Senior High Voltage Development Engineer

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AES Clean Energy is seeking a Senior High Voltage Development Engineer to join our High Voltage Development Engineering team supporting the West region, including Hawaii. This role focuses on the development of High Voltage Facilities – substations and generation-tie lines – for PV, BESS, and Wind projects. You will be part of a core group of resourceful, regionally dedicated engineers driving innovation across large-scale renewable energy programs.

The High Voltage Development team leads due diligence and design throughout all stages of project development – early concept through late-stage refinement – delivering execution-ready facilities that are safe, de-risked, technically compliant, and commercially viable.

The Senior High Voltage Development Engineer will support the development of 35 kV to 500 kV substation and transmission facilities across greenfield, brownfield, and M&A project pipelines. They will collaborate closely with diverse internal stakeholders (technical teams, commercial, estimating, land, and others) and manage external engineering consultants, utility partners, and ISOs.

The ideal candidate is:

• Proactive and communicative, able to coordinate effectively across disciplines.
• Organized and technically strong, with the ability to operate in evolving or ambiguous technical landscapes.
• Skilled at prioritizing competing tasks and providing sound technical judgment across substation, gen‑tie, power system, and interconnection engineering.
• Comfortable building and maintaining relationships with internal teams, external consultants, utilities, and other partners.

This position is an excellent opportunity for an engineer who not only excels in technical high-voltage engineering but also values building relationships and partners across disciplines to deliver high‑quality renewable energy facilities.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities:

• Lead early‑stage and conceptual pre‑construction engineering for high‑voltage collector substations and generation tie‑lines (35 kV–500 kV) across Solar, Wind, and BESS projects, including de‑risking activities and feasibility assessments.
• Collaborate closely with cross‑functional teams – real estate, permitting, interconnection, commercial, PV/BESS/Wind engineering, pre‑construction, construction, commissioning, and O&M – to deliver safe, compliant, and technically sound project designs.
• Interpret and synthesize complex technical inputs from interconnection studies, ISO/utility requirements, commercial constraints, and project‑specific needs to develop well‑informed conceptual designs in‑house.
• Develop scopes of work and manage external consultants producing 30% design packages, ensuring alignment with AES engineering standards, ISO/utility requirements, PPA specifications, and project objectives.
• Lead multidisciplinary design reviews and guide consultants in resolving advanced challenges related to power flow, protection and control, metering, and physical substation or transmission design.
• Support high‑voltage cost estimating for greenfield, brownfield, and M&A projects, including BOM creation, risk identification, and value‑engineering opportunities.
• Build and maintain strong working relationships with specialized high‑voltage consulting firms, internal stakeholders, and technical partners to ensure high‑quality engineering outcomes.
• Coordinate directly with Western interconnection providers and utilities to develop collector substation designs and incorporate requirements for new switchyards and transmission provider infrastructure.
• Develop contractual exhibits, technical specifications, and bid packages to support EPC procurement and execution.
• Evaluate high‑voltage EPC bid designs for compliance with interconnection agreements, applicable reliability standards, and AES engineering criteria, identifying gaps and recommending corrective actions.
• Ensure smooth project handoff to the High Voltage Execution Engineer, transferring technical knowledge and design intent to position execution teams for success.
• Contribute to team growth and leadership, supporting continuous improvement and mentoring junior engineers as opportunities arise.
• Conduct site visits for interconnection evaluations, gen‑tie routing, and other field needs, with travel approximately 25%.

Minimum Qualifications

• B.S. Electrical Engineering with emphasis on Power Systems.
• 7+ years of High Voltage design experience (physical, P&C, gen-ties, studies, or a combination)
• Strong understanding of project management best practices.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to lead technical discussions among EORs, EPCs, utilities, ISOs, and internal teams.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage and prioritize multiple projects.
• Ability to bridge technical and non‑technical perspectives in a fast‑paced environment.

Desired Skills and Experience

• Professional Engineer (PE) licensure.
• PMP Certificate
• Proficiency in AutoCAD or similar design tools.
• Experience with ETAP or comparable power system modeling software.
• Knowledge of relay and SCADA controls and system architecture.
• Experience with PLS‑CADD.
• Demonstrated microgrid or advanced power systems experience.
• Experience training and mentoring junior engineers.

Location: Possibility of flexible work anywhere in the US .