Sr Engineer - Substation Operations

BHE Renewables; Des Moines (IA); On-site; USD 110,000 - 165,000; Full time

Job summary

BHE Renewables in Des Moines, IA, is seeking a Senior Engineer – Substation Operations to provide technical leadership across substations and generation facilities.

You will drive asset management, maintenance programs, relay programming, and regulatory compliance, applying HPI to reduce human error.

The role requires PE or equivalent experience, 25% travel, and a track record of leading cross-functional teams.

Qualifications

• Five years of engineering experience with PE license, or eight+ years without PE.
• Bachelor’s in Engineering from an accredited school.
• Strong technical, analytical and leadership abilities.
• Proven ability to lead complex projects and cross-functional teams.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Up to 25% travel and valid driver's license required.

Responsibilities

• Lead maintenance programs for substations and generation assets (oil/bushing testing, infrared, relay testing).
• Develop and update documentation standards for design, maintenance, and testing.
• Provide lifecycle leadership for capital and O&M projects (planning, design, cost estimates, contracting, oversight).
• Program programmable devices and protective relays; analyze event data.
• Identify risks, plan emergency response, and drive recovery improvements.
• Mentor engineers and champion Human Performance Improvement.

Skills

PE license

Leadership

Project management

Engineering

Communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering

Job description

The Senior Engineer – Substation Operations serves as a technical expert responsible for advanced engineering design, asset management, and project leadership across BHE Renewables’ substation and generation facilities. This role ensures safe, reliable, and compliant operation of critical infrastructure. The Senior Engineer performs complex engineering work and provides technical leadership and direction to engineers and cross-functional teams. This role leads major projects, ensures regulatory compliance, and applies Human Performance Improvement (HPI) principles to drive system reliability and risk reduction.

Responsibilities

• Lead and optimize substation and generation maintenance programs, including asset management strategies, oil and bushing testing, commissioning, infrared inspections, relay testing, and compliance activities.
• Lead documentation standard creation, update and review. Documentation includes substation engineering design, preventative maintenance, operation and testing standards, templates and procedures.
• Provide full lifecycle project leadership for capital and O&M projects, including planning, engineering design, cost estimating, contracting, construction oversight, and financial performance monitoring.
• Conduct advanced protective relay and other programmable substations and electric equipment device programming.
• Lead risk identification, mitigation strategies, emergency response planning, and recovery initiatives.
• Interact with programmable devices to ensure appropriate data capture setup and pull event records.
• Perform event analysis including fault and event records and present findings to leadership and stakeholders.
• Serve as a technical authority and mentor to other engineering staff.
• Champion HPI practices by evaluating existing processes and implementing improvements to prevent and mitigate human error.
• Stay informed of industry trends and emerging technologies relevant to BHE Renewables’ operations.
• Understand NERC CIP regulatory compliance requirements for BESS elements and support appropriate controls and testing.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• Five years of industry experience as a practicing engineer and Professional Engineer (PE) license required; or eight or more years of experience without PE.
• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from an accredited institution.
• Advanced technical, analytical, and leadership skills.
• Demonstrated ability to lead complex projects and influence cross-functional teams.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Up to 25% travel required. Valid driver’s license required.

About Us

BHE Renewables delivers sustainable energy solutions for customers and communities. We own, operate and develop wind, solar, geothermal, hydroelectric and natural gas projects in 11 U.S. states. The power generated is sold into energy markets or directly to customers through long-term purchase agreements.

Headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, BHE Renewables is an innovative and growing company with new offices in Phoenix and San Diego. Our 50/50 joint venture with Occidental Petroleum has led to a demonstration project showing how TerraLithium technology is used to extract lithium from the brine presently flowing through our geothermal plants in Imperial Valley, CA.

Our CHAMPION culture drives our success by fostering high expectations, ownership and continuous improvement within a respectful and inclusive team environment. Through the CHAMPION mindset, we focus on the fundamentals – preparation, planning and attention to detail – holding ourselves accountable to do simple better. Alongside this, the BHE Renewables CARES program encourages employee volunteerism and invests in our communities, reinforcing our commitment to excellence and collaboration, making us stronger together.

About the Team

BHE Renewables is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion or religious creed, age, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status (except as required by law), gender (including gender identity and expression), sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, genetic information, physical or mental disability, medical condition, veteran or military status, familial or parental status, marital status or any other category protected by applicable local, state or U.S. federal law. Employees must be able to perform the essential functions of the position, with or without an accommodation.