Principal Engineer - Substation Commissioning Details | Family of Companies

Overview

Principal Engineer
- Substation Commissioning

Location:

Greenwood Village, CO; KS; LA; AL; TX; MO; OK; US

Company:
Black & Veatch Family of Companies

We are employee-owners, placing people at the center of everything we do. Our experience spans more than 100 years in sustainable infrastructure, engineering, procurement, consulting and construction, and we are focused on solving humanity's challenges through collaboration and innovation.

Job Summary

The Principal Engineering Group within the Substation Commissioning Team serves as the technical bridge between engineering design and field execution. This group provides advanced engineering support to commissioning teams, ensuring substation designs are constructible, testable, and capable of safe energization. Principal Engineers focus on resolving technical issues, developing commissioning standards, supporting field execution, and coordinating across disciplines.

• Supports commissioning teams by resolving defined technical issues with guidance from senior engineers.
• Reviews protection, control, and SCADA designs for basic constructability and testability.
• Assists with development of commissioning test plans and procedures for standard applications with support/review from senior engineers.
• Supports field teams with relay logic and test result interpretation, and troubleshooting.
• Participates as a technical contributor in engineering and commissioning project meetings and information requests.
• Applies established commissioning standards, tools, and checklists; checks project results for alignment with standards.
• Provides peer reviews of testing results of apparatus and relay testing for compliance with industry and manufacturer’s tolerances, with guidance from senior engineers.

• Troubleshoot and resolve design, logic, and protection issues encountered during commissioning, including protection, interlocks, and control schemes.
• Serve as the technical liaison between field commissioning teams, relay settings engineers, SCADA engineers, design engineering management, construction teams, and external EPCs or utilities.
• Review and respond to client requests for information related to protection philosophy, commissioning approach, and testing limitations.
• Review commissioning test results, relay event reports, and as-found conditions to identify root causes and recommend corrective actions.
• Provide on-call or scheduled engineering support to field teams during critical testing and energization activities.

• Develop and maintain commissioning standards, technical guidance documents, templates, and checklists.
• Support development of engineering tools and process improvements that support both engineering and commissioning teams.
• Provide commissioning-focused input into engineering standards, specifications, and compliance documentation.
• Identify recurring field issues and drive standardization efforts to reduce execution risk and rework.

• Develop commissioning test plans for ongoing projects, standardized around typical protection applications to have baseline test plan templates.
• Develop testing solutions for non-standard protection and automation schemes such as GOOSE, SV, Centralized and Virtual Protection.
• Define staged testing approaches, including bench simulation, lab testing, and end-to-end validation.

• Review protection, control, and SCADA designs for constructability, testability, and commissioning feasibility.
• Identify design assumptions that may impact field testing or operational performance.
• Provide direct feedback to engineering teams to resolve constructability issues prior to field execution.
• Coordinate across protection, SCADA, relay settings, construction, and commissioning disciplines.
• Participate in coordination meetings with project management, engineering, EPC partners, and owners to resolve technical execution issues.
• Provide commissioning-focused recommendations during client and utility discussions.

• Identify process inefficiencies and recommend improvements to commissioning workflows.
• Mentor junior engineers and field staff on protection concepts, commissioning logic, and troubleshooting methods.
• Promote a culture of technical rigor, quality, knowledge sharing, and continuous improvement.

Individual Contributor

• Preferred:
• Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio, SharePoint).
• Engineering/Design Software (Bluebeam, Autocad, Microstation).
• Network Simulation Software (ASPEN/CAPE/ETAP).
• Relay Settings & SCADA Software (SEL/GE/EATON/BECKWITH/SIEMENS).
• Testing & Commissioning Software (Doble/Omicron/Megger).

Applicants must be able to complete pre-employment onboarding requirements which may include background checks, drug screen, and motor vehicle records search, in compliance with applicable laws and…