Senior Pre-Sales Solution Architect – Protection & Control

Schneider Electric; Chicago, Nashville (IL, TN, CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Schneider Electric in the United States seeks an experienced protection engineer to advance software-defined energy for medium- and high-voltage systems. You will influence specifications, design integrated protection/automation solutions, and act as a technical and commercial advisor to utilities, data centers, and large industrials.

You will build demo systems, support sales with technical leadership, and expand knowledge of IEC standards and the IEC 61850-native PowerLogic platform.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in power systems protection.
• 5+ years hands-on experience with Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) protection equipment.
• 5+ years of hands-on field commissioning experience involving power system protection.
• Practical mastery of IEC standards and protection technologies.

Responsibilities

• Create solution architectures.
• Influence specifications and standards.
• Support sales through technical leadership.
• Build and maintain demo systems.
• Develop internal advocates.
• Engage customers and industry partners.
• Communicate with impact.
• Advance technical knowledge.

Skills

Power systems protection

Protection architectures

Customer engagement

Tools

IEC 61850

PowerLogic platform

SEL equipment

Job description

The opportunity Power systems protection is the foundation of this role. Bring your expertise in protecting medium- and high-voltage power systems to an opportunity where you can apply innovative technology to shape customer decisions, influence engineering specifications, and help define the next generation of protection architectures. Join Schneider Electric’s Digital Power Protection, Control & Automation (PCA) Center of Excellence to advance our vision of software-defined energy (SDE): centralizing protection functions within flexible, scalable architectures designed for high availability. This vision enables protection systems to evolve through upgrades, redundancy, and expansion as customer needs grow. Building on the state-of-the-art IEC 61850-native PowerLogic protection platform, you will help build the bridge to SDE, enabling utilities, data centers, and large industrial customers to deploy power systems faster. You will develop, demonstrate, and specify integrated hardware and software solutions that bring this vision to life. Your protection expertise will guide the engineering decisions, complemented by power automation and IT/OT capabilities. For an experienced protection engineer ready to grow into a customer-facing technical and commercial role, this is an opportunity to expand your influence. You will build on your engineering and field experience to become a trusted technical advisor, support strategic sales opportunities, and help customers adopt new approaches with confidence.

What you will do

• Create solution architectures. Understand customer requirements and develop integrated protection and automation solutions, with particular emphasis on medium-voltage power systems.
• Influence specifications and standards. Work with customers, consultants, and partners to shape protection philosophies, technical requirements, and solution specifications.
• Support sales through technical leadership. Partner with PCA Business Developers and sales leaders on customer discovery, technical proposals, solution evaluations, and presentations that connect engineering capabilities to customer value.
• Build and maintain demo systems. Design, build, operate, maintain, and continuously improve demonstration systems for customer engagements, internal training, and technical validation.
• Develop internal advocates. Educate and influence Schneider Electric stakeholders, including Consulting Application Engineers, Power Systems teams, sales organizations, and internal data center teams.
• Engage customers and industry partners. Collaborate with end users, engineering, procurement and construction firms (EPCs), system integrators, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and consulting engineers.
• Communicate with impact. Create clear, compelling presentation decks and technical materials. Present solutions at customer meetings, workshops, training sessions, and industry conferences.
• Advance technical knowledge. Learn current and emerging technologies, develop reusable application guidance, and bring customer needs and field experience into discussions about future solutions.

How you approach the work

You are curious about what comes next. You question established approaches when better solutions are possible, continuously develop your knowledge, and encourage others to solve problems creatively.

You combine openness to new technologies with the engineering rigor that dependable protection systems require. You enjoy making complex concepts understandable and helping others see how a different approach could improve their systems.

A next step in your engineering career
This role expands your impact from engineering individual systems to influencing the architectures, specifications, and technology decisions behind many projects.

Your field experience and protection expertise will be the foundation. You will build on them through customer engagement, technical advocacy, and commercial collaboration, developing the skills and visibility that support a career in technical and commercial leadership.

• At least 10 years of experience in power systems protection, with deep expertise in protection functions and medium-voltage applications.
• At least 5 years of hands‑on experience with Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) protection equipment.
• At least 5 years of hands‑on field commissioning experience involving power system protection.
• Practical mastery of IEC