Position Summary
The Senior Substation Engineer is responsible for leading the engineering, design, and technical execution of high-voltage substation projects for utility clients. This role supports greenfield and brownfield substation projects, including physical design, protection and control coordination, equipment specifications, technical reviews, construction support, and compliance with applicable utility standards and industry codes. The ideal candidate brings strong power delivery experience, sound engineering judgment, and the ability to mentor junior staff while serving as a technical point of contact for clients, internal teams, vendors, and contractors.
Key Responsibilities
• Lead and perform substation engineering and design for utility transmission and distribution projects, including voltage classes typically ranging from 13.8 kV through 500 kV.
• Develop, review, and approve substation physical design deliverables, including general arrangements, one-line diagrams, grounding plans, conduit and cable routing plans, equipment layouts, elevations, sections, details, and bills of material.
• Prepare and review technical specifications for major substation equipment, including power transformers, circuit breakers, disconnect switches, instrument transformers, bus systems, surge arresters, relay panels, control buildings, and auxiliary systems.
• Perform and review engineering calculations such as grounding studies, lightning protection, conduit fill, cable sizing, voltage drop, station service, AC/DC load calculations, and equipment ratings.
• Coordinate closely with protection and control, civil, structural, transmission line, SCADA, telecom, project management, procurement, and construction teams to ensure integrated and constructible designs.
• Support protection and control design coordination, including relay panel layouts, control schematics, wiring diagrams, relay settings coordination, and interface requirements.
• Ensure engineering deliverables comply with client standards, utility practices, applicable codes, and industry standards such as IEEE, ANSI, NEC, NESC, NFPA, and NERC requirements where applicable.
• Provide technical leadership during project planning, design reviews, constructability reviews, outage planning, commissioning, and field issue resolution.
• Review vendor drawings, contractor submittals, equipment data, test reports, and construction documentation for technical accuracy and compliance with project requirements.
• Respond to RFIs, support site visits, resolve field conflicts, and provide engineering support during construction, testing, energization, and closeout.
• Prepare engineering scopes of work, design criteria, project schedules, estimates, technical proposals, and level-of-effort assumptions for utility projects.
• Mentor junior engineers and
designers by reviewing work products, providing technical guidance, and promoting quality, safety, and continuous improvement.
Required Qualifications
• Bachelor's degree in
Electrical Engineering from an accredited program; power systems emphasis preferred.
• Minimum of 7 years of progressive experience in substation engineering, utility power delivery, or high-voltage electrical infrastructure design.
• Demonstrated experience developing substation physical design packages for utility clients.
• Strong knowledge of substation equipment, configurations, clearances, grounding, bus arrangements, station service, control buildings, and constructability requirements.
• Familiarity with applicable codes and standards, including IEEE, ANSI, NEC, NESC, NFPA, and utility-specific design standards.
• Ability to lead technical design reviews, coordinate across disciplines, and manage multiple project priorities.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to interface professionally with clients, contractors, vendors, and internal stakeholders.
• Proficiency reviewing drawings and engineering deliverables prepared in AutoCAD, MicroStation, or similar design platforms.
Preferred Qualifications
• Professional Engineer license or ability to obtain licensure preferred.
• Experience with both AIS and GIS substations, including greenfield and brownfield modifications.
• Experience with grounding analysis software such as CDEGS, WinIGS, or similar tools.
• Experience with power system study tools such as ETAP, ASPEN, SKM, CYME, or similar software.
• Experience supporting utility-scale renewable energy interconnections, battery energy storage systems, grid modernization, or transmission expansion projects.
• Knowledge of protection and control principles, relay coordination, SCADA integration, and commissioning support.
• Experience preparing proposals, engineering estimates, design schedules, and technical clarifications for utility clients.
Core Competencies
• Technical leadership and sound engineering judgment
• Utility client focus and professional communication
• Strong understanding of safety, reliability, and constructability principles
• Ability to manage competing priorities and deliver high-quality work under schedule constraints
• Cross-functional coordination with engineering, project management, procurement, and field teams
• Mentorship, quality control, and continuous improvement mindset
