Senior Substation Automation Engineer - Grid Modernization

About the Position

Senior Substation Automation Engineer - Grid Modernization

We are seeking a Senior Substation Automation Engineer for grid modernization, focusing on IEC 61850-based digital and virtual substations. This role involves leading the transition from pilot to production, designing secure and vendor-agnostic substation automation architectures, and collaborating with industry groups to define the future of protection, automation, and control.

Responsibilities

• IEC 61850 Engineering & Modeling

  • 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.

• Substation Networking & Time Synchronization

  • 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 IEC 61850-3 and IEEE 1613 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.

• Protection, Automation & SCADA Integration

  • Integrate multi-vendor IEDs with protection settings and logic, coordinating measurements, controls, alarms, and event data with SCADA and HMI systems.
  • Apply IEC 61850 data-modeling concepts to confirm interoperability across mixed fleets of protection and control devices.

• Cybersecurity & System Hardening

  • 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.

• Virtualization of Substation Functions

  • 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 IEC 61850-3 and IEEE 1613 criteria.

• Industry Engagement & Technical Leadership

  • Contribute to, or develop toward contributing to, IEEE and IEC standards and collaborative initiatives related to IEC 61850, 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.

• Project Delivery & Collaboration

  • 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.

Requirements

• Minimum Qualifications

  • Bachelor's Degree in Engineering from either a recognized accredited program in their home country or the country in which the professional is practicing or equivalent experience in Engineering work.
  • Minimum of 11 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.
  • Holds an active engineering registration or licensure to support engineer of record (EOR) requirements for BV projects in applicable countries, and supports where necessary.

• Preferred Qualifications

  • 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 IEC 61850, 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 IEC 61850-3 and IEEE 1613 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.

We Offer

• Competitive compensation
• 401K match and benefits that start day one
• Flexible work schedules
• Paid vacation and holiday time
• Sick time and dependent sick time
• Company-matched 401k plan
• Adoption reimbursement
• Tuition reimbursement
• Vendor discounts
• Employment referral program
• AD&D insurance
• Pre-taxed accounts
• Voluntary legal plan
• B&V Credit Union
• Performance-based bonus program

About the Company

Black & Veatch is an employee-owned company with over 100 years of innovation in sustainable infrastructure and expertise in engineering, procurement, consulting, and construction. We empower our people to grow, explore new possibilities, and use their diverse talents and perspectives to solve humanity's biggest challenges in an ever-evolving world. Our comprehensive benefits portfolio includes health care benefits, wellness programs, and a variety of additional benefits to support a healthy work-life balance.

Locations

• Overland Park, KS, US
• Dallas, TX, US
• Houston, TX, US
• Atlanta, GA, US
• Cary, NC, US

Application

To apply, visit our careers page and submit your application. For more information, contact the Employee Relations Department at +1-913-359-1622 or via our accommodations request form.

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. We value diverse voices and perspectives, cultivating an authentically inclusive environment for professionals.