Strategic Operations Manager Jobs in Post Falls, ID

The Rathdrum Power Plant is a 275 MW combined-cycle natural gas-fired project that commenced commercial operations in September 2001 and is tolled under a long-term agreement to Avista. The tolling agreement expires in October 2041. Rathdrum's equipment configuration is platformed on GE 7FA technology, along with a heat recovery steam generator and steam turbine. The project includes an SCR and is a recent vintage, environmentally compliant project.
Position Summary
Rathdrum Power is seeking an experienced, hands-on Operations and Maintenance Manager to lead the safe, reliable, compliant, and cost-effective operation of its combined-cycle power generation facility. This position provides day-to-day leadership for Operations, Mechanical Maintenance, Electrical, and Instrumentation and Controls personnel and serves as a key member of the plant leadership team.
The successful candidate will combine strong technical judgment with practical leadership, workforce development, disciplined work management, and a visible commitment to safety. The role requires an individual who can balance equipment reliability, operational readiness, regulatory requirements, employee development, outage execution, and financial performance in a changing business environment.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Leadership and Workforce Development

• Lead, coach, and develop Operations and Maintenance personnel while promoting accountability, teamwork, open communication, and continuous improvement.
• Establish clear performance expectations; provide timely feedback; conduct performance reviews; and support recruiting, onboarding, qualification, succession planning, and employee retention.
• Maintain appropriate staffing, shift coverage, callout readiness, and contractor support to meet operational and outage needs.
• Build a strong plant culture in which employees are empowered to identify risks, raise concerns, and improve work practices.

Operations and Plant Performance

• Provide oversight of plant operations to support safe starts, shutdowns, dispatch response, stable operation, and high availability and reliability.
• Review operating data, logs, alarms, events, and equipment trends; ensure abnormalities are investigated, documented, communicated, and corrected.
• Develop and maintain operating procedures, standing orders, rounds, training programs, qualification standards, and emergency response expectations.
• Participate in incident investigations, root-cause analyses, management-of-change reviews, and corrective-action tracking.
• Coordinate closely with the Plant Manager, Plant Engineer, Compliance, Environmental Health and Safety, owners, dispatch entities, vendors, and other stakeholders.

Maintenance, Reliability, and Outages

• Direct preventive, predictive, corrective, and condition-based maintenance programs for mechanical, electrical, and controls systems.
• Set maintenance priorities using equipment condition, operational risk, safety, compliance, cost, and production impact.
• Ensure effective use of the computerized maintenance management system, including work requests, planning, scheduling, backlog management, equipment history, inventory, and closeout documentation.
• Lead outage planning and execution, including scope development, schedules, contractor coordination, permits, quality control, commissioning, startup readiness, and lessons learned.
• Support long-range asset planning, lifecycle assessments, capital projects, major repairs, and spare-parts strategies for aging plant equipment.

Safety, Environmental, and Regulatory Compliance

• Demonstrate visible safety leadership and ensure work is performed in accordance with applicable OSHA requirements, company policies, site safety programs, and accepted industry practices.
• Maintain strong standards for lockout/tagout, confined space, hot work, electrical safety, contractor safety, job briefings, work permits, and housekeeping.
• Support compliance with environmental permits and applicable NERC, regional reliability, and other regulatory requirements; maintain complete, accurate, and readily retrievable records.
• Ensure events, near misses, environmental concerns, and compliance issues are reported promptly and corrected sustainably.

Budget and Business Management

• Develop and manage Operations and Maintenance budgets, forecasts, purchase requests, contractor expenditures, and cost-control initiatives.
• Prepare clear recommendations for maintenance, capital, staffing, and reliability investments using risk, lifecycle cost, and business impact.
• Monitor key performance indicators and communicate plant risks, priorities, progress, and results to plant leadership and ownership representatives.
• Participate in vendor selection, bid evaluation, contract scope development, and verification of completed work and invoices.

NAES Safe
Safety is a core value at NAES, and as a condition of employment, all employees are expected to remain mentally alert and work safely at all times. Employees must also adhere to all safety warnings and posted signs while on company property. Additionally, they are required to follow all NAES safety rules and procedures. Adherence to these safety responsibilities is one of the key factors in the evaluation of each employee's performance.
Working Relationships
The Operations & Maintenance Manager reports to the Plant Manager. Additionally, this position will coordinate with all other plant personnel to ensure safe and reliable plant operations.
Physical Requirements and Working Conditions
Physical requirements include standing for extended periods of time, climbing stairs and ladders, working from elevated platforms and walkways at varying heights, and routinely lifting up to 50 pounds.
Power plant environment that may involve entering confined spaces, crawling through narrow areas, and handling hazardous materials, with exposure to fumes, extreme temperatures, and noise. Work may include high heat near equipment and varying outdoor weather conditions.
Some duties may require the use of protective equipment, which can include hard hats, safety glasses, and eye protection, air masks/respirators, ear protection, chemical suits, flame-resistant clothing (FRC), hot gloves, high-voltage protective gear, and fall protection. Fit testing for respirators may be required. Strict smoking restrictions apply in and around the facility.
Fitness for Duty
All personnel will participate in the Fitness for Duty Program, which includes a post-offer physical examination, drug screening, and post-employment random drug screening.
Work Schedule
The Operations & Maintenance Manger works a standard Monday to Friday day shift schedule, ensuring consistent plant operation and support during regular business hours. This position will also occasionally necessitate extended working hours and flexible shifts as needed, including weekends and holidays, in response to schedules, workload demands, and plant conditions.
Compensation
This position offers a base salary ranging from $150,000 to $175,000, along with eligibility for an annual performance bonus.
Required Qualifications

• Eight or more years of progressively responsible experience in power generation, heavy industrial operations, or a closely related field, including leadership responsibility.
• Demonstrated knowledge of power plant operations, maintenance practices, work control, outage execution, equipment reliability, and safe work systems.
• Proven ability to lead multidisciplinary teams and make sound decisions during abnormal, time-sensitive, or high-risk conditions.
• Strong written, verbal, organizational, analytical, and interpersonal skills, with the ability to communicate effectively at all levels.
• Working knowledge of computerized maintenance management systems, Microsoft Office applications, budgeting, and performance reporting.
• Valid driver's license and ability to satisfy site access and employment requirements.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering, operations management, business, or a related technical discipline. Relevant power-generation experience may be considered in place of a degree.
• Experience at a combined-cycle power plant, preferably with gas turbines, steam turbines, heat-recovery steam generators, balance-of-plant systems, and emissions-control equipment.
• Experience managing major outages, long-term service providers, contractors, capital projects, and reliability-improvement programs.
• Familiarity with NERC requirements, environmental permitting, OSHA programs, and power-generation industry best practices.
• Previous control-room, maintenance, engineering, or plant leadership experience.

About NAES
NAES Corporation is a leading provider of operations, maintenance, and engineering services for energy facilities. We have built a reputation as a reliable partner for clients in North America and internationally, offering services across the power generation, oil and gas, and renewable energy sectors. Our growing family of companies allows us to address the entire life cycle of power generation and other industrial plants.
NAES is committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace. We prioritize selecting employees based on merit and competence, seeking individuals of the highest quality, without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, military status, or affiliation protected under USERRA, or any other form of discrimination prohibited by applicable local, state, and federal law.
Equal Opportunity Employer
This employer is required to notify all applicants of their rights pursuant to federal employment laws.
For further information, please review the Know Your Rights notice from the Department of Labor.