Senior Physical Substation Engineer

About the role

We are seeking an experienced Senior Physical Substation Engineer to lead the design of high-voltage transmission and distribution substation physical packages. This will include layouts, bus work, grounding, conduit, and equipment placement.

Responsibilities

• Develop and review complete physical design packages for high-voltage substations, including one-line and three-line diagrams, general arrangement (GA) drawings and section views, bus work layouts and equipment plans, grounding layouts and calculations per IEEE Std 80, conduit, trench, and cable routing plans, and engineering documents and bill of materials.
• Ensure compliance with utility, client, and regulatory standards (IEEE, ANSI, NEC, NESC, NFPA).
• Applies advanced engineering judgment to optimize substation layouts for safety, reliability, constructability, and cost efficiency.
• Oversees integration of civil, structural, and protection and control (P+C) requirements.
• Performs and reviews calculations including grounding, voltage drop, conduit fill, lightning protection, illumination and cable sag/tension.
• Reviews and approves design packages.
• Leads design coordination meetings with clients, utilities, vendors, and internal teams.
• Serves as the technical point of contact for clients, providing solutions to complex design challenges.
• Mentors and guides junior engineers and designers, reviewing their work and providing structured feedback.
• Supports project schedules and budgets by accurately forecasting design hours and meeting deliverable milestones.
• Recommends and implements improvements in design processes.
• Stays current with emerging technologies, equipment, and industry standards impacting substation design.

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience in substation physical design, with proven leadership on medium to large projects.
• Professional Engineer (PE) license, required.
• Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering (with a focus in power systems or related discipline).
• Experience with grounding analysis software (WinIGS, CYME, CDEGS, or equivalent).
• Experience with photometric analysis software (Visual Lighting, AGi32, DIALux, Revit or equivalent).
• Experience with lighting analysis software (WinIGS, CDEGS, PSCAD or equivalent).
• Experience with Substation Design Suite (SDS) and Inventor preferred but not required.
• Strong understanding of substation equipment, procurement, and configurations (AIS, transformer banks, ring bus, breaker-and-a-half, etc.).
• Knowledge of industry codes and standards: IEEE, ANSI, NESC, NEC, NFPA, OSHA.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with ability to interface directly with clients.

Skills

• Valid driver’s license and ability to travel for site visits, design reviews, and client meetings.