Engineering Manager

Group Manager, Substation Engineering

This leadership role oversees a talented, multidisciplinary team delivering high-quality physical substation designs for utilities and EPC partners. The Group Manager provides strategic direction for complex transmission and distribution projects, ensures technical excellence across all design deliverables, and drives a collaborative, innovative, and inclusive engineering culture in a growing national substation group.

Responsibilities

• Lead and inspire a team of substation engineers, providing clear technical guidance and leadership across physical and protection and control (P&C) design projects.
• Deliver high-voltage substation physical designs that meet client requirements, industry standards, and project schedules for utilities and EPC partners.
• Provide strategic oversight of project resources, including staffing, budgets, schedules, and priorities, to ensure successful execution of a portfolio of substation projects.
• Guide engineers through complex transmission and distribution projects, helping them develop strong systems thinking and technical depth.
• Manage performance, professional development, and career growth for a national substation engineering group, including goal setting, coaching, and regular feedback.
• Supervise a team of approximately seven engineers, ensuring effective workload distribution, technical support, and alignment with project and business objectives.
• Own quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) for substation design packages, reviewing and approving drawings, specifications, and documentation for technical accuracy and completeness.
• Review general arrangements, grounding plans, bus configurations, and other key substation design elements to ensure safe, reliable, and efficient solutions.
• Apply advanced knowledge of utility industry standards to validate designs and maintain compliance with applicable codes and best practices.
• Partner with tenured leadership on business development activities, supporting proposals, client presentations, and relationship-building to grow the substation practice.
• Collaborate on recruiting initiatives to attract, hire, and retain top engineering talent for the substation group.
• Champion a culture of learning, innovation, collaboration, and inclusion, encouraging knowledge sharing, continuous improvement, and adoption of best practices.
• Serve as a confident communicator and team builder, fostering strong internal and external relationships and representing the substation group in meetings and strategic discussions.

Essential Skills

• 10+ years of experience in physical substation design or protection and control (P&C) design, including at least 4+ years in a leadership or management capacity.
• Proven experience in high-voltage substation design, including general arrangements, grounding plans, and bus configurations.
• Strong experience in substation engineering management, with the ability to supervise and develop a team of engineers.
• Deep understanding of utility industry standards and their application to substation design and project delivery.
• Professional Engineer (PE) license in Electrical Engineering, with either a bachelor's or master's degree in Electrical Engineering.
• Demonstrated experience performing QA/QC on engineering design packages, drawings, and specifications.
• Ability to oversee and coordinate multiple concurrent substation projects while maintaining high technical standards.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to convey complex technical concepts clearly to engineers, stakeholders, and clients.
• Proven mentorship and leadership abilities, with a track record of helping engineers grow in both technical depth and systems thinking.
• Strong organizational and planning skills, with the ability to manage resources, schedules, and priorities effectively.

Additional Skills & Qualifications

• Experience working with multidisciplinary teams on transmission and distribution projects.
• Prior responsibility for supervising a group of engineers, ideally in a national or geographically dispersed team structure.
• Project Management Professional (PMP) certification is a plus.
• Demonstrated passion for innovation in substation engineering, including exploring new tools, methods, or design approaches.
• Experience partnering with leadership on business development initiatives, including proposal support and client engagement.
• Experience in both physical and protection and control (P&C) substation design is highly beneficial.
• Track record of building collaborative, inclusive team environments that support learning and knowledge sharing.

Work Environment

• This role operates in a 100% remote work environment, supporting a growing national substation engineering group.
• Team members collaborate virtually across projects and disciplines, using digital tools and communication platforms to coordinate design activities, QA/QC reviews, and client interactions.
• The position emphasizes a culture of learning, innovation, collaboration, and inclusion, with regular remote meetings, mentoring sessions, and opportunities for professional development.
• Dress is typically business casual and appropriate for virtual client and team interactions, with flexibility to align with personal preferences and meeting requirements.

Job Type & Location

This is a Permanent position based out of Chicago, IL.

Pay and Benefits

The pay range for this position is $140000.00 - $160000.00/yr. Individual compensation offered for this position within this range will depend on many factors, including qualifications, skills, relevant experience, job knowledge, geographic location, internal equity, and other pertinent job-related factors.

Eligibility requirements apply to some benefits and may depend on your job classification and length of employment. Benefits are subject to change and may be subject to specific elections, plan, or program terms. If eligible, the benefits available for this temporary role may include the following:

• Medical, dental & vision
• Critical Illness, Accident, and Hospital
• 401(k) Retirement Plan – Pre-tax and Roth post-tax contributions available
• Life Insurance (Voluntary Life & AD&D for the employee and dependents)
• Short and long-term disability
• Health Spending Account (HSA)
• Transportation benefits
• Employee Assistance Program
• Time Off/Leave (PTO, Vacation or Sick Leave)

Workplace Type

This is a fully remote position.

Application Deadline

This position is anticipated to close on Aug 28, 2026.

About Actalent

Actalent is a global leader in engineering and sciences services and talent solutions. We help visionary companies advance their engineering and science initiatives through access to specialized experts who drive scale, innovation and speed to market. With a network of almost 20,000 consultants and 5,000 clients across the U.S., Canada, Asia and Europe, Actalent serves many of the Fortune 500. We are proud to be an Engineering News-Record (ENR) Top 500 Design Firm for our engineering design services and a ClearlyRated Best of Staffing® winner for both client and talent service.

The company is an equal opportunity employer and will consider all applications without regard to race, sex, age, color, religion, national origin, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information or any characteristic protected by law.

If you would like to request a reasonable accommodation, such as the modification or adjustment of the job application process or interviewing process due to a disability, please email View email address on click.appcast.io for other accommodation options.

San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance: Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, for all positions located in the city and county of San Francisco, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Massachusetts Lie Detector: It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI): We may use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to support parts of our hiring process, including sourcing, screening, and evaluating candidates. AI helps assess applications and qualifications, but final decisions are made by our hiring team. By applying, you acknowledge and agree that your application may be reviewed using AI tools.