Director, NERC Compliance

About the role

Join SPP as Our Next Director, NERC Compliance

Responsibilities

• Lead SPP’s enterprise-wide strategy, governance framework, and oversight activities supporting compliance with NERC Reliability Standards, regional requirements, and related regulatory obligations.
• Direct SPP’s participation in the development, refinement, interpretation, communication, and implementation of national and regional reliability standards and policies.
• Partner across Operations, Reliability Coordination, Planning, Engineering, IT, Cybersecurity, Legal, and executive leadership teams to align operational practices with evolving regulatory expectations.
• Represent SPP in industry forums, standards drafting teams, working groups, and stakeholder discussions focused on reliability standards, compliance governance, and emerging regulatory issues.
• Drive collaboration with member organizations, registered entities, regulatory stakeholders, and industry groups to support practical, risk-informed, and sustainable compliance solutions.
• Ensure continuous audit readiness through strong governance practices, effective internal controls, evidence management, and accountability processes.
• Oversee organizational responses to audits, investigations, self-certifications, enforcement actions, mitigation activities, and regulatory inquiries involving NERC and Regional Entities.
• Develop and maintain proactive, risk-based compliance monitoring and corrective action programs that identify, mitigate, and communicate reliability and regulatory risks.
• Provide executive-level reporting, strategic recommendations, and guidance related to compliance posture, industry trends, enforcement developments, and regulatory strategy.
• Lead, mentor, and develop compliance professionals and subject matter experts while fostering a culture centered on accountability, transparency, operational excellence, and continuous improvement.
• Drive continuous improvement of SPP’s Internal Compliance Program (ICP), governance processes, training initiatives, compliance communications, and organizational awareness programs supporting BES reliability and security.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering, Business, Information Systems, Cybersecurity, or related field.
• Ten (10) plus years experience in electric utility operations, ISO/RTO operations, reliability compliance, regulatory compliance, transmission operations, or a related reliability-focused environment.
• Five (5) plus years of leadership experience managing compliance, regulatory, operational, reliability, or risk-based programs and teams.
• Working knowledge of NERC Reliability Standards and the regulatory framework supporting Bulk Electric System (BES) reliability.
• Experience leading or supporting regulatory audits, compliance assessments, investigations, corrective action activities, or governance programs.
• Experience collaborating across operational, engineering, cybersecurity, legal, or regulatory stakeholder groups to support organizational objectives and regulatory requirements.
• Demonstrated ability to analyze complex regulatory or operational issues, assess risk, and communicate recommendations to leadership.

Preferred Qualifications

• Previous experience within an RTO/ISO environment.
• Experience participating in NERC standards development, industry working groups, or regulatory committees.
• Experience with the NERC Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Program (CMEP).
• Experience supporting or leading enterprise compliance transformation, audit remediation, or governance improvement initiatives.
• Familiarity with Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) requirements and BES cybersecurity practices.
• NERC Certification or industry certifications such as CISA, CRISC, CISSP, or CCEP.
• Experience presenting to executive leadership, boards, or regulatory oversight committees.