Senior Physical Substation Engineer

ISG•North Olmsted, OH

6d•$105,000 - $150,000

About The Position

ISG is seeking an experienced Senior Physical Substation Engineer to lead the design of high-voltage transmission and distribution substation physical packages, including layouts, bus work, grounding, conduit, and equipment placement. The role ensures designs meet client, utility, and regulatory standards while optimizing safety, reliability, and constructability. It includes mentoring junior staff, reviewing and approving deliverables, and serving as a primary client contact for technical issues. The position supports transmission and distribution projects associated with FirstEnergy, an ISG client partner. Within ISG’s Energy Business Unit, the Power Group delivers infrastructure solutions for projects and clients nationwide. ISG prefers in-person collaboration but is open to exploring flexible or remote arrangements for qualified candidates. Potential projects include substation upgrades, electrical substation misoperated line terminal improvements, and FAC-008 facility rating projects.

Requirements

At least 5 years of experience in substation physical design, with proven leadership on medium to large projects.
Professional Engineer (PE) license.
Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, focused on power systems or a related discipline.
Experience with grounding analysis software such as WinIGS, CYME, CDEGS, or equivalent.
Experience with photometric analysis software such as Visual Lighting, AGi32, DIALux, Revit, or equivalent.
Experience with lighting analysis software such as WinIGS, CDEGS, PSCAD, or equivalent.
Strong understanding of substation equipment, procurement, and configurations, including AIS, transformer banks, ring bus, and breaker-and-a-half.
Knowledge of industry codes and standards, including IEEE, ANSI, NESC, NEC, NFPA, and OSHA.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills and ability to interface directly with clients.
Valid driver’s license and ability to travel for site visits, design reviews, and client meetings.

Nice To Haves

Experience with Substation Design Suite (SDS) and Inventor.

Responsibilities

Develop and review complete physical design packages for high-voltage substations, including one-line and three-line diagrams, general arrangement drawings and section views, bus work layouts and equipment plans, grounding layouts and calculations, conduit, trench and cable routing plans, engineering documents, and bills of materials.
Ensure compliance with utility, client, and regulatory standards, including IEEE, ANSI, NEC, NESC, and NFPA.
Apply advanced engineering judgment to optimize substation layouts for safety, reliability, constructability, and cost efficiency.
Oversee integration of civil, structural, and protection and control requirements.
Perform and review grounding, voltage drop, conduit fill, lightning protection, illumination, and cable sag/tension calculations.
Review and approve design packages.
Lead design coordination meetings with clients, utilities, vendors, and internal teams.
Serve as the technical point of contact for clients and provide solutions to complex design challenges.
Mentor and guide junior engineers and designers, review their work, and provide structured feedback.
Support project schedules and budgets by forecasting design hours and meeting deliverable milestones.
Recommend and implement improvements in design processes.
Stay current with emerging technologies, equipment, and industry standards that affect substation design.
Travel for site visits, design reviews, and client meetings as needed.