Lead Substation Engineer — Protection & Controls

Qualus; Washington, Reno (District of Columbia, NV); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Sign-on Bonus Offered

Job summary

Qualus is seeking a Senior Substation Technical Advisor to lead technical oversight of construction, commissioning, operation, and maintenance of high-voltage substations supporting mission-critical loads.

You will work with field technicians, EPCs, utilities, and management to ensure safe, reliable operation, implementing protection schemes, SCADA, and substation automation. The role emphasizes hands-on leadership and design review across new and existing energized assets.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of hands-on HV substation experience (construction, commissioning, operations, maintenance).
• Expertise in protective relays, protection and control, SCADA, and HV equipment.
• Ability to read one-line diagrams, relay schematics, protection drawings, and construction docs.
• Excellent verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the technical subject matter expert for substation construction, commissioning, operations, maintenance, and reliability.
• Provide technical oversight of multiple energized substations supporting mission critical loads.
• Review and support substation design, protection schemes, relay settings, commissioning plans, and operational procedures.
• Provide expertise in protective relays, protection and control systems, SCADA systems, communications, and substation automation.
• Support troubleshooting, root cause analysis, outage planning, switching activities, and reliability improvement initiatives.
• Monitor substation construction activities and act as the owner's technical representative during project execution.
• Interface with engineering firms, EPC contractors, utilities, commissioning providers, construction managers, and facility operations teams.
• Review construction deliverables, testing documentation, schedules, and quality processes.
• Participate in FAT, SAT, commissioning, energization, and project turnover activities.
• Evaluate the condition and performance of substation equipment including transformers, breakers, disconnect switches, grounding systems, battery systems, protection panels, and associated apparatus.
• Develop technical reports, recommendations, and professional communications for both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Support emergency response and operational troubleshooting as required.

Skills

High-voltage substations

Protective relays

Protection and control systems

SCADA

Substation design

Project oversight

Job description

Qualus is seeking a Senior Substation Technical Advisor to lead technical oversight of construction, commissioning, operation, and maintenance of high-voltage substations supporting mission-critical loads.

You will work with field technicians, EPCs, utilities, and management to ensure safe, reliable operation, implementing protection schemes, SCADA, and substation automation. The role emphasizes hands-on leadership and design review across new and existing energized assets.