Senior Field Engineer

ABM US•Columbus, OH

18d•$72 - $80

About The Position

ABM Industries is seeking a Senior Field Engineer to join its Electrical Power Services team. This advanced technical field position plans, leads, and performs commissioning, testing, troubleshooting, maintenance, and startup activities for substation protection, control, automation, and related electrical power systems. The engineer independently evaluates complex systems, analyzes test results, resolves technical issues, develops recommendations, and provides technical leadership and mentorship to field service personnel. The role supports safe project execution, technical quality, customer relationships, and operational excellence. It includes coordinating field activities with customers, project managers, engineers, contractors, and subcontractors; supporting outages, startup, shutdown, emergency response, and energization; and ensuring compliance with company procedures, customer requirements, OSHA regulations, NFPA 70E, and applicable industry standards. Travel may be required up to 75%, and the position may involve extended hours, nights, weekends, holidays, outages, and emergency callouts when required. The Senior Field Engineer is an advanced technical position and a development path toward Lead Field Engineer, Principal Field Engineer, Project Manager, Engineering Manager, Operations Manager, or other technical leadership roles. The stated pay range is $72.00–$80.00 per hour. Specific offers vary according to education, experience, skills, abilities, geographic location, and market data. The employee may be eligible to participate in a company incentive or bonus program. ABM offers a comprehensive benefits package; details are available through ABM’s employee benefits information.

Requirements

Minimum of 5 years of field experience in substation commissioning, panel and equipment checkout, relay calibration, protection and control testing, troubleshooting, and repair.
Demonstrated ability to independently commission and troubleshoot protective relaying and control schemes.
Strong knowledge of three-phase AC power systems and DC control systems; power system protection and control schemes; protective relays, circuit breaker controls, and instrument transformers; and SCADA, metering, automation, and communications-assisted protection.
Ability to read and interpret one-line diagrams, schematics, wiring diagrams, elementary diagrams, logic diagrams, panel drawings, and construction documents.
Experience using relay and power-system test equipment, associated software, wiring tools, and diagnostic instruments.
Ability to develop and execute testing procedures, commissioning plans, isolation plans, and functional test plans.
Ability to evaluate test results, identify abnormal conditions, and recommend corrective actions.
Strong troubleshooting, planning, documentation, and technical communication skills.
Ability to lead field activities and make sound technical decisions with limited supervision.
Ability to communicate effectively in English, including reading and writing, due to the safety-related nature of procedures and documentation.
Proficiency in Microsoft Office, including Word, Excel, and Outlook.
Valid driver’s license and acceptable driving record.
Ability to travel up to 75% based on project and customer requirements.
Ability to independently execute protection and control testing projects with minimal supervision.
Strong analytical and root-cause-analysis skills, and ability to evaluate system performance and develop practical corrective recommendations.
Ability to coordinate multiple field activities and changing project priorities.
Strong customer service, communication, planning, and documentation skills.
Commitment to safety, technical quality, reliability, and continuous improvement.
Ability to lift, carry, push, and pull testing equipment and materials weighing up to 50 pounds.
Ability to stand, walk, climb ladders, bend, kneel, crouch, and work in confined or restricted spaces.
Ability to work in substations, electrical rooms, industrial facilities, outdoor environments, and construction sites.
Ability to wear required PPE, including arc-flash and electrical safety equipment.
Ability to work extended hours, nights, weekends, holidays, outages, and emergency callouts when required.

Nice To Haves

Associate degree or higher in Electrical Engineering Technology, Electrical Technology, Power Systems, Electronics, or a related field.
Experience with substation design, protection and control engineering, substation construction, utility operations, or SCADA integration.
Experience with relay platforms and software from manufacturers such as SEL, GE, Siemens, ABB/Hitachi Energy, or Basler.
Experience performing end-to-end protection testing and analyzing relay event reports or oscillography.
Previous experience serving as a lead engineer, commissioning lead, or field supervisor.
NETA certification, engineering credential, OSHA 30, NFPA 70E, CPR/First Aid, or similar industry certification.

Responsibilities

Interpret project scopes, specifications, drawings, schedules, and customer requirements to plan testing and commissioning activities.
Develop commissioning plans, test procedures, isolation plans, functional test plans, outage requirements, and resource schedules.
Read and interpret substation drawings and documentation, including single-line and three-line diagrams, AC and DC schematics, panel wiring and layout drawings, elementary, logic, and interconnection diagrams, protection and control drawings, and construction documents.
Independently perform and lead acceptance, maintenance, troubleshooting, functional, and commissioning testing of protective relays, protection and control panels, circuit breakers, instrument transformers, DC control systems, SCADA, metering, alarms, controls, automation systems, and communications equipment.
Verify relay voltage and current inputs, local and remote metering, alarms, controls, interlocks, function switches, trip circuits, and SCADA points.
Perform relay calibration, secondary and primary injection testing, trip testing, end-to-end testing, functional testing, and integrated system testing.
Commission new substations and additions or modifications to existing substations.
Perform advanced troubleshooting of substation relaying, control, communications, automation, and associated electrical equipment.
Analyze relay event records, oscillography, fault data, and sequence-of-events information to identify root causes and recommend corrective actions.
Prepare and review field reports, test documentation, deficiency reports, red-line drawings, and technical recommendations.
Lead assigned field activities and coordinate work with customers, project managers, engineers, contractors, and subcontractors.
Provide project technical support and mentorship to junior engineers, technicians, and field service personnel.
Ensure compliance with company procedures, customer requirements, OSHA regulations, NFPA 70E requirements, and applicable industry standards.
Support outages, startup activities, critical shutdowns, emergency response, and system energization activities.
Provide technical direction and mentorship to junior engineers and technicians; review assigned personnel’s work quality, test results, and documentation.
Support project scheduling, resource coordination, and field execution; promote and enforce a strong safety and quality culture.
Coordinate with project managers and customers to support successful project delivery.