Principal / Senior HV Engineer

Forefront Recruitment Pty; Melbourne; On-site; AUD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Forefront Recruitment Pty is supporting a global data centre developer with a senior technical leadership role in Melbourne. The position focuses on upstream HV infrastructure for 132kV+ substations, GIS and related equipment layouts, and involves collaboration with EPC contractors, utilities and OEMs.

The role balances hands-on engineering with leadership, offering a pathway to Principal-level ownership and an opportunity to influence design decisions across Australian projects.

Qualifications

• Strong primary substation design experience.
• GIS experience in utility projects.
• BESS/renewables experience is a plus but not required.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership across upstream HV infrastructure and future projects.
• Review and challenge designs, set engineering requirements and resolve issues during construction, testing and energisation.
• Collaborate with EPC contractors, consultants, utilities and OEMs to deliver high-quality outcomes.
• Position offers growth toward Principal-level technical ownership and standards development.

Skills

Substation design

GIS

Leadership

HV infrastructure

Job description

This is a senior technical opportunity with a global data centre developer delivering major power infrastructure across Australia.

The role sits within the Power & Energy team and will provide technical leadership across the upstream HV infrastructure supporting future hyperscale data centre developments.

The client is open to an established Principal Engineer, but is equally interested in a strong Senior Engineer or Senior Project Engineer who has the technical depth and ambition to step into a broader technical leadership role.

The key requirement is strong primary substation design experience.

The work is focused on transmission-scale infrastructure, generally 132kV and above, and will cover GIS and AIS substations, transformers, switchgear, busbars, earthing, HV cables, equipment layouts and associated interfaces.

You'll work closely with EPC contractors, consultants, utilities and OEMs, providing technical direction, reviewing and challenging designs, setting engineering requirements and helping resolve issues through construction, testing, commissioning and energisation.

This is not a role where you disappear into a purely managerial position.

You'll remain close to the engineering, but with greater influence over how major infrastructure is designed and delivered.

The strongest candidates will have genuine primary design depth and an understanding of how major substations are actually built.

GIS experience will be particularly relevant, along with exposure to utilities, transmission businesses, EPC contractors or specialist HV engineering environments.

BESS or renewables experience will be highly regarded where it has involved major grid-connected infrastructure, but it is not essential.

For someone coming from the traditional transmission, utility or EPC market, the opportunity is broader than simply changing employers.

The data centre sector is creating a new level of demand for large-scale power infrastructure, and this role gives you the chance to build specialist experience in a fast-growing sector while retaining the technical focus that has shaped your career.

The culture is practical, technically strong and collaborative.

The team values people who can challenge ideas constructively, work closely with delivery teams and make good decisions without unnecessary hierarchy or politics.

For a Senior Engineer, there is a genuine pathway to grow into a Principal-level position.

You'll have the opportunity to move beyond individual packages and into broader technical ownership, helping shape standards, design decisions and delivery outcomes across future Australian projects.

As the local platform grows, so will the internal Power & Energy capability, creating further scope to broaden your responsibilities and become one of the key technical voices within the business.

The role is primarily based from the company's inner-Melbourne office, with travel to construction sites nationally as required.