Protection & Controls Engineer

K&A Engineering Consulting; City of Rochester (NY); On-site; USD 105,500 - 115,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance

401K with Company Match

Tuition Reimbursement

Flexible PTO

Job summary

A leading engineering consulting firm in Rochester, New York, is seeking a highly motivated Protection & Controls Engineer to join their dynamic team. In this role, you'll oversee protection design for projects in the energy and utility sectors, ensuring the integrity of existing systems while integrating new solutions. The ideal candidate should have a Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering, 7+ years in relay/protection settings engineering, and proficiency in Microsoft Project and AutoCAD. Competitive benefits and a people-first culture await you.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience in relay/protection settings engineering.
• Proficient in Microsoft Project, Excel, PowerPoint, and Word.
• Experience in Substation Design including electrical equipment plans.

Responsibilities

• Perform detailed review of existing protection schemes.
• Lead overall protection design for capital projects.
• Review contractor-provided relay settings and logic diagrams.

Skills

Electrical Engineering knowledge

Relay/protection settings engineering

Proficient in Microsoft Project

Proficient in AutoCAD

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering

Tools

MicroStation

AutoCAD

Job description

K&A Engineering Consulting – 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.

We are seeking a highly motivated and skilled Protection & Controls Engineer to join our team at K&A Engineering in Rochester, 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.

Role Expectations

• 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.
• Lead overall protection design for all capital projects and define relay protection functionality/scheme in accordance with Avangrid TM standards.
• 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 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.
• Review/create substation‑level operational descriptions (HMI operation, relay front panel operation, etc.).
• Review automated maintenance data gathering (Digital Substation Data) point lists.
• Track all required licenses/firewalls and key automation and integration deliverables needed for project implementation.
• 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.
• 7 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 calculations, rigid bus calculations.
• Professional level skills in MicroStation, AutoCAD.
• PE requested.

Pay Range

$105,500—$115,000/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 offer a comprehensive 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 Parental Leave, 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.