Senior Protection and Control Engineer

Senior Protection and Control Engineer

The High Voltage Engineering team provides pre-construction, construction, and commissioning engineering support for high-voltage facilities associated with renewable energy power plants, including solar, wind, and battery energy storage projects. These facilities range from 35 kV through 500 kV. We are seeking a dynamic, collaborative, and technically strong Senior Protection and Control Engineer to support high-voltage substation projects. This role is an excellent opportunity for an engineer with strong protection and control expertise who also values collaboration with EPC partners, power utilities, and internal project teams. The selected engineer will lead protection and control activities from design development through execution, commissioning, and post-energization support for greenfield and brownfield substations across AES Clean Energy projects.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities

• Lead protection and control engineering activities for AES Clean Energy high-voltage substations supporting solar, wind, and battery energy storage projects, with voltage levels ranging from 35 kV to 500 kV.
• Provide technical leadership throughout the project lifecycle, including design development, engineering review, construction support, commissioning, energization, and post-energization support.
• Review protection and control drawings, protection philosophies, relay settings, short-circuit studies, coordination studies, grounding studies, EMT studies, and related technical reports.
• Evaluate short-circuit study results for generation interconnections and provide actionable feedback to EPC partners to support protection design and coordination.
• Apply strong knowledge of protection coordination, time-current characteristics, SEL protection and automation products, and engineering tools such as SEL software, ETAP, and PowerFactory.
• Support technical review and interpretation of equipment testing for high- and medium-voltage circuit breakers, main power transformers, instrument transformers, surge arresters, and grounding systems.
• Coordinate NERC PRC compliance activities across multiple projects and work with EPCs, utilities, and internal stakeholders to support applicable standards and reporting requirements.
• Lead efforts to standardize protection and control practices, philosophies, templates, and lessons learned across projects and applications.
• Support root-cause analysis for site events during commissioning, energization, or operations, and incorporate lessons learned into protection and control standards.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including development, execution, operations and maintenance, and asset management, to improve project outcomes and support long-term operational value.
• Stay current with evolving protection technologies, OEM guidance, utility requirements, and applicable industry standards, including NERC PRC standards and IEEE guidelines.
• Mentor associate engineers and peer engineers, support technical knowledge sharing, and contribute to leadership development within the engineering organization.
• Travel to project sites, vendor facilities, and commissioning locations as needed; anticipated travel and field work is approximately 25%.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering with an emphasis in power systems.
• Minimum of 5 years of demonstrated experience in protection and control engineering for high-voltage substations or renewable generation facilities.
• Experience with SEL protection and automation products is required.
• Strong understanding of power system fundamentals, protection principles, relay coordination, and substation control schemes.
• Experience reviewing or supporting high-voltage equipment testing procedures, test results, and commissioning documentation.
• Familiarity with communication standards and protocols such as IEC 61850, DNP3, Modbus, and related substation automation applications.
• Ability to read and interpret electrical single-line diagrams, DC schematics, protection and control drawings, and substation equipment wiring diagrams.
• Strong communication skills, including the ability to lead technical discussions with EPCs, utilities, consultants, and internal stakeholders.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage priorities across multiple projects and tasks.
• Ability to support project engineering activities during substation design, construction, commissioning, and energization.

Desired Skills and Experience

• Master's degree in Electrical Engineering or a related power systems discipline.
• Substation design experience in physical design, protection and control design, or both.
• Experience with SCADA systems, controls architecture, and substation automation design.
• Experience developing or supporting hardware-in-the-loop testing environments for protection relays, SCADA systems, and related substation equipment.
• Project management experience coordinating multiple consultants, EPCs, and project stakeholders concurrently.

AES is an Equal Opportunity Employer who is committed to building strength and delivering long-term sustainability through diversity and inclusion. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and/or expression, race, national origin, ethnicity, age, religion, marital status, physical or mental disability, pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical condition, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected under applicable law. The expected salary for this position, at commencement of employment, is between $113,000 and $141,525/year; however, base pay offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. The total compensation package for this position also includes annual bonus. The benefits offered for this position are: medical, dental, and vision coverage, life insurance, 401(k) eligibility, and paid time off (including vacation, sick leave time, and parental leave). Details of participation in these benefit plans will be provided if a candidate receives an offer of employment. If hired, employee will be in an "at-will position" and the Company reserves the right to modify base salary (as well as any other discretionary payment or compensation program) at any time, including for reasons related to individual performance, Company or individual department/team performance, and market factors.