Principal Substation Engineer

Overview

We are designing the grid of the future! 

The Principal Substation Engineer will serve as a senior technical leader within EPE’s growing utility Substation Engineering practice. This role will help establish and advance EPE’s physical substation engineering capabilities while providing technical leadership and hands-on engineering support for complex utility substation projects.

A primary focus of this role will be establishing and maintaining a high standard of engineering quality. The Principal Engineer will help define EPE’s engineering standards, design practices, technical procedures, and QA/QC processes while providing senior technical review and oversight of project deliverables. As the practice grows, this individual will help make sure technical capabilities, processes, and quality controls scale with the organization.

The Principal Substation Engineer will lead and review physical substation engineering from conceptual engineering through detailed design, IFC packages, and construction support. This position requires deep electric utility substation experience and the ability to serve as a technical authority, develop engineers and designers, solve complex engineering challenges, and collaborate across EPE’s Protection & Control (P&C), transmission, distribution, civil/structural, and other technical capabilities.

Responsibilities

How you can make an impact:

Technical Leadership

• Serve as a senior technical authority for physical substation engineering and design.
• Lead the technical development and review of utility substation projects from conceptual engineering through detailed design, IFC packages, and construction support.
• Provide technical leadership for greenfield substations, brownfield modifications and expansions, transformer additions and replacements, equipment upgrades, and other utility capital projects.
• Lead and review engineering associated with general arrangements, equipment layouts, plans and elevations, bus design, grounding, lightning protection, station service, conduit and cable systems, equipment specifications, and associated calculations.
• Provide technical guidance for complex brownfield projects, including existing conditions, constructability, outages, sequencing, equipment interfaces, and operational constraints.
• Interpret and apply utility standards, engineering practices, and applicable NESC, IEEE, ANSI, NEC, and other relevant industry codes and standards.
• Resolve complex technical issues and provide sound engineering judgment to project teams and clients.

Engineering Standards & Quality

• Champion engineering quality across the Substation Engineering practice and establish clear expectations for technical rigor and accountability.
• Develop, maintain, and continuously improve engineering standards, design criteria, calculation methodologies, technical procedures, templates, checklists, and other tools supporting consistent project delivery.
• Establish and maintain scalable QA/QC processes with appropriate technical reviews throughout the project lifecycle.
• Define technical review requirements and approval processes for engineering calculations, drawings, specifications, and design packages.
• Perform and oversee senior-level technical reviews of complex and high-risk engineering deliverables.
• Identify technical and quality risks early and work with project teams to address issues before they impact project delivery.
• Evaluate quality issues and lessons learned to identify root causes and incorporate improvements into engineering processes, tools, standards, and training.
• Support development and implementation of utility-specific standards and design requirements for key clients.

Project Delivery

• Serve as Lead Engineer or Technical Lead for complex utility substation projects.
• Support development of project scopes, engineering estimates, schedules, deliverables, staffing requirements, and execution approaches.
• Coordinate physical substation engineering with P&C, civil, structural, transmission, distribution, project management, and other supporting disciplines.
• Establish clear technical interfaces and design inputs across disciplines.
• Work with project managers and technical leads to proactively manage technical, quality, and project delivery risks.
• Participate in design reviews, client meetings, site visits, field walkdowns, and construction support activities.
• Review vendor drawings, equipment data, and other technical documentation for compliance with project and utility requirements.
• Support resolution of RFIs, field changes, and technical issues during construction.

Team Development & Continuous Improvement

• Mentor and develop substation engineers and designers with an emphasis on engineering fundamentals, technical judgment, quality, and increasing technical ownership.
• Develop engineers capable of independently leading increasingly complex substation engineering projects.
• Support development of technical competencies, training, and career progression within the Substation Engineering team.
• Support recruiting and technical evaluation of prospective substation engineers and designers.
• Promote a culture of technical excellence, accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Identify opportunities to standardize and automate engineering activities and quality checks to improve consistency, efficiency, and scalability.
• Stay current with evolving utility standards, technologies, equipment, and engineering practices and incorporate relevant advancements into EPE’s capabilities.

Client & Business Support

• Develop trusted technical relationships with electric utility clients and establish EPE as a high-quality engineering partner.
• Participate in client meetings, technical workshops, project scoping, and solution development.
• Support proposal development, technical approaches, level-of-effort estimates, and project execution strategies.
• Identify opportunities to expand EPE’s support based on client needs and project experience.
• Support the Director, Substation Engineering and other EPE leaders in developing new utility substation opportunities.
• Represent EPE as a technical expert in client and industry discussions.

Qualifications

Bring your passion, here's what’s needed:

Required

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or a related engineering discipline.
• Professional Engineer (PE) license with the ability to obtain licensure in additional jurisdictions as required.
• 12+ years of progressive experience in electric utility substation engineering and design.
• Extensive hands-on experience with physical substation engineering and detailed design.
• Demonstrated experience serving as a Lead Engineer, Technical Lead, Engineer of Record, or senior technical reviewer for utility substation projects.
• Experience with utility substation projects including greenfield and brownfield projects, expansions, equipment replacements, transformer additions, and capacity upgrades.
• Strong technical knowledge of physical substation design including equipment layout, electrical clearances, bus design, grounding, lightning protection, station service, conduit and cable systems, and equipment specifications.
• Demonstrated experience developing or applying engineering standards, technical review processes, and QA/QC requirements.
• Strong understanding of the interfaces between physical substation engineering, P&C, civil/structural engineering, construction, and utility operations.
• Experience developing and reviewing engineering calculations, drawings, specifications, and complete design packages.
• Working knowledge of utility standards and applicable NESC, IEEE, ANSI, NEC, and other relevant industry codes and standards.
• Demonstrated ability to identify technical risks, resolve complex engineering issues, and provide sound engineering judgment.
• Demonstrated ability to mentor and technically develop engineers and designers.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to communicate effectively with engineering teams and utility clients.

Preferred

• 15+ years of electric utility or utility-focused consulting experience supporting transmission and distribution substation programs.
• Experience serving as Engineer of Record or technical authority for utility substation projects.
• Experience establishing engineering standards, design criteria, and QA/QC programs for a utility or engineering organization.
• Experience supporting both distribution and transmission-class substations.
• Experience with AutoCAD, MicroStation, Bentley tools, or other commonly used utility substation engineering and design platforms.
• Experience developing or implementing design automation, automated quality checks, or standardized engineering workflows.
• Experience supporting utility capital programs involving multiple concurrent substation projects.
• Experience supporting project scoping, estimating, proposals, and client development.

What Success Looks Like

The Principal Substation Engineering will establish the technical and quality foundation required to grow EPE’s physical substation engineering capabilities.

Success will include consistently delivering high-quality engineering work, establishing scalable technical standards and QA/QC processes, developing engineers and designers, identifying and addressing technical risks early, and building trust with utility clients.

As the practice grows, the Principal Engineer will help EPE scale its team and project portfolio while maintaining the technical rigor and engineering quality required to successfully deliver increasingly complex utility substation programs.

Be a part of an innovative team shaping the grid of the future through advanced energy intelligence.  For more than half a century, Electric Power Engineers (EPE) has partnered with power and energy clients across the globe, providing consulting expertise and energy intelligence software solutions for complex engineering and grid modeling challenges. As leaders in the renewables space, we are focused on building a modern, secure, and resilient grid.   Join us in making an impact on the communities we serve and the environment in which we live. Together we can transform the future of energy.  

How we support you:

• Comprehensive health and wellness benefits including medical, dental, and vision with 100% premium coverage for you
• Generous PTO and paid holidays
• MyShare Employee Ownership Program
• Work with industry leaders
• 401K, up to a 4% match (100% vested from day 1)

Location: This position will be remote. 

Travel:  Occasional travel may be needed (10% or less)

EPE is an equal opportunity/AA/Disability/Veteran employer. The EEO is the Law poster, and its supplement are available using the following links: EEOC is the Law Poster

Third-Party Recruiting Notification

EPE does not accept unsolicited resumes from third-party recruiters. Any unsolicited third-party resumes forwarded by recruiters to EPE via our career page or to any of our managers or employees will be considered public information, may be treated as a direct application from the person identified in the resume, and will not be eligible for placement fee payment to the agency. EPE will not pay a fee to a third-party recruiter or agency without a previously signed third-party agreement and has not coordinated their recruiting activity with the appropriate member of the Talent Acquisition team. 

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