution capital projects for technical justification, scope completeness, schedule requirements, budget assumptions, and alignment with portfolio objectives. - Review engineering estimates for accuracy, completeness, and consistency with proposed project scope. - Evaluate project scopes and supporting documentation to identify missing information, inconsistencies, potential duplication, and execution risks. - Review project change requests, including changes to scope, cost, schedule, and in-service dates, and evaluate their impact on the existing and long-range capital portfolio. - Reconcile proposed project changes against approved portfolio plans, investment priorities, budgets, and project dependencies. - Work with project sponsors and engineering organizations to understand project need, business justification, technical requirements, and required completion dates. - Support evaluation of project need dates to determine whether proposed schedules and budgets are realistic and achievable. - Coordinate with portfolio engineers, project managers, project controls, engineering teams, operations, and other stakeholders to resolve project-review comments and close information gaps. - Identify opportunities to coordinate, combine, sequence, or modify projects to reduce duplicated scope and improve portfolio execution. - Review preliminary and baseline project scopes, schedules, and budgets before release to project stakeholders. - Support capital planning and portfolio-review meetings by preparing analyses, project summaries, recommendations, and supporting materials. - Analyze project and portfolio information to identify cost, schedule, scope, funding, and execution risks. - Support development and compilation of project information required for capital planning, financial coordination, and regulatory or rate-filing activities. - Maintain accurate documentation of project reviews, decisions, assumptions, changes, and outstanding actions. - Support continuous improvement of portfolio-review standards, templates, processes, tracking tools, and governance practices. - Provide clear and timely communication of findings, risks, and required actions to project sponsors and other stakeholders. Qualifications - Bachelor’s degree in Electrical, Mechanical, Civil Engineering, or a related engineering discipline from an ABET-accredited program. - 3+ years of relevant experience in electric utility engineering, distribution engineering, project development, capital planning, portfolio management, project management, or a related technical role. - Working knowledge of electric distribution infrastructure and utility capital-project development. - Ability to review and evaluate engineering scopes, estimates, schedules, budgets, and project documentation. - Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with high attention to detail. - Ability to identify inconsistencies, gaps, risks, and dependencies across multiple projects and data sources. - Strong organizational skills and the ability to manage multiple project reviews and priorities simultaneously. - Excellent written and verbal communication skills. - Ability to work effectively with engineering, planning, operations, project management, project controls, finance, and other utility stakeholders. - Proficiency with Microsoft Excel and other standard business and project-management applications. - Ability to travel approximately 10–20%, depending on project assignment and client needs. Preferred Experience - Experience supporting electric distribution capital programs for an investor-owned utility or utility consulting organization. - Experience reviewing distribution project scopes, engineering estimates, project change requests, schedules, budgets, or capital-project documentation. - Experience with distribution asset replacement, reliability, system improvement, capacity, resiliency, or modernization programs. - Experience supporting multi-year capital plans or large portfolios of utility projects. - Experience with project prioritization, capital allocation, project initiation, or stage-gate review processes. - Experience supporting regulatory or rate-filing activities. - Familiarity with utility financial, project-management, engineering, asset-management, or portfolio-management systems. - Engineer-in-Training (EIT) certification or Professional Engineer (PE) license preferred but not required. Why CARIAN - Purpose-driven work – Help deliver infrastructure that powers communities. - Industry reputation – Trusted by leading utilities for our reliability and results. - Career growth – Opportunities to lead major programs and mentor high-performing teams. - Collaborative culture – Join a team that values delivery excellence and long-term relationships. - Competitive total rewards – Strong compensation, full benefits, 401(k) match, and meaningful work. Equal Employment Opportunity CARIAN is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We hire and develop talent based on qualifications, performance, and business needs. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic. As a woman-owned firm dedicated to the power sector, we are committed to building a team that reflects professionalism, expertise, and integrity at every level.