Director of Substation Engineering

Position: Director of Substation Engineering

Location:

Raleigh, NC (Hybrid)

Who We Are:

We're a people-driven organization that values continuous learning and shared knowledge. We believe in the strength of connection and collaboration, building relationships that truly matter. Our team is made up of some of the industry's most talented professionals, and we're committed to fostering a culture they can take pride in.

We are an engineering, consulting, and manufacturing firm specializing in medium & high-voltage substations, Protection & Control (P&C), SCADA, and Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS). Equagen supports major EPCs, developers, and utilities across the U.S., delivering turnkey solutions that integrate engineering, panel manufacturing, and testing & commissioning into one streamlined delivery model.

Position Summary

The Director of Substation Engineering will lead Equagen's substation design team, overseeing multi-discipline engineering for 15 kV – 500 kV substations, including Substation Physical design, Protection & Control systems, SCADA integration, and grid-tied BESS projects. This position combines technical depth in protection engineering with executive leadership — responsible for technical excellence, project execution, and strategic growth of the Substation Engineering Division.

Key Responsibilities

Leadership & Management

· Lead and manage a multi-discipline engineering team (P&C and Substation Physical).

Define technical standards, workflows, and resource allocation

· Mentor lead engineers, establish design review protocols, and enforce QA/QC procedures.

· Coordinate closely with Equagen's panel manufacturing, testing, and commissioning teams.

· Oversee project execution, budgets, schedules, and risk management.

· Provide technical assistance to business development and proposal teams.

Protection & Control (P&C) Engineering

· Lead design and review of substation P&C systems including protective relaying, SCADA, RTUs, and communications.

· Develop and approve one-line diagrams, three-line diagrams, control schematics, wiring diagrams, and panel layouts.

· Define relay settings philosophy and supervise relay coordination and protection studies using ASPEN OneLiner, ETAP, or CYME.

· Specify and evaluate protection relays (SEL, GE, Siemens, ABB, etc.), CT/PT ratios, and isolation schemes.

· Oversee factory acceptance testing (FAT) of control panels and provide technical expertise to testing and commissioning team during of site acceptance testing (SAT) at substations.

· Ensure NERC, IEEE, ANSI, and utility standard compliance for all protection systems.

· Coordinate P&C interfaces for BESS, renewable interconnections, and collector substations.

· Lead signal list management, I/O mapping, and relay-to-SCADA integration.

· Support development of test plans, commissioning procedures, and as-built documentation.

Physical & System Design

· Oversee design of substation layout, bus arrangement, grounding, raceway, and conduit plans.

· Review equipment sizing, protection zones, and fault-level calculations.

· Provide oversight for construction packages, IFC drawings, and material take-offs.

· Approve 3D BIM coordination and design automation workflows in collaboration with CAD/BIM teams.

Strategic & Business Responsibilities

· Partner with executive management to develop and execute growth strategies.

· Provide technical input for proposals, bid evaluations, and project pursuits.

· Collaborate with Business Development on client relations, pre-bid engineering, and estimation.

· Represent Equagen in client meetings, technical conferences, and industry forums.

· Develop internal training programs for emerging engineers.

Quality, Compliance & Safety

· Ensure PE oversight and compliance with professional licensure requirements.

· Maintain QA/QC audits and lessons-learned systems for continuous improvement.

· Implement design safety reviews and compliance with NFPA 70E, NEC, NESC, IEEE, and IEC standards.

Qualifications

· Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering (Minimum)

· years of substation engineering experience, with strong background in P&C design.

· years in a manager-level role.

· Licensed Professional Engineer (PE) in at least one U.S. state (multi-state preferred).

· Expert knowledge of protection relays, logic design, and automation protocols (DNP3, Modbus, IEC

· Proficiency in ETAP, ASPEN, SKM, CYME, or similar tools.

· Experience with utility and EPC clients.

· Excellent leadership, communication, and cross-discipline collaboration skills.

Compensation & Benefits

· Competitive base salary with performance bonuses.

· Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage.

· k) with company match.

· Paid time off and continuing education support.

· Relocation assistance and professional license reimbursement.