Principal Protection & Control Engineer

K&A Engineering; City of Rochester (NY); On-site; USD 120,000 - 135,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical Insurance

401K

Paid Holidays

Job summary

K&A Engineering in New York seeks a Principal Protection & Controls Engineer to lead protection design for major capital projects. You will review relay settings, coordination, and automation, ensuring solid integration with SCADA and HMI systems.

Ideal candidates bring 15+ years in relay/protection, BSEE, and proficiency with MicroStation/AutoCAD, and must be local to New York for in-office work.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering (BSEE) with strong utilities knowledge.
• 15+ years of relay/protection settings engineering experience is required.
• Proficient with MS Project, Excel, PowerPoint, and Word.

Responsibilities

• Lead overall protection design for capital projects and define relay protection schemes.
• Review contractor relay settings, diagrams, and descriptions for capital projects.
• Coordinate area relay protection and determine required coordination levels for projects.
• Provide design support during implementation, testing and commissioning of protection & automation work.
• Ensure as-built documentation is filed properly in plant records.
• Lead automation and integration design for capital projects and review SCADA/HMI aspects.

Skills

Relay protection design

Microsoft Office

Substation design

Education

BSEE

Tools

MicroStation

AutoCAD

Job description

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K&A Power Group– is a privately held company, providing comprehensive consulting, engineering and design, program/project management, construction management, and support services to power utility and industrial clients. Specializing in substation, transmission, distribution, distributed energy resources, and EPC services, we excel in solving complex challenges with precision-driven solutions. We pride ourselves on employing top talent, fostering a culture of excellence, and building meaningful relationships with clients and employees.

Powered By Innovation, Passion, And Purpose.

We are seeking a highly motivated and skilled Principal Protection & Controls Engineer to join our team at K&A Engineering in Binghamton, New York. In this role, you will have the opportunity to work on exciting and challenging projects that make a real impact in the energy and utility sectors. You’ll be part of a dynamic, people-focused team where your expertise, ideas, and contributions will be valued and celebrated.

• Lead overall protection design for all capital projects and define relay protection functionality/scheme in accordance with Avangrid TM standards
• Perform detailed review of all existing protection schemes present in the subject area to incorporate into new design. Special areas of focus are anti-islanding schemes, generator intertie settings, SPS schemes, etc. (anything outside of normal). Basically, the goal is to ensure that we don’t remove required protections already in place or at least be aware of how things work today before we modify existing schemes.
• Review contractor provided relay settings, logic diagrams (including Goose messaging diagrams), and operational descriptions for all capital projects
• Review/perform area relay coordination and determine what level of area coordination is required/needed (based on changes in fault duty and overall system performance due to the project changes)
• Review contractor provided relay settings for all temporary builds and construction sequence steps including mobile settings
• Review/provide input to Customer’s Aspen model changes as required for individual capital projects
• Provide design support during implementation/testing and commissioning of the above the items
• Provide feedback to Customer on existing TM standards and help refine the Customer’s design practices
• Ensure all as-built documentation gets filed appropriately in the plant filing location at Customer
• Lead overall automation and integration design for all capital projects
• Review/design SCADA point indexes
• Review contractor provided HMI screens/settings for all capital projects
• Review/design Protection settings and settings basis
• Review/design IED Data Maps
• Track all required licenses/firewalls and key automation and integration deliverables needed for project implementation
• Provide design support during implementation/testing and commissioning of the above items
• Perform constructability review and ensure adequate automation and integration coverage is available for each outage step (SCADA etc.)

What we’re looking for:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering (BSEE) with a strong background and knowledge of all utilities engineering disciplines
• 15 years or more of relay/protection settings engineering experience
• Proficient in Microsoft Project, Excel, PowerPoint, and Word
• Proven experience in Substation Design should include general arrangement, electrical equipment plans, elevation and section views, Equipment cable trays, cable design, conduit fill calcs, rigid bus calcs
• Professional level skills in MicroStation, AutoCAD
• IEC 61850/Goose experience required
• PE Required
• In office- Must be local to New York

Pay Range: $120,00 0-$135,000/annually

Why Join K&A?

• People-First Culture: We put our people at the center of everything we do, creating an environment where your professional and personal growth is a top priority.
• Innovation & Learning:We encourage continuous learning and invest in your development through training, mentorship, and hands‑on experience.
• Collaborative Team Environment: We believe in the power of collaboration and working together to achieve the best outcomes for our clients and employees.
• Recognition & Growth: We’ve earned our reputation through uncompromising precision and a commitment to excellence. As an agile and fast-growing company, we offer plenty of opportunities for your career advancement and growth.
• Competitive Compensation & Benefits:We offeracomprehensive benefits package for eligible classified employees, including but not limited to:

• Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance
• FSA, HSA, and Dependent Care Spending Account
• 401K (Traditional and Roth with Company Match)
• Lifestyle Spending Account (LSA)
• Paid Holidays and Flexible PTO
• Tuition Reimbursement, Parking and Transit Reimbursement, and Pet Insurance
• Long-Term Disability, Short-Term Disability, and Life Insurance
• EAP (Employee Assistance Program)
• Relocation Assistance

The salary range for this role considers a wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions, including but not limited to technical ability, experience and training, licenses and certifications, and other related skillsets. The disclosed range is an estimate and has not been adjusted for the applicable geographic differential associated with the location at which the position may be filled.