Senior Substation Engineer

Kapower; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 100,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Dental, Vision Insurance

401K with company match

Paid Holidays & Flexible PTO

Tuition Reimbursement

Parking and Transit Reimbursement

Life and Disability Insurance

Employee Assistance Program

Job summary

KA Power Group is seeking a Senior Substation Engineer in Oak Brook/IL to lead protection design for capital projects and oversee relay settings, AS-built documentation, and automation integration. The role demands a strong background in substation engineering, field-verified relay schemes, and collaboration with clients on standards and project execution.

The candidate should have a BSEE, 6+ years of relay/protection experience, plus proficiency in MicroStation, AutoCAD, and MS Office.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering required.
• 6+ years relay/protection settings experience.
• Proficient in MS Project, Excel, PowerPoint, and Word.
• Substation design knowledge: GA, equipment plans, elevations, sections.
• Professional level skills in MicroStation and AutoCAD.
• PE license requested.

Responsibilities

• Lead protection design for capital projects and define relay schemes.
• Review contractor relay settings, diagrams, and descriptions.
• Coordinate area relay protection with changing fault duty.
• Provide design support during implementation, testing, and commissioning.
• Refine customer design practices and ensure as-built filing.
• Lead automation and integration design for projects.
• Review SCADA indexes and HMI screens.
• Track licenses, firewalls, and automation deliverables.

Skills

Protections & relay settings

Substation engineering knowledge

Microsoft Office proficiency

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering (BSEE)

Tools

MicroStation

AutoCAD

MS Project

Job description

At K&A, our employees are at the heart of everything we do, driving our success through their talent, dedication, and passion.

KA 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 Senior Substation Engineer to join our team at K&A Engineering in Oakbrook, IL. 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.

• 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 client 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 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
• 6+ 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
• PE requested

Pay Range $100,000—$130,000/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 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)

Check out our career page for more information!

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.