Associate System Protection Engineer

PG&E•West Sacramento, CA

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Associate Protection Engineer provides entry-level support for projects, protection studies, and protection engineering duties for transmission voltages of 230 kV and below, under the direction of a supervisor or more experienced engineer. The role supports System Protection Engineering, which provides project and maintenance and operations support; specifies design requirements and testing procedures; reviews and analyzes power-system disturbances and operations; provides technical consultation and training on system operation and planning; and evaluates equipment and develops standards. The engineer also provides normal and emergency maintenance and operations support, working with internal engineering, operations, substation construction, and maintenance organizations. The position is hybrid, working from a remote office and an assigned work location within PG&E’s service territory, based on business need. The role is represented by Engineers and Scientists of California (ESC) and is subject to collective bargaining.

Requirements

Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering or a related technical discipline, or be graduating with a BSEE or related degree by December 2026 from an accredited U.S. curriculum or equivalent from outside the U.S.

Nice To Haves

EIT Certificate.
Two years of experience in engineering.
Ability to apply basic engineering principles and theory.
Basic understanding of symmetrical component theory and ability to perform fault calculations.
Basic knowledge of logic gate theory and control circuitry.
Ability to read and understand operating, single-line, SLM&R, and schematic diagrams.
Ability to quickly learn protection concepts and their application.

Responsibilities

Provide protection engineering support for projects and studies involving transmission voltages of 230 kV and below.
Issue protection requirements and prepare descriptions of operations for non-standard and localized RAS schemes.
Conduct short-circuit studies and calculate short-circuit line impedance.
Determine and issue relay and automatics settings.
Support relay system installations, including reviewing test programs and supporting end-to-end tests, load checks, direction checks, and relay releases.
Conduct area coordination studies.
Participate in project walkdowns and project meetings.
Review construction drawings.
Update and maintain records, including the Aspen relay database, transformer data sheets, short-circuit base cases, files, automatics databases, job files, port assignment sheets, and breaker files.
Review and approve new tools and training before rollout.
Design and set localized RAS schemes based on Operation Engineering requirements.
Identify existing protection deficiencies.
Provide normal and emergency maintenance and operations support.
Provide fault location.
Investigate questionable relay operations, perform remote event retrieval, and implement corrective actions.
Process clearance requests and provide specific protection setup.
Assist technicians and operators with routine maintenance and operations work.
For the Transmission Group, provide project and routine maintenance and operations support to Hydro generation.
Manage digital fault recorders and perform event retrieval.
Conduct FERC generation interconnection studies and third-party load interconnections.
Work with internal engineering, operations, substation construction, and maintenance organizations, and may attend meetings representing the group.