Senior Protection Engineer

Petroplan; Houston (TX); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Petroplan is seeking a Senior Protection Engineer to join its Electrical Engineering team in Houston or remotely with travel. The role focuses on design, development, testing, and commissioning of electrical protection systems for power generation and distribution assets.

Responsibilities include developing relay settings, performing studies, FAT/SAT, and coordinating with project stakeholders to ensure safe and reliable operation. Travel is required as projects demand.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or related field.
• 10+ years of protection engineering experience including relay settings and commissioning.
• Proficiency with IEC 61850, protection philosophies, and FAT/SAT procedures.
• Hands-on experience with short circuit studies and relay coordination.
• Experience with SEL relays and associated configuration software.
• Ability to travel 25-50% during active projects.

Responsibilities

• Design electrical protection schemes for generators, transformers, feeders, and MV/LV distribution.
• Develop and maintain relay settings, calculations, and protection narratives.
• Perform short circuit studies to support equipment ratings and coordination.
• Coordinate protection with one-line diagrams, control schematics and vendor docs.
• Support FAT, SAT, and field commissioning activities.
• Collaborate with SCADA, controls, automation, and networking teams.
• Develop engineering documentation, issue logs, and turnover packages.

Job description

My client is seeking a highly motivated and detail-oriented Senior Protection Engineer to join its Electrical Engineering team. This individual will play a critical role in the design, development, testing, and commissioning of electrical protection systems supporting power generation, medium-voltage distribution, and auxiliary power systems. The Senior Protection Engineer will collaborate closely with Engineering, Operations, Commissioning, OEMs, and project stakeholders to develop relay settings, perform power system studies, support factory and site testing, and ensure the safe, reliable, and resilient operation of critical power assets. This role can be based out of Houston, TX or be remote with travel.

Key Responsibilities:

• Design electrical protection schemes for generators, transformers, feeders, buses, medium-voltage, and low-voltage distribution systems.
• Develop, review, and maintain relay settings, calculations, logic diagrams, coordination studies, protection narratives, and associated engineering documentation.
• Apply protection functions for synchronous generators, transformers, inverter-based resources (IBRs), and other electrical equipment based on system requirements.
• Coordinate protection system designs with one-line diagrams, control schematics, vendor documentation, and project specifications.
• Perform and review short circuit studies to support equipment ratings, relay coordination, and protection settings.
• Develop study assumptions, validate system models, and clearly document engineering conclusions.
• Support load flow, arc flash, transient stability, and dynamic system modeling as required.
• Analyze abnormal system operating conditions and recommend practical protection or control improvements.
• Design and implement protection and control systems utilizing IEC 61850, including GOOSE messaging and Intelligent Electronic Device (IED) communications.
• Develop and review relay logic, communications mapping, integration documentation, and testing procedures.
• Partner with SCADA, controls, automation, and networking teams to integrate protection systems into plant monitoring and control infrastructure.
• Support the standardization of relay templates, naming conventions, engineering practices, and testing procedures across multiple projects.
• Participate in Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT), Site Acceptance Testing (SAT), hardware-in-the-loop testing, and field commissioning activities.
• Troubleshoot relay settings, communications, wiring, logic, and field implementation issues during commissioning and operational support.
• Review commissioning documentation, resolve punch list items, and ensure final relay settings accurately reflect installed systems.
• Travel to project sites, vendor facilities, and commissioning locations as required.
• Collaborate with Engineering, Construction, Operations, Procurement, Commissioning, and third-party engineering partners throughout project execution.
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship while supporting continuous improvement initiatives within the protection engineering program.
• Prepare technical reports, engineering documentation, issue logs, turnover packages, and project deliverables.
• Promote a strong safety culture while maintaining the highest ethical and professional standards.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Qualifications:

Required:

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or a related discipline, or equivalent experience in power system protection.
• Minimum of 10 years of experience in protection engineering, relay settings, power system studies, and commissioning support.
• Experience developing relay standards, protection philosophies, commissioning procedures, and settings templates.
• Hands-on experience performing short circuit studies for industrial, utility, power generation, or medium-voltage distribution systems.
• Proficiency with SEL relays and associated relay configuration software.
• Experience designing and implementing protection schemes utilizing IEC 61850, including familiarity with the standard's data model concepts.
• Experience supporting Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT), Site Acceptance Testing (SAT), and field commissioning.
• Strong understanding of: Power system protection principles, relay coordination, one-line diagrams, control schematics, electrical field testing and commissioning
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to effectively collaborate across technical and non-technical teams.
• Ability to travel approximately 25-50%, particularly during active project execution and commissioning phases.

Preferred:

• 10+ years of protection engineering experience.
• Experience performing power system studies using ETAP.
• Experience with Siemens and ABB protective relays.
• Experience with PSS E, PSCAD, and/or RTDS hardware-in-the-loop testing.
• Professional Engineer (PE) license in Texas, or the ability to obtain licensure.

Desired Skills:

• Strong analytical and troubleshooting abilities.
• Excellent organizational skills with exceptional attention to detail.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced project environment.
• Strong interpersonal and cross-functional collaboration skills.Ability to translate protection requirements into practical relay settings, engineering studies, logic development, and commissioning procedures.
• Self-motivated, safety-focused, and comfortable supporting both office engineering and field commissioning activities.