Resource Planning Strategist

At Cleco, we're not just poweringlives-we're powering a cleaner, smarter future for Louisiana.With bold investments in innovativeenergysolutions, we're transforminghow we power ourcommunities: smarter, cleaner, and more sustainable.This is a long-term commitmentto our people and our communities because our future-and the future of generations to come-depends on it. If you're ready to make an impact where it matters most, join us at Cleco-where we're Energizing Your Tomorrow.

The Resource Planning Strategist leads development and evaluation of Cleco's resource portfolio strategy by building, coordinating, and stress-testing base case and alternative planning scenarios. This role integrates inputs across operations, transmission, fuels, markets, and corporate development to ensure portfolio options are feasible, aligned, and risk-informed. The Strategist ensures resource plans support load growth, regulatory requirements, and long-term system reliability while improving transparency, consistency, and speed of decision-making across the Resource Planning function.

Key Responsibilities

• Champions a corporate culture that emphasizes transparency, integrity, safety, environmental responsibility, employee development, sense of belonging, customer service, and operational excellence.

• Lead development and coordination of portfolio scenarios, including base case and sensitivities, to support IRP, regulatory filings, and strategic decisions.

• Align cross-functional inputs (generation, transmission, fuels, markets, new customer loads) to ensure consistent assumptions and a single source of truth for planning.

• Bridge near-term operational constraints with long-term planning to ensure portfolio options are feasible, operable, and compliant.

• Quantify and communicate portfolio risks, including market, policy, accreditation, interconnection, fuel, and cost uncertainties.

• Maintain and manage portfolio inputs, assumptions, and decision artifacts to enable consistent and transparent analysis.

• Coordinate interconnection and deliverability strategy for new resources and large load additions, including queue risks and timing implications.

• Evaluate emerging resource options and technologies to ensure assumptions reflect performance, siting, and system integration needs.

• Track MISO market and policy developments and incorporate impacts into portfolio planning and scenario analysis.

• Lead cross-functional planning efforts to align resource development with transmission strategy and project execution timelines.

• Develop decision-ready materials linking scenario results to key drivers, risks, and tradeoffs for leadership and regulatory use.

Qualifications

Required Education, Skills & Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Accounting, Engineering, or related field

• 5+ years experience in one or more energy utility areas including operations, project management, engineering, analytics, and/or ISO portfolio management

• Ability to negotiate and influence with a consultative approach

• Strong knowledge of leading practices for their practice area with preference for experience in resource planning, ISO market, portfolio management, portfolio analysis and/or production cost modeling

• Willingness and ability to learn new technologies on the job

• Experienced and knowledgeable Excel user

• Capable of learning third party modeling software and developing internal tools within Resource Planning org

• Demonstrated ability to communicate complex results to technical and non-technical audiences, including developing reporting and presentations for Sr. management

• Proficient at functioning effectively within a team environment, present ideas and opinions in a respective and collegial manner

• Progression to this level is strictly restricted based on critical individual capabilities and business requirements; must be supported by market survey data

Key Competencies

BEHAVIORAL

• Building Organizational Talent*

• Building Partnerships

• Leading Teams

• Business Acumen

• Communication

• Courage

• Building Self-Insight

• Building Talent*

• Driving for Results

• Energizing the Organization

• Driving Execution

• Building Trusting Relationships

• Driving Innovation

• Planning and Organizing

• Safety

• Establishing Strategic Direction

TECHNICAL

• Analytical skills, capable of risk analysis and quantifying scenarios supporting decisions and recommendations

• ISO market function and design

• Strategic planning within a regulated utility

• Uses analytics tools (BI, statistical methods)

May perform other duties as needed.
Salary dependent on experience, skills, education, and training.