Protection And Control Engineer

Protection and Control Engineer

This role focuses on providing expert quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) for protection and control engineering designs associated with high-voltage transmission and distribution substations. The Protection and Control Engineer reviews and validates designs, drawings, and specifications to ensure they meet client standards, industry best practices, and reliability requirements. This position offers the opportunity to support a large utility, contribute to a growing substation and protection and control team, and engage in either part-time or long-term consulting work in a fully remote environment.

Responsibilities

• Perform QA/QC reviews of control and relay panel layouts, ensuring accuracy, completeness, and compliance with applicable standards and specifications.
• Assemble and verify specifications for control and relay panels, confirming that all required components and details are properly documented.
• Conduct QA/QC of design specifications, including verification of the overall bill of materials for protection and control systems.
• Review and validate the design and sizing of auxiliary systems, including AC and DC load centers, batteries, and chargers, to ensure reliable and efficient operation.
• Perform QA/QC on the design and sizing of conduit, cable, and backup generators to confirm proper capacity, routing, and integration with the overall substation design.
• Review junior engineers' protection and control designs to ensure they meet client standards and specifications, providing feedback and guidance where improvements are needed.
• Identify gaps or weaknesses in client protection schemes and recommend improvements to enhance system reliability and safety.
• Document all QA/QC reviews thoroughly, maintain accurate and organized record documents, and communicate findings and recommendations clearly to the project team.
• Provide QA/QC for the engineering design and review of protection and control systems for transmission and distribution substations, typically in the 69 kV to 500 kV range.
• Review and validate protection schemes, including one-line diagrams, three-line diagrams, control schematics, and wiring diagrams, ensuring consistency and correctness across all documents.
• Verify that protection and control drawings properly interface with the physical layout and design of substations, coordinating with other design disciplines as needed.
• Support a large utility client by delivering high-quality QA reviews and contributing to the overall performance and reliability of their substation protection and control systems.

Essential Skills

• At least 5 years of experience in protection and control engineering, with a focus on substation applications.
• A minimum of 1 year of experience performing QA reviews of protection and control designs.
• Bachelor's degree in Engineering.
• Strong knowledge of protection and control schemes for transmission and distribution substations, typically from 69 kV to 500 kV.
• Proficiency in reviewing and interpreting one-line diagrams, three-line diagrams, control schematics, and wiring diagrams.
• Experience with control and relay panel layouts, including specification and documentation of required components.
• Experience with substation utility design, including integration of protection and control systems with physical substation layouts.
• Demonstrated experience in quality assurance and quality control processes within an engineering environment.
• Ability to identify design gaps and protection issues and provide clear, actionable recommendations.
• Capability to document QA/QC reviews accurately and maintain organized record documents.
• Ability to meet background check, drug test, and motor vehicle record (MVR) requirements as applicable.

Additional Skills & Qualifications

• Experience working with relay protection schemes and associated substation equipment.
• Familiarity with designing and reviewing auxiliary systems such as AC/DC load centers, batteries, and chargers.
• Experience reviewing the design and sizing of conduit, cable, and backup generators for substation applications.
• Background in utility design projects, particularly those involving large transmission and distribution substations.
• Strong attention to detail and a methodical approach to QA/QC review processes.
• Effective written and verbal communication skills for collaborating with engineers and documenting review outcomes.
• Ability to work independently in a consulting capacity, managing workload and deadlines in a remote environment.
• Interest in long-term engagement with a growing substation and protection and control team with a stable workload.

Work Environment

This is a fully remote role with no field work required. You will collaborate closely with a substation and protection and control engineering team using Microsoft Teams and other digital collaboration tools. Work is performed in a professional home office or remote setting, focusing on design review, documentation, and virtual coordination with team members and stakeholders. The position offers flexibility to support either part-time or long-term consulting arrangements, while contributing to a large utility's substation protection and control projects for the foreseeable future.