Group Leader - Primary Engineering

AusNet; City of Melbourne; On-site; AUD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

AusNet is seeking a Group Lead, Primary Engineering in Melbourne to steer a high‑performing team delivering primary designs for transmission substations and lines. You will provide technical leadership, coordinate with multiple engineering groups and external partners, and ensure delivery of safe, compliant, high‑quality designs.

The role requires deep expertise in electrical substations and transmission design, strong leadership, and the ability to translate complex engineering challenges for

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering
• Extensive experience in electricity networks engineering
• Deep knowledge of primary engineering for substations and transmission lines
• Ability to simplify complex engineering analyses for non-engineers
• Strong stakeholder engagement and understanding of network constraints
• Proven experience leading engineering teams

Responsibilities

• Lead a team of project engineers delivering detailed primary designs and specifications for transmission substations and lines
• Review technical requirements, project constraints and deliverables, aligning primary design with other disciplines
• Coordinate and review production of all documentation by Design Delivery Partners
• Assess brownfield and greenfield substations designs for constructability, safety and operability
• Identify, manage and mitigate technical risks on scope and projects

Job description

Through purpose and people - not just through the infrastructure we operate, but through the way we show up for each other, our customers’ and our communities. The future of energy is in our hands. Let’s shape it together.

We all want a future of energy we can be proud of. With us you can.

As the Group Lead, Primary Engineering, you'll lead a team of engineers delivering the design of transmission substations and lines across AusNet's network. Working within the Transmission Design Management team, you'll provide technical leadership, guide engineering outcomes, and support the successful delivery of complex infrastructure projects.

Partnering closely with Secondary and Civil/Structural Engineering teams, Project Managers, and external Design Delivery Partners, you'll help ensure projects are delivered safely, efficiently, and to the highest quality standards. This is an opportunity to lead a high-performing team while playing a key role in delivering the transmission infrastructure that will support Victoria's energy future.

What you’ll be doing in this role:

• Provide leadership to a team of project engineers with specialist primary knowledge accountable for the management and delivery of detailed primary designs
• Review technical requirements on each scope/project including project constraints and deliverables, seeking clarification where required and ensuring primary engineering discipline requirements are coordinated with other disciplines (for example secondary, civil and structural)
• Ensure the team develops scopes and specifications for designs and manages and reviews the production of all documentation/ project deliverables by Design Delivery Partners
• Review and assess brownfield and greenfield electricity substation designs, providing technical input into staging, constructability, operability, maintainability and safety in design covering:
• Primary and electrical designs and calculations
• Electrical studies including earthing, EMF, TRV, inrush, clearance checks, lighting, lightening protection, ratings etc
• Identification, management and mitigation of all technical risks on scope of works and nominated projects where team members are assigned as Project Engineers

You don't need to check every box; however, we are looking for a good combination of:

• Tertiary qualification in Electrical Engineering
• Detailed technical knowledge and extensive experience in electricity networks engineering with sound understanding of multi-disciplinary issues
• Deep technical knowledge and experience in the field of primary engineering, particularly electrical design of substations and transmission lines
• Extensive experience working in electricity substations engineering, project delivery and/or design role
• Able to simplify complex engineering analysis for non-engineers (eg summarising key decision-making during delivery of detailed design)
• Understand current and emerging network and non-network solutions required to reduce network demand and avoid/deferred network investment.
• Advanced commercial acumen, stakeholder engagement and understanding of network constraints to identify appropriate solutions to address the needs of the network and customers.
• Ability to lead a successful engineering team and ability to develop, coach, mentor, empower and support colleagues and team members to achieve common goals

The AusNet experience is all about...

• Growing your impact: We’ll support you to build your career through real opportunities and strong connections.
• Solving some of the most complex energy challenges of our time: We love unpacking complex challenges in clever ways and looking at things differently.
• Building an energy future to be proud of: We’re a trusted leader, with deep expertise, driven to do what’s right for our communities and customers.

We’re committed to building an inclusive culture and a diverse workforce. We believe different perspectives are essential to our success, and we encourage all applicants to apply. If you need any adjustments during the recruitment process, we're happy to discuss how we can support you.