Protection and Controls Engineering Manager

American Electric Power•Roanoke, VA

4d•$136,539 - $177,503•Onsite

About The Position

The Protection and Controls Engineering Manager leads a protection and control engineering team responsible for scoping, designing, and engineering equipment and protection schemes that support electric-grid expansion and maintain grid safety, reliability, and compliance. The manager is the technical authority and people leader for timely, high-quality P&C deliverables across projects, combining engineering execution, cross-functional partnership, and mentorship. The role supports facilities from 12 kV through 765 kV. The manager oversees and coaches P&C engineering staff, is accountable for design quality and project-portfolio deliverables, reviews and approves technical documentation, manages design and field issues, and implements measures to prevent recurring problems. The position provides technical oversight on regional facilities and complex station matters, represents P&C Engineering with stakeholders, and ensures consistent implementation of compliance policies and standards. The team scopes and supports P&C work across generation, transmission, and substations; executes engineering, design, material specification, and procurement for capital projects; leads settings and coordination studies; performs fault analysis and maintains ASPEN fault-study cases; and investigates protection-related events to determine root causes and implement corrective actions. This is an on-site position in Roanoke, Virginia. The stated compensation range is $136,539 to $177,503.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Engineering from an ABET-accredited college or university.
At least 10 years of electric utility engineering experience.
At least 6 years of experience in the design, construction, and operation of protection and control systems.
Demonstrated experience leading technical teams and managing engineering deliverables.
Proficiency with protection relay platforms, settings tools, and ASPEN or equivalent fault-study software.
Strong knowledge of NERC reliability standards and their practical implementation for protection systems.
Effective communication and stakeholder-management skills.

Nice To Haves

Registration as a Professional Engineer in any U.S. state is preferred.

Responsibilities

Oversee, mentor, and provide career coaching for P&C engineering staff.
Account for P&C design-team quality and deliverables across the assigned project portfolio; review and approve protection schematics, relay settings, wiring diagrams, testing documentation, and bills of material.
Manage P&C-specific quality-control issues and coordinate with stakeholders, construction, and protection technicians to resolve design and field issues.
Implement countermeasures to prevent recurring design and settings issues, maintain lessons learned, and update standards.
Provide technical oversight for protection and control equipment on regional facilities, with emphasis on protection schemes and interface requirements.
Represent P&C Engineering on complex station technical matters and at stakeholder meetings, and provide technical direction to P&C counterparts across regions.
Ensure consistent implementation of compliance policies and P&C standards for settings, drawings, and testing.
Scope P&C work and provide technical support across generation, transmission, and substation projects.
Execute engineering, design, material specification, and procurement for an assigned capital project portfolio.
Lead settings and coordination studies, including relay settings, time-current coordination, breaker duty, reclosing, and sensitive ground protection; produce relay setting and configuration files.
Perform fault analysis and maintain ASPEN fault-study cases across the NERC region; coordinate with system modeling teams to ensure accurate models.
Lead investigations of suspected relay misoperations and protection-related events, develop root-cause analyses, and implement corrective actions.