Protection Principal Engineer

Electric Power Engineers • Austin, TX

7d • Remote

About The Position

Electric Power Engineers (EPE) is seeking a Principal Engineer to provide power systems engineering expertise in transmission system protection design and coordination analyses. The role designs protection systems—including overcurrent, distance, differential, communication-aided, and wide-area protection—and conducts system protection schemes and studies involving generation interconnection protection and NERC PRC compliance. The successful candidate brings strong power systems knowledge, experience with system protection and transmission modeling tools, familiarity with conventional and non-conventional generator protective and ride-through functions, and knowledge of industry standards. This role manages or supervises a team and works in a fast-paced environment.

The position is remote within the United States, with occasional travel of 10% or less. EPE provides consulting expertise and energy intelligence software solutions to power and energy clients and focuses on building a modern, secure, and resilient grid.

Requirements

• At least 8 years of experience in system protection and control.
• Strong technical foundation in transmission power systems protection and planning.
• Experience with ASPEN, CAPE, ETAP, Powerbase, SEL Quickset, and GE Enervista UR Setup.
• Experience working with SEL equipment and software, and/or developing programming files using SEL Quickset.
• Familiarity with ANSI/IEEE guidelines for transmission system protection design and studies.
• Strong communication and teamwork skills.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with CYME, Synergi, Windmil/LightTable, or other distribution power-flow software.
• Experience with inverter-based power plants.
• Exposure to transmission protection design guidelines and philosophies.
• Substation and transmission line design experience.

Responsibilities

• Perform system protection and coordination studies involving transmission and generation interconnection protection schemes.
• Provide clients and stakeholders with guidance and recommendations on system protection philosophies and standards.
• Apply protection engineering practices to transmission lines and buses, transformers, capacitor and reactor banks, grounding transformers, generators, and communication-assisted protection schemes.
• Perform system modeling and fault analyses, including short-circuit, equipment-duty, relay-device coordination, and root-cause studies.
• Verify NERC PRC compliance, including PRC-005, PRC-019, PRC-023, PRC-024, PRC-025, PRC-026, and PRC-027.
• Develop protective relay and device settings for transmission and sub-transmission systems ranging from 69 kV to 500 kV.
• Review protective relay operations and system outages, identify disturbances, and resolve operational control problems.
• Assess data and model quality to ensure coordination between protective devices and identify needed corrections or enhancements.
• Guide clients in operating equipment or modifying settings to improve system reliability.
• Model transmission system elements in planning and operational software to assess expected impacts under different scenarios.
• Communicate challenges, lessons learned, and critical information to team members and communicate with work groups to support project transparency and success.
• Identify process improvement opportunities and develop modification plans and justifications; lead efforts to improve organizational efficiency while maintaining the quality and timeliness of client deliverables.
• Develop and maintain process documentation, flow charts, whitepapers, working papers, and other project materials.
• Prepare communication materials and provide status updates to technical leaders, project teams, and affected stakeholders.
• Support business development, including RFP responses and client scopes of work that outline EPE deliverables and projected completion dates.
• Manage or supervise a team.

Benefits

• Comprehensive health and wellness benefits, including medical, dental, and vision coverage with 100% premium coverage for the employee.
• Generous paid time off and paid holidays.
• MyShare Employee Ownership Program.
• Opportunity to work with industry leaders.
• 401(k) with up to a 4% match, 100% vested from day one.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Principal
• Education Level: No Education Listed