Principal Engineer - System Protection and Control - General Interest Inquiry

JOB SUMMARY : The Principal Engineer serves as a key technical contributor and advisor who consults with all business units on engineering and other technical activities. The position serves as a technical consultant who utilizes advanced expertise to assess and recommend best practices, process improvements, cost savings, and workplace safety improvements. The Principal Engineer has discipline specific expertise and industry experience necessary to evaluate project plans, anticipate potential problems, and provide solutions for the most complex projects. This position guides and mentors less experienced staff and serves as an advisor to company leadership. Typical services provided will be short-circuit and coordination studies, protective relay settings, protection and control system design including one-line diagrams / ac & dc schematics / panel layouts / wiring diagrams, power system modeling on modeling platforms such as ASPEN OneLiner and power system disturbance analysis; all for generation / transmission / distribution / industrial facilities.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES, FUNCTIONS, AND RESPONSIBLITIES :

• Provide expert advice and counsel by utilizing extensive and diversified knowledge of engineering design, principles, practices, and project management.
• Suggest and implement innovative and cost-effective solutions to resolve complex, unique, hazardous, or critical problems.
• Provide technical input and review of internal regulatory compliance documentation.
• Serve as project manager or the technical lead for complex and highly technical projects.
• Provide opinions on issues related to corporate strategy and individual business unit initiatives.
• Act as a technical expert, provide written testimony, and serve as a key witness in court of law hearings, state agency proceedings, and legislative sessions.
• Provide technical commentary and input on pending legislation affecting company operations.
• Develop, foster, and maintain working relationships with manufacturers, vendors, utilities, and consulting firms.
• Mentor project team members and junior staff.
• Attend trade shows, conferences, workshops, seminars, user group meetings, and other educational opportunities on a routine basis.
• Recommend and cost justify engineering projects to improve company and customer operational efficiencies, mitigate reoccurring failures, improve system restoration time, increase equipment longevity, and reduce cost.
• Perform accurate, complete evaluations of engineering alternatives and the identification of the optimal solution for the electric power system.
• Perform root-cause analysis and recommend approaches to mitigate future failures or improve processes.
• Provide direction and technical assistance with digital computer programs and perform analysis as needed including power quality, fault, and system coordination studies, loss evaluations, relay software, relay event analysis, protection asset databases, and arc flash.
• Develop and direct detailed drawings for relaying single lines, secondary protective relay schemes and schematics, low voltage equipment power, and control system connections for generation, transmission, and distribution protection.
• Establish, maintain, and improve relationships with internal and external customers, including monitoring the relationships and initiating actions to improve relationships as needed.
• Collaborate with local, state, and federal government agencies for permits and authorization.
• Performs all work in a safe and timely manner.