Transmission Electrical Engineer.

About the Role

Shape the future of clean energy transmission as a Transmission Electrical Engineer at the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), a cornerstone of the Pacific Northwest. Deliver clean, reliable, and sustainable hydroelectric and wind energy across a vast, high-voltage transmission grid. This role offers a unique opportunity to participate in a professional engineering rotation program, gaining hands-on experience across multiple specialized departments while contributing to the modernization, safety, and reliability of one of the nation’s largest utility networks. Your work will directly impact millions of homes and businesses through system optimization, grid simulation, and safeguarding critical digital assets.

Responsibilities

• Accelerate Your Expertise Through a Multi-Disciplinary Rotation Program: Broaden your technical horizons by rotating through at least three distinct engineering specialties within BPA. Collaborate with diverse teams of specialists, expand your understanding of the entire high-voltage transmission system, and choose the career path that best fits your strengths and ambitions.
• Plan and Optimize the High-Voltage Grid of Tomorrow: Conduct critical planning studies and feasibility analyses to shape the future of transmission infrastructure. Evaluate the necessity of new generation facilities, perform complex electrical calculations, determine optimal grid operating limits, and recommend cost-effective and environmentally friendly design approaches for high-voltage energy delivery.
• Model and Simulate Grid Resilience in Real Time: Utilize state-of-the-art software to digitally simulate the regional power grid under various operational stress levels. Analyze thermal behavior, voltage limits, and grid stability during sudden system events to develop technical procedures and operating limits that prevent outages and guarantee uninterrupted power.
• Harden and Engineer Mission-Critical Control Systems: Provide vital engineering support to 24/7 system control centers. Design, implement, and maintain high-availability hardware and software networks, manage automated grid control systems, and apply robust cybersecurity measures—including intrusion detection and system security patching—to defend critical physical infrastructure from digital vulnerabilities.
• Lead Complex System Designs, Testing, and Integrations: Direct the design, modification, and field integration of high- and low-voltage power distribution equipment. Apply sound engineering judgment to resolve technical hurdles such as equipment footprint constraints and thermal management. Witness performance tests and make on-the-spot adjustments to validate equipment safety.
• Act as a Technical Consultant and Representative for Regional Initiatives: Serve as a technical advisor to internal colleagues, equipment manufacturers, and contractors. Represent BPA at industry conferences, coordinate multi-agency projects with federal, state, and local partners, and help align engineering standards with regional safety and regulatory guidelines.

Requirements

Applicants must respond to four short, free-response essay questions in the questionnaire. Answers are reviewed by the hiring manager and agency leadership if referred for selection consideration.

• You must be a United States Citizen.
• This employer participates in the e-Verify program.
• Males must abide by Selective Service registration requirements.
• You will be required to report in person to the official duty location.

Conditions of Employment

• After employment, this position may be subject to periodic physical examinations, as prescribed by competent medical authority and at BPA expense, if exposed to health hazards.
• A preliminary background check must be completed before a new employee can begin work. Current Federal employees or other individuals with an existing completed background investigation may not be required to undergo another background check.
• This position may be subject to FERC SOC non-discrimination rules and restrictions prohibiting disclosure of certain information to Power Merchant Function employees.
• The incumbent may be required to have a working knowledge of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Standards of Conduct (SOC) to ensure fair competition in the open access transmission market. This includes completing BPA’s mandatory SOC training.

Qualifications

Basic Requirement: Degree in Engineering. To be acceptable, the program must:

• Lead to a bachelor’s degree in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by ABET; or
• Include differential and integral calculus and courses (more advanced than first-year physics and chemistry) in five of the following seven areas of engineering science or physics:
  • Statics, dynamics
  • Strength of materials (stress-strain relationships)
  • Fluid mechanics, hydraulics
  • Thermodynamics
  • Electrical fields and circuits
  • Nature and properties of materials (relating particle and aggregate structure to properties)
  • Any other comparable area of fundamental engineering science or physics, such as optics, heat transfer, soil mechanics, or electronics.

OR—Combination of Education and Experience: College-level education, training, and/or technical experience that furnished:

• A thorough knowledge of the physical and mathematical sciences underlying engineering, and
• A good understanding, both theoretical and practical, of the engineering sciences and techniques and their applications to one of the branches of engineering.

The adequacy of such background must be demonstrated by one of the following:

• Professional Registration or Licensure: Current registration as an Engineer Intern (EI), Engineer in Training (EIT), or licensure as a Professional Engineer (PE) by any State, the District of Columbia, Guam, or Puerto Rico.
• Written Test: Evidence of having successfully passed the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) examination or any other written test required for professional registration by an engineering licensure board.
• Specified Academic Courses: Successful completion of at least 60 semester hours of courses in the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences, including the courses specified in the basic requirements. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of an engineering program.
• Related Curriculum: Successful completion of a curriculum leading to a bachelor’s degree in an appropriate scientific field (e.g., engineering technology, physics, chemistry, architecture, computer science, mathematics, hydrology, or geology) may be accepted in lieu of a bachelor’s degree in engineering, provided the applicant has at least 1 year of professional engineering experience acquired under professional engineering supervision and guidance.

Specialized Experience Requirements

GS-09: A qualified candidate’s online application and resume must demonstrate at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-07) in the Federal service. Specialized experience is defined as:

• Applying basic electrical engineering concepts to assist higher-level engineers with routine technical tasks related to the design, modification, or analysis of electrical systems or equipment; and
• Assisting in engineering evaluations or studies by collecting, compiling, and reviewing technical data, drawings, or specifications against established criteria.

You May Substitute Education for Specialized Experience As Follows:

• Two years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a master’s degree, or master’s or equivalent graduate degree; your education must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work.
• Combination of education and experience as described above. Less than one year of specialized experience may be combined with graduate education in excess of the amount required for the next lower grade level (i.e., credit hours beyond the first year of full-time study may be credited).

GS-11: A qualified candidate’s online application and resume must demonstrate at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-09) in the Federal service. Specialized experience is defined as:

• Performing conventional electrical engineering analyses and calculations for the design, operation, or modification of equipment or systems on a high-voltage transmission system, applying established precedents and standard practices to solve problems;
• Designing or reviewing designs for electrical systems or equipment of limited scope and complexity, such as designated portions of larger projects, using established design criteria; and
• Performing engineering evaluations of technical data for conventional equipment to determine if it meets specified requirements and assisting with troubleshooting tasks on existing electrical systems.

You May Substitute Education for Specialized Experience As Follows:

• Three years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree, or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree; your education must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work.
• Combination of education and experience as described above. Less than one year of specialized experience may be combined with graduate education in excess of the amount required for the next lower grade level (i.e., credit hours beyond the first two years of full-time study may be credited).

“Experience” refers to paid and unpaid experience. Examples of qualifying unpaid experience may include volunteer work done through National Service programs (such as Peace Corps and AmeriCorps) as well as work for other community-based organizations.