Lead Grid Protection Engineer (Hybrid)

Sargent & Lundy; Richmond (VA); Hybrid; USD 135,000 - 206,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health Plans

Life & Disability Insurance

401(k) and Financial Benefits

Paid Vacation/Holidays

Flexible Work Arrangements

Job summary

Sargent & Lundy is seeking a Lead System Protection Engineer to join our Grid Services team. This role leads protection philosophy development, relay settings, and power system studies for transmission and substation projects, with a secondary focus on P&C design reviews.

Candidates should have a ABET‑accredited Electrical Engineering degree and 10+ years of system protection experience, including CAPE/ASPEN, SEL AcSELerator, EnerVista, and Powerbase usage, plus strong communication with

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from an ABET‑accredited program (or equivalent).
• 10+ years of experience in system protection engineering for transmission and/or substation projects.
• Strong background in system protection and relay logic, including line, transformer, bus, breaker protection philosophies.
• Proven experience performing fault studies and relay coordination using CAPE and/or ASPEN (or equivalent protection analysis tools).
• Proficiency with relay configuration and settings tools such as SEL AcSELerator, EnerVista, and other major OEM software.
• Experience with Powerbase or similar relay/asset databases for managing settings and protection data.
• Ability to interpret P&C drawings (one-lines, three-lines, schematics, wiring/logic diagrams, panel layouts).
• Familiarity with IEEE, ANSI, and NERC/PRC standards related to protection and control.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with utility clients, equipment manufacturers, and field teams.
• Proven experience leading portions of projects and coordinating multidisciplinary teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead the development and application of protection philosophies and settings for transmission lines, transformers, buses, breakers, and capacitor/reactor banks.
• Perform system protection studies including short-circuit analysis, relay coordination, and time‑current curve development.
• Configure, set, and troubleshoot microprocessor‑based protective relays using vendor software.
• Manage relay records and configuration data in Powerbase or similar databases.
• Support event analysis and misoperation investigations, including interpretation of relay event records and oscillography.
• Develop and review P&C design documents (one-lines, three-lines, schematics, wiring/logic diagrams, panel layouts, BOMs).
• Provide system protection requirements and markups for P&C design (CT/VT ratios, interlocks, communications).
• Support commissioning and field energization by reviewing test plans, responding to RFIs, and addressing protection issues during construction and startup.

Skills

Relay settings

Protection studies

CAPE/ASPEN

SEL AcSELerator

EnerVista

Powerbase

P&C drawings

IEEE/ANSI/NERC standards

Communication skills

Project leadership

Education

ABET-accredited EE degree

Tools

SEL AcSELerator

EnerVista

OEM relay software

Job description

Sargent & Lundy is seeking a Lead System Protection Engineer to join our Grid Services team. This role leads protection philosophy development, relay settings, and power system studies for transmission and substation projects, with a secondary focus on P&C design reviews.

Candidates should have a ABET‑accredited Electrical Engineering degree and 10+ years of system protection experience, including CAPE/ASPEN, SEL AcSELerator, EnerVista, and Powerbase usage, plus strong communication with