Senior Engineer – Protection & Control SME/Grid Interface

Switchgear Magazine; Oregon (IL); On-site; USD 95,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Professional development opportunities

Health benefits

Job summary

A leading editor in electrical engineering seeks a specialist in the design of electric power distribution systems for nuclear and advanced power plants. This role involves technical leadership in engineering design, ensuring compliance with safety standards, and collaborating across disciplines. Candidates should have extensive experience in heavy reliability industries and proficiency in relevant engineering software. This position offers an opportunity to influence the future of power systems design.

Qualifications

• 5 years of experience with P&C design.
• 10 years in high reliability industries.
• Experience with heavy electrical equipment.

Responsibilities

• Identify and manage engineering solutions for EPDS.
• Lead the design process for electrical systems.
• Ensure compliance with safety and regulatory standards.

Skills

Technical leadership

Analytical thinking

Project management

Collaboration

Attention to detail

Education

Bachelor of Science in Engineering

Tools

ETAP

AutoCAD

Microsoft Office

Job description

About the job

Job Description Summary

Plant electric power distribution systems (EPDS) design including nuclear (NI) and turbine island (TI), balance of plant (BOP), and interface to switchyard and grid. Scope includes safety-related (S-R) or Safety Class 1 (SC1), augmented quality or SC2 and SC3, and nonsafety-related (NSR) systems for; advanced light water reactor (ALWR) [focus on BWRX-300] and advanced liquid metal reactor (ALMR) [Natrium] for commercial nuclear power plants and test facilities. This role focuses on the analytical aspects of electrical systems discipline. Responsible for all aspects of electrical systems analysis including technical leadership and process ownership.

Job Description

• Identify, develop, evaluate, introduce, and manage engineering solutions for EPDS.
• Apply electrical circuit and electro-magnetic theory, mathematical modeling, and simulation to design electrical systems with desired behaviors including; power flow balance across modes of operation, setting of boundaries, optimization, coordination within and across voltage levels, and understanding complex systems of systems.
• EPDS scope includes AC and DC electric systems, components, and equipment such as; main generator plus unit and reserve auxiliary transformers with their interface to distribution and transmission grid, isolation phase bus duct, medium, and low voltage circuit breakers and disconnect switches with their trip units, digital protective relays, switchgear, switchboards, load or power centers, motor control centers, lighting and power service panels, cable and wire, building and containment penetrations, conduit, ducts, raceway, tray, grounding, lightning, and cathodic protection, motors, adjustable speed drives, batteries, chargers, inverters, uninterruptible power supplies, contactors, switches, relays, etc.
• Support the development of customer applications to connect the plant to the grid.
• Design the protection and control system components interfacing with the grid.
• Perform, lead, or manage design and related technical scope thru progression of; front end engineering design (FEED), Conceptual, Preliminary or Intermediate, Detailed or Final Design.
• Prepare and maintain using data-centric digital tools with rigorous requirements, change control, and configuration management:
  • Static documents or; reports, specifications, databases, tabular lists of; functions, sizing calculations, equipment and instrument characteristics and configurations, electrical and heat loads, physical layout or placement in rooms, buildings, structures,
  • Static diagrams or drawings of; context or functional block, one or single line, three line, relay coordination, electrical schematic, inter-connection wiring, etc.,
  • Dynamic physics based and electrical simulation design and analysis [e.g.; ETAP] models.
• Collaborate with other disciplines to define and achieve functional, performance, reliability, availability and maintainability (RAM) goals using failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA), probabilistic risk analysis (PRA), and related modern techniques.
• Lead or support; nuclear regulatory certification or licensing, procurement packages and hand-off to suppliers for implementation of systems and components requirements including; function, performance, design assurance, qualification [environmental, seismic], regulatory and standards compliance, human factors, safety hazards, reliability, cyber security, etc.
• Collaborate with and provide oversight of suppliers thru procurement and construction to develop, perform, and review unit, module, system, and integration test plans, procedures, and reports including; factory acceptance, site acceptance, pre-operational, and start-up tests including inspection, test, or analysis and acceptance criteria thru commercial operations date.
• Establish productive working relationships with; product and project management, support functions, Architect Engineer (A/E), Engineer-Procure-Construct (EPC) partner(s), and suppliers.
• Perform detailed oversight, review, and verification of deliverables from suppliers to ensure their; adequacy, accuracy, completeness, and compliance with requirements.
• Perform optioneering or trade-off studies for technical, risk, and cost optimization
• Prepare detailed work plans covering scope, labor budget, and schedule.
• Ensure deliverables are on-spec., on-budget, and on-schedule.
• Support LEAN, continuous process improvement, and cost-out programs.
• Provide leadership and mentoring in a team environment to deliver with integrity, safety and security, quality, then output – Champion nuclear culture.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor of Science in Engineering for Electrical, Mechanical, Nuclear, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics or equivalent year technical degree.
• 5 years of experience with P&C design with a portion of that time involving power plant grid interface.
• 10 years of experience in heavy and high reliability industries such as; nuclear, power, process, marine, oil & gas, military, etc. design requirements, specifications, documentation, and related detailed design artifacts including procurement packages using digital tools such as; drawings, databases, tabular lists covering functions, algorithms, set points, equipment and instrument characteristics and configurations, electrical and heat loads, physical equipment layout.
• 10 years of experience using either:
  • IEEE Std 80, 81, 115, 242, 308, 317, 323, 338, 344, 379, 384, 450, 484, 485, 603, 665, 666, 741, 765, 1050, C37.06, C50.10, C50.13, C57.13, C62.23 and NFPA 780
  • OR-
  • IEC Std 62855, Nuclear power plants – Electrical power systems – Electrical power systems analysis and supporting IEC 60034 thru 62305 series.
• 10 years of application engineering or field installation with heavy electrical equipment and components thereof including selection, sizing and analysis calculations, modeling and simulation, and qualification [environmental, seismic, embedded digital] to diverse industry standards (e.g.; IEEE, IEC, ASME)
• 10 years of experience with excellent PC as well as productivity software [e.g.; Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Project, Visio] and computer aided design (CAD) [e.g.; 2D AutoCAD or 3D Inventor].
• 7 years of experience using digital tools preparing dynamic or transient physics based modeling, simulation, analysis [ETAP] of electrical systems.

Eligibility Requirements

• For the United States the preferred work location for this role is at the GE Vernova Nuclear Energy Headquarters in Wilmington, NC; but highly qualified (US based) remote candidates will be considered.
• This role requires access to U.S. export-controlled information. If applicable, final offers will be contingent on ability to obtain authorization for access to U.S. export-controlled information from the U.S. Government.
• For Canada this role requires working two days a week onsite in the Markham Ontario office.
• For Canada GE will only employ those who are legally authorized to work in Canada for this opening.

Desired Characteristics

• Master’s in Engineering for Electrical, Mechanical, Nuclear, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics or equivalent year technical degree.
• Professional Engineer (PE) – National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) or equivalent.
• PMI/PMP certified.
• Experience with equipment qualification [environmental, seismic, embedded digital] testing to diverse industry standards [e.g.; IEEE, IEC, ASME].
• Experience using modern digital engineering collaboration and design tools such as:
  • Content creation [e.g.; Confluence/Atlassian],
  • Requirements management [e.g.; DOORS-NextGen/IBM],
  • Diagram and drawing [e.g.; Visio/Microsoft, AutoCAD/Autodesk],
  • Design and analysis simulation [e.g.; Easy5/MSC, Simulink-MATLAB/MathWorks, Mathcad/PTC, 3KeyMaster/WSC, ETAP, SKM],
  • Change, configuration, document and bill of material (BOM) management [e.g.; ENOVIA/Dassault-Systemes].
• Experience implementing designs compliant with NERC and NPCC requirements.
• Experience developing configuration for GEL-Multilin or SEL relays
• Clear thinker, detail oriented, insightful, quantitative, results oriented – Able to make reasoned, sound, and timely decisions.
• Exceptional technical writing.
• Strong verbal communication and facilitating skills for technical and business audiences.
• Able and willing to take ownership and responsibility for scoping, planning, prioritizing, scheduling, budgeting, action tracking, monitoring, corrective actions, reporting, etc.
• Self-starter with energy and positive “Can-Do” attitude – Proven track record of producing quality deliverables on specification, budget, and schedule in a fast passed environment.
• Team player with cross- discipline and matrixed functional skills and experience.
• Able to handle multiple concurrent assignments and priorities.
• Adaptive with continuous learning and improvement “mindset” with an ability to identify, influence, and implement better ways to do an activity or process.
• Working knowledge, skill, and experience using Agile or LEAN, define, measure, analyze, improve, control (DMAIC), design for six sigma (DFSS), design for reliability (DFR), failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA), and design to cost (DTC).