Associate System Protection Engineer

Pacific Gas and Electric Company; West Sacramento (CA); Hybrid; USD 100,000 - 158,000; Full time

Job summary

Pacific Gas and Electric Company in West Sacramento is seeking an entry-level Associate Protection Engineer to support protection studies and projects for transmission voltages up to 230 kV under supervision. This hybrid role blends remote work with on-site assignments across the PG&E service territory.

The position is represented by ESC; salary ranges from $99,936 to $157,596 annually and reflects factors such as education, licenses, experience, and location.

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering or related technical discipline; or graduating with a BSEE or related discipline by December 2026 from an accredited curriculum in the US or the equivalent from outside the US.
• EIT Certificate
• 2 years of experience in engineering
• Able to apply basic engineering principles and theory
• Basic understanding of symmetrical component theory and ability to perform fault calculations
• Basic knowledge of logic gate theory and control circuitry
• Able to read and understand Operating, Single line, SLM&R, and Schematic diagrams
• Ability to quickly learn protection concepts and their application

Responsibilities

• Provide protection engineering support for projects and studies for transmission voltages 230 kV and below.
• Issue protection requirements and prepare description of operations for non-standard and localized RAS schemes
• Conduct short circuit studies, calculate short circuit line impedance
• Determine and issue relay and automatics settings
• Support relay system installations, such as review test program, end-to-end test, load check, direction check, relay release, etc.
• Conduct area coordination studies
• Participate in project walkdown and project meetings
• Provide construction drawing reviews
• Update and maintain records (Aspen relay database, transformer data sheet, short circuit base case, etc.)
• Review and approve new tools and training prior to rollout
• Design and set localized RAS schemes based on Operation Engineering requirements
• Identify existing protection deficiencies
• Provide normal and emergency maintenance and operation support
• Provide fault location and investigate questionable relay operations, perform remote event retrieval
• Process clearance requests and provide specific protection setup
• Assist technicians and operators for routine maintenance and operation work
• Provide project and routine M&O support to Hydro generation
• Manage digital fault recorders and perform event retrieval
• Conduct FERC generation interconnection studies and third-party load interconnections

Skills

Fault calculations

Relay settings

Protection concepts

Remote event retrieval

Education

Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering

EIT Certificate

Job description

Requisition ID # 174590

Job Category: Engineering / Science

Job Level: Individual Contributor

Business Unit: Energy Delivery

Work Type: Hybrid

Job Location: West Sacramento

Department Overview

The hardworking coworkers of Electric Engineering ensure all manners of electric engineering—including electric standards and process safety, electric design engineering, instrumentation testing and controls, undergrounding, electric regulatory compliance and electric investment planning—are in place to safely enable a strategic and stable workplan for our Electric Operations partners. Our organization is accountable for program planning, financial budgeting, and project execution and delivery of all electric engineering projects. Electric Engineering is comprised of approximately 2,000 coworkers.

System Protection Engineering provides:

• Project and Maintenance &Operations support, specify design, requirements, and testing procedures.
• Review and analysis of power system disturbance and operations.
• Technical consultation and training for System Operation and Planning issues.
• Equipment evaluation, approval, and standard development.

Position Summary

This position is represented by Engineers and Scientists of California (ESC) subject to collective bargaining.

In this role as an entry level Associate Protection Engineer, you will provide support to projects, protection studies and perform protection job duties for transmission voltages 230 kV and below under direction of a supervisor or a more experienced engineer.

This position is hybrid, working from your remote office and your assigned work location based on business need. The assigned work location will be within the PG&E Service Territory.

PG&E is providing the salary range that the company in good faith believes it might pay for this position at the time of the job posting. This compensation range is specific to the locality of the job. The actual salary paid to an individual will be based on multiple factors, including, but not limited to, specific skills, education, licenses or certifications, experience, market value, geographic location, collective bargaining agreements, and internal equity.

Annual salary range:

Minimum, $99,936

Maximum, $157,596

Job Responsibilities

• Provide protection engineering support for projects and studies. The engineer may perform the following job duties for transmission voltages 230 kV and below:
• Issue protection requirements and prepare description of operations for non-standard and localized RAS schemes
• Conduct short circuit studies, calculate short circuit line impedance
• Determine and issue relay and automatics settings
• Support relay system installations, such as review test program, end-to-end test, load check, direction check, relay release, etc.
• Conduct area coordination studies
• Participate in project walkdown and project meetings
• Provide construction drawing reviews
• Update and maintain records, such as Aspen relay data base, transformer data sheet, short circuit base case, hard copy files, and automatics data base, job files, port assignment sheets, breaker files, etc.
• Review and approve new tools and training prior to rollout
• Design and set localized RAS schemes based on Operation Engineering requirements
• Identify existing protection deficiencies
• The engineer at this level is also assigned to provide normal and emergency maintenance and operation support. The engineer may perform, but not limited to, the following tasks:
• Provide fault location
• Investigate questionable relay operations, perform remote event retrieval, and implement corrective actions
• Process clearance request and provide specific protection setup
• Assist technicians, operators for routine maintenance and operation work
• Specific Duties for Transmission Group:
• Provide project and routine M&O support to Hydro generation
• Manage digital fault recorders and perform event retrieval
• Conduct FERC generation interconnection studies and third-party load interconnections

To implement various aspects of the above job requirements, the candidate will work with internal engineering, operations, substation construction and maintenance organizations. May attend meetings representing the group, to meet job duties. External contacts are occasional and limited to simple issues.

Qualifications

Minimum:

• Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering or a related technical discipline; or, graduating with a BSEE or related discipline by December 2026 from an accredited curriculum in the US or the equivalent from outside the US

Desired:

• EIT Certificate
• 2 years of experience in engineering
• Able to apply basic engineering principles and theory
• Basic understanding of symmetrical component theory and ability to perform fault calculations
• Basic knowledge of logic gate theory and control circuitry
• Able to read and understand Operating, Single line, SLM&R, and Schematic diagrams
• Ability to quickly learn protection concepts and their application