This position is responsible for overseeing the Atlanta Gas Light (AGLC) Company and Chattanooga Gas Company (CGC) regulatory compliance and quality management strategy to ensure the company’s facilities, equipment, personnel, methods, processes, and procedures conform to both internal guidelines and regulatory standards and to promote a quality and safety mindset across the entire company. The strategy includes cultivating relationships with regulatory agencies and collaboration with business leaders to establish targeted risk-based assessment plans that align with company quality and safety initiatives. If potential threats or vulnerabilities are identified in the process, then assist in developing action plans to mitigate them.

Representative Duties and Responsibilities:

• Represent AGLC and CGC and serve as liaison to Pipeline Safety Regulators in Georgia and Tennessee, respectively, and resolve escalated compliance issues and/or questions from regulators. Communicate both orally and in writing to external regulators and officials.
• Coordinate regulatory compliance activities with the AGLC/CGC, including audit scheduling, issue resolution and compliance tracking.
• Serve as the AGLC/CGC point of contact for inside and outside counsel inquiries relating to any pending litigation involving regulatory compliance and provide testimony on behalf of AGLC/CGC in proceedings.
• Oversee the maintenance of County-wide Safety Plans for Georgia.
• Participate in the development of Company comments to proposed PHMSA and State regulations that could adversely impact company or industry operations.
• Research and analyze new and existing pipeline safety laws, regulations, policies, and industry standards to identify existing and emerging business impacts and risks to the company, then collaborating with cross functional teams to develop practical, cost-effective strategies for managing compliance and risk across the company.
• Collaborate with various stakeholders to interpret, translate, and disseminate information pertaining to State and Federal regulations into Southern Company Gas policies and procedures.
• Collaborate with operations leaders across AGLC/CGC to communicate compliance metrics and performance drivers.
• Provide technical expertise, guidance, and communication to the operating units regarding compliance requirements that impact the company's business. 
• Promote a cooperative and sharing culture with employees across the company whereby they can openly share their observations, for the purpose of evaluating the adequacy of internal controls and identifying inefficient business processes that hinder compliance.
• Represent the company in various industry forums and working groups. 
• Respond to certain emergency pipeline incidents, alongside regulatory agencies.
• Engage business units to ensure timely submittal of corrections and/or corrective action plans to the QA team to close out open Notice of Exception reports. 
• Promote the growth and development of the quality assurance team. Responsible for staff selection, development and training, and retention. Establishes and monitors work goals and objectives. Coaches, provides feedback, and evaluates performance of staff and takes appropriate actions.
• Achieve financial objectives by preparing and managing the regulatory compliance budget, analyzing variances, and initiating corrective actions to maintain budgetary expectations.

Education and Experience: 

Required:

• BA/BS in Engineering or another related field
• 6 to 8 or more years of experience in Regulatory Compliance, Gas Operations, Engineering, and Management
• Demonstrated knowledge of Company policies and procedures
• Demonstrated knowledge of pipeline safety policies, procedures, codes, and standards
• Supervisory/management experience

Preferred:

• Master’s degree
• Progressive experience in Gas Operations, Engineering, and Management Demonstrated continuous learning in field(s) related to this job.
• American Society of Quality certification

Or

• Equivalent academic education and experience

Skills:

Required:

• In-depth knowledge of 49CFR191, 49CFR192, 49CFR193 and 49CFR195 regulations, and State Pipeline Safety regulations with ability to interpret and apply such regulations.
• Ability to prioritize tasks efficiently and meet strict and short timelines.
• Ability to manage multiple projects and tasks simultaneously. 
• Meticulous with a prominent level of accuracy in work.
• Excellent interpersonal, organizational, planning and project management skills.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal.
• Analytical problem solving and ability to determine root causes.
• Facilitation/collaborative negotiation/conflict resolution
• Intermediate proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
• Ability to prepare and deliver effective presentations.
• Crisis management
• Project management
• Business process re-engineering
• Leadership

Preferred:

• Experience using compliance tracking systems.
• Experience with quality management systems.
• Familiarity with CC&B is a plus.

Working Conditions/Physical Requirements:

• Keyboarding = Occasional 1-40%
• Travel = Occasional 1-25%
• On-call = 24/7/365 as member Atlanta Gas Light leadership team and on-call rotation for pipeline incident emergency response
• Environment =Work is performed primarily in a standard office environment with periodic exposure to field activities. Requires sufficient physical ability and mobility to work in an office setting; to stand or sit for prolonged periods of time; to occasionally stoop, bend, kneel, crouch, reach, and twist.

Disclaimer:  This information describes the general nature and level of work performed by employees in this job. The description is not designed to be a comprehensive inventory of duties, responsibilities and qualifications required of employees in the job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to qualified disabled individuals for performance of essential duties and responsibilities.