Electrical Commissioning Engineer (Off-site Support) Cape Town

Kirby Group Engineering; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 520,000 - 740,000; Full time

Job summary

Kirby Group Engineering in Cape Town seeks an Electrical Commissioning Engineer to provide technical, planning and documentation support for projects across Ireland, the UK and Europe. The role emphasizes defining scope, delivering complete commissioning deliverables, and ensuring timely remote technical assistance.

The successful candidate will join a vibrant, multi-functional team, with opportunities to grow through the company’s development programmes.

Qualifications

• Recognised qualification in Electrical Engineering or related discipline.
• Ability to interpret drawings, specs, schedules and vendor data; translate to actions.
• Strong technical writing, record-keeping, revision and traceability skills.
• Clear written and spoken English; eligible to work in South Africa.

Responsibilities

• Support commissioning planning, coordination, tracking and reporting electrical testing and commissioning activities.
• Review scopes, drawings, schedules and contract requirements; produce deliverables and acceptance criteria.
• Develop and maintain electrical asset lists, tags, boundaries, interfaces and drawing packs.
• Prepare commissioning strategies, test scripts, and IST documents; maintain schedules and lookaheads.
• Review vendor FAT/SAT procedures, certificates and test packs for sign-off evidence.
• Provide remote technical support and coordinate interfaces with mechanical and control systems.

Skills

Electrical engineering

Electrical distribution

Technical writing

English proficiency

Education

Electrical Engineering degree

Tools

Microsoft Office

Drawing tools

Job description

• Permanent position available with a considerable portfolio of works for the next 5+ years
• To build your career by assisting in the delivery of ’leading edge’ engineering projects.
• To work with a vibrant, agile and multi-functional team in delivering projects on time, safely, to budget and to the required quality standards.
• To benefit from Kirby’s Career Development Programmes that will enhance your leadership capability.
• To work with the best.
• Excellent package on offer with room for negotiations

• Permanent position available with a considerable portfolio of works for the next 5+ years
• To build your career by assisting in the delivery of ’leading edge’ engineering projects.
• To work with a vibrant, agile and multi-functional team in delivering projects on time, safely, to budget and to the required quality standards.
• To benefit from Kirby’s Career Development Programmes that will enhance your leadership capability.
• To work with the best.
• Excellent package on offer with room for negotiations

About Kirby Group Engineering

Kirby Group Engineering is an international multi-disciplinary engineering services contractor and leading provider of high-value engineering services to a number of ‘blue chip’ companies. Operating across Ireland, the UK, Europe and South Africa, Kirby has become the engineering service provider of choice in growth segments such as pharmaceuticals, data centres and power transmission and distribution. Our culture is innovative, collaborative and performance focused. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to grow and develop in a company committed to developing talent and rewarding performance.

Role Purpose

The Electrical Commissioning Engineer provides technical, planning, and documentation support from the Cape Town office to project teams across Ireland, the UK and Europe. The role supports a consistent commissioning process from design through handover by defining scope, preparing and controlling deliverables, maintaining accurate project data, and providing timely remote technical assistance.

Roles & Responsibilities

• Support the Commissioning Lead in planning, coordinating, tracking, and reporting electrical testing, turnover, and commissioning activities across assigned projects.
• Review scopes, specifications, drawings, schedules, submittals, and contract requirements. Prepare project familiarisation outputs including deliverables, acceptance criteria, owners, and key dates; to prove system commissionability.
• Develop and maintain electrical asset and system lists, tags, boundaries, interfaces, dependency matrices, and drawing pull packs against the latest approved design information.
• Prepare and control commissioning strategies, implementation plans, check sheets, test scripts, method statements, and IST documents. Maintain Levels 0-5 schedules,lookaheads, and trackers aligned with the programme, and system dependencies.
• Review SLDs, schematics, layouts, cable and panel schedules, protection studies and settings, control philosophies, and cause-and-effect documents; to cover utility supplies, MV/LV switchgear, transformers, generators, UPS and batteries, busway, distribution, cabling, earthing, lightning protection, lighting, metering, and associated controls.
• Prepare and review project test sheets and packs, including panel charts, pre- and post energisation checks, point-to-point tests, busbar inspections, earthing and bonding, torque records, protection values, marked-up drawings, photographs, approvals, and retest evidence. Confirm completeness, traceability, and technical consistency.
• Review vendor FAT/SAT procedures, certificates, test packs, and submissions. Confirm valid calibration, prerequisites, instruments, acceptance criteria, and sign-off evidence.
• Develop or review temporary-power, load-bank, and Levels 4-5 power-cascade plans. Support energisation, switching, outage, isolation, and LOTO documentation.
• Administer commissioning and common data platforms, including asset records, document and script uploads, system transfers, revision control, and company records. Support L1-L3 readiness and tagging for CFCI/OFCI assets, programme activity
• identifiers, walkdown status, drawing packs, checklists, invitations, and lookaheads using verified site information.

• Maintain trackers, dashboards, action registers, snag lists, and non-conformance logs. Follow up actions, verify close-out evidence, and prepare accurate daily/weekly reports, spreadsheets, Power BI updates, and presentations.
• Provide structured remote technical support, troubleshooting, and root-cause analysis. Coordinate interfaces with mechanical plant, BMS, EPMS, fire alarm, life-safety, and controls, and upscale significant safety, quality, programme, or technical risks.
• Support handover by checking turnover packs, certificates, as-built records, O&M manuals, training records, signoffs, and actions. Participate in coordination meetings and required visits, FATs, SATs, witness tests, or IST; improve templates, lessons learned, procedures, and digital workflows; and comply with company policies on data security.

Requirements

• Recognised qualification in Electrical Engineering, Electrical Power Engineering, Building Services Engineering, or a related discipline, with typically 3+ years of relevant engineering, commissioning, or mission-critical project experience.
• Practical knowledge of electrical distribution and commissioning documentation, with the ability to interpret drawings, specifications, schedules, vendor data, and test results and convert them into clear actions and deliverables.
• Strong technical writing, record-keeping, document-control, revision, and traceability skills. Proficiency in Microsoft Office is required; experience with drawing tools, commissioning platforms, reporting tools, and snagging systems is advantageous.
• Clear written and spoken English; able to work with geographically diverse teams. Must be eligible to work in South Africa, willing to work from the Cape Town office, and available for project travel when required.

Kirby Group Engineering is an equal opportunities employer. We are committed to fostering an inclusive workplace and welcome applications from all suitably qualified candidates, regardless of race, gender, disability, religion, sexual orientation, or age.