Substation Physical Engineer
Location: Georgia or Tennessee, preferred
Job Type: Full-Time
Position Summary
The Substation Physical Engineer develops safe, reliable, and constructible physical designs for electric substations serving utility and industrial clients. This role leads and performs engineering for equipment arrangements, bus and conductor systems, grounding, lightning protection, electrical clearances, conduit and cable routing, and related physical design deliverables for greenfield and brownfield substations. The engineer coordinates closely with project managers, protection and control engineers, civil and structural teams, designers, vendors, and clients from concept through construction.
Essential Responsibilities
- Develop and coordinate substation physical design packages, including general arrangements, plans, elevations, sections, equipment layouts, grounding layouts, conduit and cable plans, details, schedules, specifications, and bills of material.
- Interpret one-line diagrams, design criteria, equipment data, utility standards, and project requirements to establish coordinated physical design solutions.
- Engineer layouts for bus, structures, switches, breakers, transformers, instrument transformers, arresters, line terminations, feeders, and other major substation equipment.
- Determine and verify electrical clearances, phase spacing, bus heights, equipment access, maintenance space, and constructability requirements.
- Perform or coordinate engineering calculations and studies for bus and conductor selection, grounding, lightning protection, ampacity, mechanical loading, and related physical design requirements.
- Develop new substation designs and modifications or expansions to existing energized facilities, including brownfield sequencing and outage considerations.
- Coordinate design interfaces with civil, structural, protection and control, communications, transmission, distribution, and other disciplines.
- Prepare equipment specifications, technical bid evaluations, and vendor drawing reviews; incorporate approved equipment data into the design.
- Prepare bid, construction, and as-built documents and contribute to proposals, scopes of work, engineering estimates, and project planning.
- Provide technical direction to designers and junior engineers and maintain coordinated drawings, calculations, design files, and project documentation.
- Conduct field visits and support pre-engineering, pre-construction, and post-construction inspections; respond to construction questions and support testing, commissioning, field changes, and record drawings.
- Perform quality-control reviews for accuracy, completeness, consistency, constructability, and compliance with applicable codes, standards, and project requirements.
- Communicate technical questions, design conflicts, schedule risks, and missing information promptly to the project manager and project team.
- Manage assigned engineering tasks across multiple projects while meeting established scope, budget, schedule, and quality expectations.
- Stay informed of applicable client standards, industry practices, codes, technologies, and company capabilities relevant to substation projects.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from an ABET-accredited program.
- Professional engineering experience in substation physical design.
- Proficiency with AutoCAD and familiarity with 3D design tools such as Autodesk Inventor or other substation design platforms.
- Ability to read and interpret one-line diagrams, physical drawings, equipment drawings, engineering calculations, specifications, and design criteria.
- Working knowledge of substation equipment, bus configurations, physical arrangements, electrical clearances, grounding, lightning protection, and drawing package development.
- Strong analytical ability, attention to detail, and commitment to producing coordinated, high-quality engineering work.
- Ability to organize engineering assignments, manage design changes, and deliver work within project budgets and schedules.
- Effective written and verbal communication skills and the ability to collaborate with clients and multidisciplinary project teams.
- Strong organizational, troubleshooting, and practical problem-solving skills, with attention to safety and the welfare of coworkers, clients, and field personnel.
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office and the ability to learn and use the applications and tools required by clients and project teams.
- Ability and willingness to travel to project sites and work occasional extended or non-standard hours when required by project or client needs.
Preferred Qualifications
- Professional Engineer license or the ability to obtain licensure within an agreed timeframe.
- Experience with distribution, transmission, switching, collector, or customer-owned substations, including both greenfield and brownfield projects.
- Experience applying NESC, applicable IEEE standards, utility standards, and client-specific design criteria.
- Experience with grounding analysis, lightning protection, rigid and strain bus design, conductor selection, or substation physical calculations.
- Experience preparing equipment specifications, reviewing vendor drawings, and supporting procurement and construction activities.
- Experience leading physical design tasks, mentoring junior staff, or coordinating multidisciplinary substation design packages.
- Experience with investor-owned utilities, electric cooperatives, municipal utilities, or utility-specific substation standards and practices.
Core Competencies
- Substation physical engineering and spatial coordination
- Engineering judgment, constructability, and practical problem solving
- Quality control, technical accuracy, and attention to detail
- Leadership and collaboration across engineering disciplines
- Clear client communication and timely escalation of issues
- Adaptability when priorities or design requirements change
- Accountability for scope, budgets, schedules, and deliverables
Attributes of the Successful Candidate
- Humility – exhibits grace in success and failure while doing meaningful work where skills have impact and make a difference
- Motivation – committed and persistent in pursuit of quality and optimal client and company solutions. Willingness to constantly learn, share, and grow.
- Integrity – both to the P&D way of doing business and as a professional engineer with a strong work ethic with a commitment to quality and accuracy.
- Initiative – Self-sufficiency, and a strong desire to learn new technologies and solutions.
- Agility – ability to quickly understand and transition between different projects, concepts, initiatives, or work streams while ensuring deadlines are not affected by the transitions.
- Self-managed – able to effectively manage time and priorities, fully aware of responsibilities and tasks and proactive in completing them without being reminded by others.
- Judgment – exercises prudence and insight in decision-making process while mindful of others and long-term ramifications
- Curiosity – the ideal candidate exhibits an inquisitive nature and the ability to question the status quo among a community of people they enjoy and teams that work well together
- Sacrifice – Demonstrates effort, selflessness, and willingness to jump in and help. A startup mentality.
About Patterson and Dewar Engineers
If you like the idea of working in an employee-owned consulting firm that has a 75 year reputation for integrity, client care, and quality services, and can “think and operate like an owner” this is the job for you, and we want you. We invest in our people through training and employee development and by fostering a culture of innovation, caring and collaboration. We are also committed to an unwavering delivery of high-quality services and results for our clients and reward those who delight our clients. We are a team that focuses on providing excellent customer service with a “can do” attitude and thrives on finding innovative ways to work both safer and more efficient. We offer competitive compensation, a comprehensive benefits package, and the opportunity to learn, grow and contribute to a vibrant culture that stands the test of time.
- Competitive Compensation
- Group Medical Health Insurance Benefits
- Group Vision Health Insurance Benefits
- 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan: 401(k) Retirement Savings Plans help you save for your retirement for eligible employees. A range of investment options are available with a personal financial planner to assist you. The Plan is a pre-tax Safe Harbor 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan with a company contribution.
- Paid Time-Off (PTO) Benefits: Eligible employees use PTO for vacation, a doctor’s appointment, or any number of events in your life. Currently these benefits include Vacation/Sick days – 4 weeks | Holidays - 7
- Bonus program
- Flexible Spending Account: FSAs help you pay for eligible out-of-pocket health care and dependent day care expenses on a pre-tax basis. You determine your projected expenses for the Plan Year and then elect to set aside a portion of each paycheck into your FSA.
- Supplemental Life/Accidental Death and Dismemberment Insurance: If you want extra protection for yourself and your eligible dependents, you have the option to elect supplemental life insurance. D&D covers death or dismemberment from an accident only.
- Short- and Long-Term Disability Insurance: Disability insurance plans are designed to provide income protection while you recover from a disability.
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- 401(k) matching
- Dental insurance
- Employee assistance program
- Flexible schedule
- Flexible spending account
- Health insurance
- Health savings account
- Life insurance
- Paid time off
- Professional development assistance
- Retirement plan
- Vision insurance
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Gallatin, TN 37066
