Senior Lead Electrical Engineer

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This position reports to:

Electrical Engineering Manager__ABB is seeking a Senior Lead Electrical Engineer with a strong background in Protection and Controls to join our team. Working at ABB offers a unique opportunity to gain hands-on experience across the full spectrum of power system engineering. Our group actively engages in substation design, protection and controls engineering, power system studies, and the design and implementation of power management systems.

Being part of this team allows engineers to collaborate across multiple disciplines, contribute to complex and impactful projects, and develop a well-rounded understanding of modern power infrastructure up to 69kV.The work model for the role is: hybrid

This role is contributing to the Automation Energy Industries division in Houston, TX.Responsibilities:

Serve as the technical lead and subject matter expert for Power System Studies and Protection and Controls across multiple projects, providing guidance, standards, and technical oversight to the engineering team.

Power system network data collection, model development, establish study cases, run reports within the software, and create engineering deliverables based on the results.

Develop and review protection and control systems. This includes the review of single line diagrams, recommend protection philosophies, relay selection, settings development, relay configuration, and coordination.

Support and mentor team members on protection and control best practices, helping build capability within the group

Perform and review power system studies including more advanced studies (e.g. dynamic stability, harmonic, transient analysis, grounding, dynamic motor starting, frequency response, voltage stability, and generator synchronization) to support protection design and validate system performance.

Investigate and analyze power system disturbances, equipment failures, and protective relay operations at customer facilities

Review engineering deliverables to ensure technical accuracy, consistency, and compliance with industry standards, project specifications, and internal engineering practices.

Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams and stakeholders to support project execution and technical decision-making.

Additional tasks with varying scope depending on experience level:

Create and review substation and electrical building integration design packages and follow those projects from the conceptual stage to construction completion.

Design/review/implementation of power management systems (PMS).

Qualifications:

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from an accredited university.

Professional Engineer (PE) license required.
15+ years of experience in power systems engineering, with significant experience in Protection and Controls.

Expert-level knowledge of protection principles, relay coordination, and protection scheme design for medium and high voltage power systems.

Proven ability to independently perform protective relay configuration and settings development (e.g., SEL, GE, Siemens, ABB or similar platforms).Ability to lead and execute power system studies with no technical supervision beyond the basic studies (SC, LF, PC, AF).Expert-level experience with at least one of the major power system analysis software (e.g., ETAP, SKM Power Tools, Easy Power, PSCAD, or similar). Working knowledge of substation design and electrical building integration, including protection and control system interfaces.

Familiarity supporting or implementing power management systems (PMS) or SCADA-based monitoring and control systems is considered an asset. Strong understanding of relevant industry standards and codes (IEEE, NFPA, NEC, ANSI, IEC, or equivalent as applicable).Proven ability to lead engineering work packages or projects and coordinate with multidisciplinary teams. Excellent technical problem-solving, communication, and documentation skills.

Ability to mentor junior engineers and…