Principal Engineer -Protection & Control

NY STATE ELECTRIC & GAS; Town of Vestal (NY); On-site; USD 128,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

12% 401(k) match

Competitive benefits and growth

Tuition reimbursement

Professional development

Job summary

NY STATE ELECTRIC & GAS CORP in Rochester, NY or Binghamton, NY seeks a Principal Engineer - Protection & Control to lead P&C engineering standards and drive innovation across transmission, substation, and distribution systems.

The role focuses on developing processes, evaluating new technologies, mentoring engineers, and contributing to industry white papers. Strong PE license and extensive protection experience preferred.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering with 10+ years of relevant experience.
• Master’s degree preferred.
• Strong fundamentals in power system protection and fault analysis.
• Experience with relay settings, protection coordination, and standards compliance.
• Professional Engineer license preferred.

Responsibilities

• Develop P&C engineering standards and relay setting templates.
• Conduct engineering analysis and review industry papers.
• Lead engineering projects and coordinate with other engineers, contractors, and vendors.
• Mentor junior engineers and develop P&C training courses.
• Author engineering standards and present to technical audiences.
• Evaluate new vendors and technologies for protection systems.
• Participate in special projects such as arc flash calculations and substation design studies.
• Support projects like IEC 61850 processes and RTDS testing.

Skills

Electrical engineering fundamentals

Power system protection

Engineering design

Analytical skills

Planning and operations

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering

Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering preferred

Tools

SEL protection relays

GE protection relays

Siemens protection relays

IEC 61850 (GOOSE/SV/MMS/PTP)

RTDS (real-time digital simulators)

Job description

Job Title: Principal Engineer - Protection & Control

Location: Rochester, NY or Binghamton, NY

Work type: Office (on-site)

The salary range for this position is dependent upon experience, ranging from $128,320 to $160,400.

What We Offer

• Competitive benefits and growth opportunities
• Generous performance‑based bonuses
• 12% 401(k) match
• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance
• Tuition reimbursement
• Professional development and clear career‑advancement pathways

For more information, please visit: Benefits - Avangrid

Job Summary

This role is responsible for researching industry best practices to create Protection and Control standards. Responsibilities also include development of new engineering processes and tools, evaluating new P&C technologies, and writing industry white papers. System scope includes transmission, substation, and distribution. Service companies include Central Maine Power, New York State Electric & Gas, Rochester Gas & Electric, and United Illuminating.

Responsibilities

• General responsibilities include assisting in the development of P&C engineering standards, relay setting file templates, and engineering tools.
• Conducts engineering analysis, researching industry papers and manuals.
• Make engineering decisions with significant impact to the company.
• The principal engineer is expected to lead engineering projects and facilitate meeting with other P&C engineers, other departments, contractors, and vendors.
• The principal engineer is expected to provide informal mentorship to junior engineers. The principal engineer is expected to develop and instruct P&C training courses.
• Authoring engineering standards and presenting to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Participate in the evaluation of new vendors and technologies.
• Engineers in the Philosophy and Standards group often are requested to work on special one-off projects. Past examples include overhauling arc flash calculation methods, evaluating the feasibility of distribution switching stations, and evaluating new substation designs.
• Active projects include engineering AVANGRID's first IEC 61850 Process Bus Substation, evaluating Virtualized Protection Relays, expanding relaying laboratories (including use of an RTDS), conducting studies, updating engineering standards, creating internal engineering training courses, and writing conference papers.

Required Qualifications

• Education & Experience Required: Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering with a minimum of 10+ years' relevant experience required; Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering preferred.
• Due to the open-ended nature of the department's responsibilities, an intuitive understanding of electrical engineering fundamentals is required. This includes sequential components, per unit, harmonics, transformers, and fault analysis.
• Expert knowledge of all aspects of engineering & design, national and international standards, and compliance requirements associated with power system protection
• Technical Skills/Competencies: Theoretical Engineering knowledge - Planning, Operations and Engineering Design, Analytic, modeling & Calculation, understanding the business model; Global View of the Business (Values cross-functional collaboration, understands importance of growing knowledge and developing relationships and links across the organization)
• Practical engineering experience/application - Planning, Operations and Engineering Design, Construction, (e.g., field experience, standardization "Perform economic analyses of engineering alternatives, develop business cases and defend in front of stakeholders.")
• Engineering documentation - Ability to adequately document and interpret engineering documentation
• bility to review and approve engineering work done by others to ensure compliance with company standards, specifications, and contract requirements
• Knowledge of Regulatory and Compliance Environment - Local, State and Federal Regulatory Standards and requirements
• Professional engineering license preferred
• Expert knowledge of all aspects of engineering & design, national and international standards, and compliance requirements associated with power system protection
• Preferred Qualifications: Master's degree in Electrical Engineering preferred.
• Professional Engineering (PE) license strongly preferred.
• Experience with SEL, GE, and Siemens protection relays.
• Experience or knowledge in the following areas is preferred: IEC 61850 (GOOSE Data Models, Sampled Values, MMS, PTP), networking, real time digital simulators (RTDS), virtualized protection relays, and centralized substation protection.
• Behavioral Competencies: Develop self & others
• Empower to grow
• Collaborate and share
• Be a role model
• Focus to achieve results
• Be agile

Company

NY STATE ELECTRIC & GAS CORP

Mobility Information

Please note that any applicant who is not a citizen of the country of the vacancy will be subject to compliance with the applicable immigration requirements to legally work in