Lead Engineer, System Protection & Controls

AESO; Calgary; Hybrid; CAD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work environment

Health and dental benefits

Defined contribution pension plan

Learning and development opportunities

Job summary

AESO seeks a Lead Engineer, System Protection & Controls to serve as the senior technical expert for protection, control, and reliability engineering across Alberta’s electricity system. You will lead complex protection studies, disturbance investigations, and standards development to support reliable grid operation and modernization.

You will collaborate with internal teams and external stakeholders, guide technical reviews, and contribute to AESO Technical Rules and NERC compliance while

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and P.Eng. with APEGA, or eligibility for registration.
• 12+ years of progressive engineering experience in the electric utility industry focusing on Protection & Controls.
• Experience in protection studies, coordination reviews, performance assessments, and reliability initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the senior technical expert on system protection, control, coordination, and reliability matters.
• Lead protection studies and coordination reviews for transmission, generation, and large-load interconnections.
• Develop and maintain protection philosophies, engineering practices, and technical requirements.
• Lead complex protection studies across HVDC, renewable integration, and digital substations.
• Mentor engineers and provide technical oversight of studies and reports.
• Monitor industry trends and contribute to standards and regulatory compliance.

Skills

Protection & Controls

Technical leadership

Reliability engineering

Mentoring engineers

Education

Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering

Professional Engineer (P.Eng.) with APEGA

Master’s or Ph.D. in Electrical Power Systems (asset)

Tools

RTDS

Protection coordination studies

Job description

Job Description

The Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) is responsible for the safe, reliable, and economic planning and operation of the Alberta Interconnected Electric System. We provide open and non-discriminatory access to Alberta’s interconnected power grid and also facilitate Alberta’s competitive wholesale electricity market. The AESO strives to foster an inclusive, diverse and equitable workplace where people feel respected and welcomed for who they are, together we deliver high performance and innovative results.

Help power Alberta’s future through technical leadership on critical transmission infrastructure projects.

Reporting to the Manager, Project Engineering, the Lead Engineer, System Protection & Controls serves as AESO’s senior technical expert for protection, control, and reliability engineering across Alberta’s electricity system.

In this role, you will lead complex protection studies, disturbance investigations, reliability initiatives, and standards development to support the secure, reliable, and resilient operation of Alberta’s power grid. Working closely with internal teams, utilities, generators, regulators, and industry partners, you will provide technical leadership, influence strategic decisions, and help shape the future of Alberta’s electricity system. You will collaborate across AESO, including Connection Projects, System Projects, Operational Engineering, Operational Planning, and Power System Modelling, to advance strategic organizational and industry initiatives.

This full-time opportunity offers a competitive salary, paid vacation and flex time, health and dental benefits, mental health support, a defined contribution pension plan, and learning and development opportunities as part of your overall compensation package. We support a hybrid work environment, where the team is in the office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Mondays and Fridays are flexible for where you work best.

Why join AESO?

• Influence the reliability and future development of Alberta’s electricity system.
• Lead technically complex projects with province-wide impact.
• Collaborate with industry leaders, regulators, transmission owners, and generation developers.
• Contribute directly to Alberta’s energy transition and grid modernization initiatives.
• Grow your leadership profile while mentoring the next generation of engineers.

WhatYou’llDo:

• Serve as the senior technical expert on system protection, control, coordination, and reliability matters.
• Lead technical reviews of transmission, generation, distribution, and large-load interconnection projects, providing technical recommendations on protection schemes and coordination practices proposed by interconnected entities.
• Develop and maintain protection philosophies, engineering practices, standards, and technical requirements.
• Lead complex protection and coordination studies involving transmission lines, transformers, buses, reactors, capacitor banks, HVDC facilities, renewable generation, and inverter-based resources, and evaluate protection system performance under contingency conditions, emerging reliability risks, and abnormal operating scenarios.
• Conduct technical investigations of protection system and disturbance events to identify root causes and recommend reliability improvements.
• Support the development, implementation, audit readiness, and compliance of AESO Technical Rules, Alberta Reliability Standards, NERC requirements, and other regulatory obligations related to Protection and Control, including the review of rule waivers, variances, and compliance matters.
• Provide engineering expertise to support connection projects, system planning, operational engineering, and strategic initiatives across AESO.
• Lead and participate in industry working groups, standards committees, and stakeholder engagements to advance protection, control, and reliability practices.
• Mentor engineers and provide technical oversight, coaching, and review of engineering studies, technical reports, and recommendations.
• Monitor emerging technologies, industry trends, and best practices to advance system reliability, operational excellence, and grid modernization.

What You’ll Bring:

• Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from an accredited institution and registration as a Professional Engineer (P.Eng.) with APEGA, or eligibility for registration.
• Minimum 12 years of progressive engineering experience in the electric utility industry with a focus on Protection & Controls.
• Strong experience conducting protection system studies, coordination reviews, performance assessments, and complex reliability initiatives.
• Experience working with transmission operators, transmission owners, generation owners, utilities, regulators, and reliability organizations.
• Demonstrated success leading complex technical initiatives, multidisciplinary engineering teams, and strategic reliability programs.
• Experience with Alberta Reliability Standards, ISO Rules, NERC reliability requirements, compliance activities, and regulatory frameworks.
• Expertise in protection coordination studies, remedial action schemes (RAS), anti-islanding, synch-check, power swing and out-of-step protection, effective grounding, and protection system performance analysis.
• Experience with inverter-based resources, renewable generation integration, HVDC systems, digital substations, facility modelling, Project Development Update Processes (PDUPs), and Real-Time Digital Simulation (RTDS) tools.
• Master’s or Ph.D. in Electrical Power Systems Engineering or a related discipline, and experience developing technical standards, engineering policies, and regulatory documentation, are considered assets.

You will enjoy working with us if you:

• Enjoy applying deep technical expertise to real-world challenges that impact Alberta’s electricity system.
• Value collaboration and influencing outcomes across technical, regulatory, and operational stakeholders.
• Are motivated by solving complex problems and navigating ambiguity.
• Take pride in mentoring others and advancing engineering excellence.
• Embrace innovation and continuous learning in an evolving energy landscape.

#LI-Hybrid

If you are contacted for a pre-screening and/or interview, please advise of any accommodation measures required to enable you to fully participate. Information received relating to accommodation measures will be addressed confidentially.

The Alberta Electric System Operator is unable to accept unsolicited agency resumes.

The Alberta Electric System Operator, and its members, officers, employees and agents (collectively, the “AESO”) is committed to protecting personal information provided to it. When you submit your personal information to the AESO for the purpose of pursuing employment with the AESO, the collection, use and disclosure of personal information is in accordance with the provisions of Protection of Privacy Act (POPA) of Alberta.

As noted, the AESO is mandated to maintain the safe and reliable operations of the provincial power grid.As part of meeting its obligations, the AESO may require the successful candidate to undergo a criminal background check for the position. This collection of personal information for the purposes of a check will be conducted in accordance with Section 4 of POPA.