Substation Automation Engineer - Grid Modernization (IEC 61850)
Black & Veatch
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Job summary
Black & Veatch is seeking a seasoned engineer to advance IEC61850‑based substation automation and virtual substations within a power SCADA team. You will help design, implement, and standardize secure, vendor‑agnostic architectures and lead efforts across production environments.
As a founding member of the vPAC Alliance, you’ll collaborate with industry leaders to push open, secure digital substations while supporting a growing grid modernization program at client sites and BV offices.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's Degree in Engineering from an accredited program.
- Minimum of 5 years related work experience.
- Professional Engineer (PE) license preferred.
- Familiarity with cybersecurity for OT environments is a plus.
Responsibilities
- Develop SCL artifacts including ICD, CID, and SCD files and associated datasets.
- Configure MMS, GOOSE, and SV messaging for protection and SCADA applications.
- Design station-bus and process-bus network architectures with PRP/HSR, VLANs, and QoS.
- Document timing, latency, and PTP requirements for substation devices.
- Integrate multi-vendor IEDs and coordinate protection settings with SCADA/HMI systems.
- Contribute to IEEE and IEC standards and participate in industry groups.
Skills
Education
Tools
Job description
Date: Aug 31, 2026
Location:
Burlington, MA, US Chattanooga, TN, US Greenwood Village, CO, US Orlando, FL, US Irvine, CA, US Cary, NC, US Bloomington, MN, US Overland Park, KS, US Houston, TX, US Tualatin, OR, US Chicago, IL, US Walnut Creek, CA, US Phoenix, AZ, US Ann Arbor, MI, US Dallas, TX, US
Company: Black & Veatch Family of Companies
Together, we own our company, our future, and our shared success.
As an employee-owned company, our people are Black & Veatch. We put them at the center of everything we do and empower them to grow, explore new possibilities and use their diverse talents and perspectives to solve humanity's biggest challenges in an ever-evolving world. With over 100 years of innovation in sustainable infrastructure and our expertise in engineering, procurement, consulting and construction, together we are building a world of difference.
At Black & Veatch, you’ll be part of work that matters—designing, creating, and building the infrastructure communities rely on every day, from concept through execution.
We care about how the work gets done as much as what we build. Safety is built into every decision, and people look out for each other—speaking up, collaborating, and doing the right thing because it affects real lives.
You’ll work alongside teams solving complex challenges and turning ideas into solutions that perform in the real world—gaining hands‑on experience across projects, technologies, and disciplines.
Ownership shows up in how we work. We take responsibility for outcomes, follow through on commitments, and take pride in what we deliver. As a 100% employee-owned company, employees share in the long-term success we build together.
With flexible ways of working and meaningful development opportunities, you’ll build a career you can be proud to stand behind.
In this role, you may have the opportunity to:
- Lead the transition of IEC61850‑based digital and virtual substations from pilot to production, shaping real‑world grid modernization outcomes.
- Design and standardize secure, vendor‑agnostic substation automation architectures that improve resilience, flexibility, and scalability.
- Serve as a technical leader and subject‑matter expert, influencing system architecture, best practices, and emerging standards.
- Collaborate with utilities, technology partners, and industry groups (including vPAC Alliance) to help define the future of protection, automation, and control.
- Candidates located near any Black & Veatch U.S. Regional Office (bv.com/offices) may be considered. ***
Black & Veatch is expanding its Power SCADA team to support a strategic grid modernization initiative focused on IEC 61850‑based substation automation and virtual substation technologies. As a founding member of the Virtual Protection, Automation, and Control (vPAC) Alliance, Black & Veatch is collaborating with industry leaders to advance open, secure, and vendor‑agnostic digital substation solutions that replace traditional, hardware‑intensive architectures with virtualized, software‑defined platforms. Following successful pilot efforts, BV is now transitioning virtual substations into production environments. This role is being created to bring in experienced SCADA professionals who can help design, implement, standardize, and support production‑ready Power SCADA solutions that enable resilient, flexible, and future‑ready grid infrastructure.
- Develop SCL engineering artifacts including ICD, CID, and SCD files, datasets, logical node mappings, reporting and control blocks, and GOOSE publications and subscriptions.
- Configure and validate MMS, GOOSE, and SV messaging for protection, automation, monitoring, and SCADA applications.
- Design and document station-bus and process-bus network architectures using PRP/HSR, VLANs, QoS, multicast management, and traffic segmentation practices.
- Design deterministic real-time networking paths for time-sensitive protection and automation applications, incorporating latency budgeting, PTP timing performance, and behaviors defined for substation-class devices meeting IEC61850-3 and IEEE1613 environmental and EMC requirements.
- Diagnose and optimize real-time network behavior through traffic-capture analysis, timing-accuracy evaluation, and system-level tuning techniques for time-critical digital-substation workloads.
- Develop PTP-based time-synchronization architectures including grandmaster, boundary, and transparent clock configurations and incorporate timing considerations into the system design.
- Integrate multi-vendor IEDs with protection settings and logic, coordinating measurements, controls, alarms, and event data with SCADA and HMI systems.
- Apply IEC61850 data-modeling concepts to confirm interoperability across mixed fleets of protection and control devices.
- Incorporate cybersecurity principles into system architecture, including authentication, role-based access control, network segmentation, secure communications, and device hardening.
- Apply cyber-informed engineering principles by identifying high-consequence functions and integrating protective measures directly into system architecture, embedding security decisions from the earliest stages of engineering rather than treating them as add-on controls.
- Develop and configure virtualized protection, HMI, gateway/RTU, and related substation applications on platforms including VMware ESXi with vCenter, vSAN, and NSX; Red Hat KVM or OpenShift Virtualization; and SEAPATH’s real‑time, high‑availability hypervisor platform designed to run virtualized protection, automation, and control workloads with deterministic performance and PTP‑synchronized operation on industrial servers meeting IEC61850-3 and IEEE1613 criteria.
- Contribute to, or develop toward contributing to, IEEE and IEC standards and collaborative initiatives related to IEC61850, digital substations, time synchronization, and cybersecurity.
- Support participation in technical bodies and industry groups such as IEC, IEEE, CIGRE, ISA99, and vPAC Alliance workstreams.
- Support the advancement and practical application of virtualized protection, automation, and control concepts in alignment with the architectural direction established by the vPAC Alliance.
- Produce engineering documentation including network specifications, SCL models, timing plans, interface definitions, and system diagrams used across design, laboratory validation, and field implementation.
- Collaborate with project managers, technical leads, clients, and vendors to align designs with project goals, operational requirements, and industry best practices.
- Familiarity with cybersecurity frameworks for operational technology environments, including secure communications and system‑hardening practices.
- Interest or participation in IEEE and IEC standards development related to IEC61850, time synchronization, digital substations, and cybersecurity.
- Experience deploying or supporting virtualized protection, automation, and control applications on VMware ESXi/vCenter/vSAN/NSX, Red Hat KVM or OpenShift Virtualization, and SEAPATH’s real‑time, high‑availability hypervisor platform for vPAC workloads.
- Experience deploying virtualized substation workloads on industrial servers certified to IEC618503 and IEEE1613 environmental and EMC requirements.
- Familiarity with vPAC architectural principles and emerging practices for hosting protection, automation, and control systems on virtualized platforms.
- Interest in or experience with virtualized protection, automation, and control concepts.
- Professional Engineer (PE) License.
- Bachelor's Degree in Engineering from either a recognized accredited program in their home country or the country in which the professional is practicing.
- Minimum of 5 years related work experience.
- All applicants must be able to complete pre‑employment onboarding requirements (if selected) which may include any/all of the following: criminal/civil background check, drug screen, and motor vehicle records search, in compliance with any applicable laws and regulations.
- Professional Engineer (PE) license preferred
- This position would require working in a typical office environment. The position may entail prolonged periods of sitting and computer use, and the professional would ideally be able to maintain focus and attention to detail throughout the workday. The position may also be require physical tasks during site visits, including crouching, grasping, and standing/walking for extended periods of time.
- Hybrid or flexible work options may be offered after the first 90 days of employment based upon manager discretion, job performance and work assignments.
In accordance with local requirements, the annual compensation ranges for this role are listed below by state or jurisdiction and reflect the applicable office location(s) within each. Final compensation is determined based on factors such as skills, experience, qualifications, internal alignment, geographic location, and other factors permitted by law.
- State of California: 125,879 - 237,640
- State of Colorado: 120,406-201,080
- State of Illinois: 120,406-201,080
- State of Massachusetts: 131,352 - 219,360
- State of Minnesota: 114,933-191,940
ENG: Engineering
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Black & Veatch is committed to being an employer of choice by creating a valuable work experience that keeps our people engaged, productive, safe and healthy.
Our comprehensive benefits portfolio is a key component of this commitment and offers an array of health care benefits including but not limited to medical, dental and vision insurances along with disability and a robust wellness program.
To support a healthy work‑life balance, we offer flexible work schedules, paid vacation and holiday time, sick time, and dependent sick time.
A variety of additional benefits are available to our professionals, including a company‑matched 401k plan, adoption reimbursement, tuition reimbursement, vendor discounts, an employment referral program, AD&D insurance, pre‑taxed accounts, voluntary legal plan and the B&V Credit Union. Professionals may also be eligible for a performance‑based bonus program.
We are proud to be a 100 percent ESOP‑owned company. As employee‑owners, our professionals are empowered to drive not only their personal growth, but the company's long‑term achievements - and they share in the financial rewards of the success through stock ownership.
By valuing diverse voices and perspectives, we cultivate an authentically inclusive environment for professionals and are able to provide innovative and effective solutions for clients.
BVH, Inc., its subsidiaries and its affiliated companies, complies with all Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) laws and regulations. Black & Veatch does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, religion, color, sex, national origin, marital status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender Identity and expression, disability, veteran status, pregnancy status or other status protected by law.
Black & Veatch does not accept unsolicited resumes and will not be obligated to pay a placement fee for unsolicited resumes. Black & Veatch Talent Acquisition engages with search firms directly for hiring needs.
Boston
Construction, Engineer, Engineering
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