Facilities Electrical Protection & Controls Engineer

SLAC; Menlo Park (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory seeks a Facilities Electrical Protection & Controls Engineer to lead engineering for electrical protection, control systems, and substation automation. You will design, implement, and maintain protection schemes, perform arc-flash analyses, and ensure conformance with IEEE/NFPA standards across distributed facilities.

You’ll collaborate with multi-disciplinary teams to optimize power distribution, monitor systems via SCADA, and support major project phases

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering or related field; minimum five years in electrical protection & controls.
• Proficient with ETAP or equivalent software; familiarity with protection and control hardware.
• Experience with short-circuit, coordination, arc-flash analysis, and substation automation.

Responsibilities

• Lead protection and control engineering for substation projects across planning, design, and operations.
• Develop protection setpoints, diagrams, and logic files for microprocessor relays (e.g., SEL).
• Perform arc-flash risk assessments and recommend safety-focused mitigations.
• Review designs for conformance to IEEE and NFPA standards; support ICE & project scoping.
• Design monitoring, communication, and SCADA integration for power systems.
• Analyze faults and relay mis-operations; determine root causes and mitigation actions.

Skills

Power protection & controls

ETAP

Relay coordination

Arc flash analysis

Substation protection

SCADA design & monitoring

Protection scheme design

IEEE/NFPA standards

Programming logic for relays

Communication protocols (DNP3/Modbus/6

Education

B.S. in electrical engineering

M.S. in electrical engineering (preferred)

Tools

ETAP

EMTP

PSCAD

Job description

SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory’s (SLAC) Facilities and Operations (F&O) Division manages one of the world’s premier science facilities on a 400-acre Stanford site with 150+ structures comprised of office and research facilities for the Department of Energy. We are a service organization committed to the support and success of the Laboratory's Scientific Mission by providing safe and responsive engineering, construction, operations, and maintenance of equipment, buildings, and infrastructure.

The Engineering Department within our Facilities and Operations Division is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the SLAC Electrical Infrastructure used to support SLAC’s scientific mission.

We are seeking a Facilities Electrical Protection & Controls Engineer with a strong background in electrical power protection and controls engineering to design, construct, operate, and maintain electrical systems for power distribution.

Your specific responsibilities include:

• Serve as the technical expert in the performance of engineering responsibilities involving electrical substation protection and controls (P&C) during the planning, design, construction, modification, operation, and maintenance of facilities.
• Perform comprehensive power system studies, specifically short circuit, protective device coordination, and arc flash hazard analysis, utilizing modeling software (e.g., ETAP).
• Based on documentation and field surveys provide precise electrical protection requirements for the design, review, and approval of one-line diagrams, three-line diagrams, AC/DC schematics, and logic diagrams.
• Collaborate with other engineering disciplines electrical design engineers, project engineers, plant engineers and Operation and Maintenance engineers to support operation and maintenance and substation automation, control, monitoring, and infrastructure projects.
• Analyze power system faults and relay mis-operations by reviewing event reports, sequence of events, and oscillography. Determine root causes of electrical system disturbances and make appropriate recommendations/resolutions for mitigation to Operations and report to stakeholders.
• Design substation protection schemes (including bus, feeder, and transformer differential). Develop programming, setpoints, and logic files for microprocessor-based protective relays (such as SEL relays), and rigorously review and approve as-left setting files. Ensure calculations accurately reflect precise equipment parameters.
• Conduct thorough arc flash risk assessments, develop contingency plans, and recommend engineering controls or alternative protection settings (e.g., maintenance mode switches) to lower incident energy levels and enhance personnel safety.
• Prepare, review, and analyze projects' technical plans and specifications for sound protection design and conformance with IEEE and NFPA standards. Support the review of Independent Cost Estimates (ICE) and project scoping for P&C upgrades.
• Design power monitoring, communication, and electrical SCADA systems.
• Represent department or lead specific project teams and review committees.
• Serve as an expert providing design and technical recommendations. Identify and resolve complex electrical protection and control system issues that carry high risk or consequences of failure. Serve on major, ongoing, technically complex projects requiring substantial coordination and interface with senior management.
• Serve as a SME on major, technically complex P&C-oriented projects requiring substantial interface with senior management, multiple engineering disciplines, and contractor activities through all project phases.

To be successful in this position you will bring:

• Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering or relevant engineering discipline. Minimum five years of directly related experience in the field of electrical protection & controls. Master’s in electrical engineering is preferred.
• Proficient in using ETAP or other related software.
• Knowledge of communication protocols, such as DNP3, Modbus, and IEC 61850/GOOSE.
• Familiarity with electrical power systems and substation automation.
• Ability to analyze complex electrical substation control and metering problems and provide effective solutions for the resolution.
• Excellent problem-solving and troubleshooting skills.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills to effectively collaborate with cross-functional teams.
• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to cultivate strong and collaborative relationships inside and outside the organization.
• Proficiency with standard desktop applications for word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations.
• Knowledge of scheduling, project management tools, and resources.
• Knowledge and proficiency with electrical calculations software related to assignments (ETAP, EMTP, PSCAD).
• Understanding and ability to perform/evaluate protection and control equipment lifecycle cost analysis.
• Deep technical knowledge in expertise.
• Demonstrated ability to monitor and control project scope, schedule, and budget.
• Ability to identify and mitigate potential project risk components.

In addition, preferred requirements include:

• Experience with Electrical Systems Automation, Control, and Monitoring Requirements and associated designs.
• Development of advanced substation automation and associated logic schemes.
• Substation HMI development
• Substation control system setting and design experience.

Certification and License:

• A Professional Electrical Engineering License in the State of California is strongly preferred (or the eligibility to obtain one within one year of employment).