Engineer II, III, IV - Protection & Controls

• Location 5399 Wellington Branch Dr,Gainesville, VA, 20155,United States

Energize your future by joining our team at Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative (NOVEC)! NOVEC's mission is to create value for its members, employees and communities by providing safe, reliable electricity and quality products at competitive prices.

NOVEC is a locally owned electric distribution system headquartered in Manassas, VA. NOVEC provides reliable electric service to more than 180,000 homes and businesses in Clarke, Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun, Prince William and Stafford counties, the City of Manassas Park, and the Town of Clifton. NOVEC's service reliability is the best in the region with a 99.99% average system reliability.

As a leader on the high-tech frontier, NOVEC is using proven, cost-effective technology to improve productivity and reliability, reduce expenses, and increase cybersecurity – a national priority. Today’s technology includes what the industry calls  smart grid , as well as fiber optics, and mobile workforce.

OVERVIEW:

Design the typical and unique substation protection systems and relay settings used in the control and operation of utility transmission and distribution facilities. Analyze the performance of protective relay operations to ensure reliability and proper coordination of the overall electric system. Provide technical guidance, oversight, and direction for technical services personnel for substation maintenance and installation activities. Create equipment specifications and standards for substation protection, automation, and communications equipment and oversee the operation of these systems.

Serve as chairperson of the protection philosophy and policy group to meet as needed to ensure proper coordination of protective devices, safety, and mandated requirements set by regulatory bodies.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: Other related duties may be assigned. An individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily and effectively. Reasonable accommodation may be available to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.

• Leads others to solve complex problems; uses sophisticated analytical thoughts and judgment to identify innovative solutions. Interprets internal and external business issues and recommends best practices. Takes a broad perspective to identify innovative solutions.
• Works independently; with guidance in only the most complex situations. Leads functional teams and projects.
• Communicates difficult concepts and negotiates with others to adopt a different point of view.
• Develops detailed project scopes for complex projects, control enclosure layouts, relay functional one-lines, elementary and schematic diagrams, wiring drawings and bills of material required for protective relay and control installations and upgrades independently. Reviews and approves designs developed by other engineers.
• Develops protective relay settings based on current and evolving standards and reviews settings developed by other engineers. Develops internal standards for application by other engineers.
• Manages multiple projects simultaneously in various stages of design to meet project schedule deadlines.
• Provides technical support to field personnel during project implementation and oversees system commissioning. Develops and reviews maintenance procedures, evaluates test reports and proposes projects as needed to correct deficiencies.
• Prepares thorough and accurate technical reports, correspondence, documentation, calculations, and sketches related to defined complex problems and analyses of significant scope and complexity. Ensures that organized, detailed records of drawings, calculations, and settings are updated and maintained in the appropriate databases.
• Investigates and analyzes unique and complex system disturbances and relay operations to determine the root cause and recommends improvements as necessary.
• Ensures protective relay systems compliance with NOVEC reliability policies, NERC, IEEE and other industry standards and other programs such as special protection systems (SPS), and under frequency load shedding (UFLS). Serves as a technical resource for regulatory compliance experts.
• Supports the preparation of long-range and short-range work plans, by establishing goals for engineering and operations functions, minimizing consumer outage time, reducing system losses, lowering system operating and maintaining costs, and efficient operation.
• Develops training, trains, guides, and mentors lower-level engineers. Acts as a resource for colleagues and engineers with less experience.
• Provides technical support to System Operations as required.
• Works continually towards self-development to maintain professional and technical knowledge by attending educational workshops; reviewing professional publications; establishing personal networks; benchmarking state-of-the-art practices; and participating in professional societies

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:

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