Power System Engineer (Relay Engineering)

City of Austin•Austin, TX

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

At the City of Austin, you’ll have the opportunity to apply your engineering expertise to projects that directly impact the reliability and safety of the city’s power grid. You’ll work with a collaborative team, tackle complex technical challenges, and contribute to building a smarter, more resilient energy future for one of the fastest-growing communities in the nation. Step into a key engineering role with Austin Energy’s Relay Engineering Team, where you’ll apply your expertise in electric utility design, protection, and control systems to keep our power grid safe and reliable. In this position, you’ll prepare detailed construction drawing packages, troubleshoot and support microprocessor relay installations in the field. Your day-to-day will involve close collaboration with colleagues across Engineering, Construction, and Project Management, giving you the opportunity to see projects through from design to execution. This role is ideal for engineers who enjoy blending technical design with hands-on problem solving—and who want their work to make a direct impact on powering the City of Austin. Job Description: Power System Engineer Purpose: Under minimal supervision designs and assists in the design of electric utility system facilities, including generation, electric substations, overhead and underground transmission and distribution lines, network systems, protection systems, supervisory control systems (SCADA), market operation and settlement systems, street lighting, and other electric system facilities. This position exists only in the Power Production and Electrical Services Delivery department of Austin Energy.

Requirements

Knowledge of engineering design principles applicable to electric utility operations such as, generation, transmission, distribution, market operations and other related fields.
Knowledge of advanced mathematical techniques such as trigonometry, calculus, and coordinate geometry.
Knowledge of engineering standards, codes, practices, procedures, materials, and equipment used in the design, construction, and operation of the electric utility systems.
Knowledge of established engineering principles and methods.
Knowledge of preparation of cost estimates and engineering and feasibility reports.
Ability to perform more complex engineering calculations and to analyze engineering problems.
Knowledge of regulatory requirements within the local and state ordinances and laws.
Skill in oral and written technical and/or general communication including preparation of written reports.
Skill in negotiations and handling conflict resolution.
Knowledge of City of Austin purchasing and contract policies and procedures.
Graduation with a Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university with major coursework in Engineering, plus five (5) years of experience related to engineering.

Nice To Haves

Knowledge of and experience with electric utility protection schemes
Experience developing or applying standards for protective relay design in electric utility transmission, substation, and distribution systems
Experience providing engineering field support to electric utility technical personnel
Experience with equipment specification, selection, design approval and testing
Knowledge of and experience with quality management programs
Ability to travel to multiple sites as part of the regular job duties

Responsibilities

Prepares standards, equipment specifications, design procedures, test procedures
Performs power system studies such as protective relay coordination, fault studies, load flows, service reliability, power quality, voltage stability, power system market operations and settlement studies, etc.
Prepares engineering design and develops drawings and other documents for generation, transmission, distribution, substations and SCADA/EMS.
Prepares circuit maps, control diagrams, charts, data bases, and plans for different electrical facilities.
Provide assistance to all classes of customers, developers, and to other City Departments on technical matters relevant to electric utility services
Provide technical and financial inputs for projects in electric utility planning and budget process
Investigate and analyze engineering design problems; develop appropriate solutions; draft reports and make presentations
Prepares safety procedures for electric facilities
Assist in efforts to keep up with the latest developments in the utility industry, to meet North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC), Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and Texas Public Utility Commission (TX PUC) standards and regulatory requirements.
Work closely with field personnel to support project energization.
May provide leadership, work assignments, evaluation, training, and guidance to others.