Senior Electrical Engineer

Senior Electrical Engineer, New Product Development

📍 Chicago, Illinois (On-site, Full time - Relocation assistance available)

Our client is a privately-owned, billion-dollar power distribution equipment manufacturer with over a century of engineering innovation. Profits get reinvested into R&D and employees rather than funneled to public shareholders. This is a company where engineering decisions are driven by product excellence and long-term thinking.

• Data center demand is driving explosive growth, with the company on track to double revenue within 5 years (in addition to healthy business from utilities and renewables).
• Strong margins, healthy balance sheet, and 3.5% of profits reinvested into R&D annually, directly benefit ting this department.
• Family-owned business culture backed by action: extended holiday shutdowns, regular town halls with senior leadership, and a track record of taking care of employees when it counts.
• Full-scale, in-house testing labs (500kV AC withstand, 1300kV lightning impulse, environmental chambers to
  -70°C). Rapidly validate designs on-site instead of waiting months for third-party labs.

As a Senior Electrical Engineer - New Product Development, you'll design and develop medium and high-voltage power distribution equipment including switch gear, reclosers, protection systems, and high-accuracy sensors. You'll own electrical design from concept through prototype, testing, validation, and production release. You'll work with in a Stage-Gate NPD process alongside mechanical engineers, manufacturing, quality, and supply chain. The team is growing due to sustained demand, and there's real opportunity to take ownership of increasingly complex projects.

• Electrical design of switch gear, reclosers, current limiting protection, and power grid automation equipment
• Current and voltage sensor design and integration
• Protection system design, system analysis, and fault response engineering
• Test plan creation and hands-on validation in their in-house high-voltage lab
• Root cause analysis and troubleshooting on new and existing products
• Supplier interface for component selection and qualification
• Engineering support to Sales, Marketing, and Manufacturing on new and existing products
• Documentation including test reports, engineering standards, and technical papers

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering
• 5+ years of progressive electrical engineering experience in medium/high-voltage power systems
• Knowledge of IEEE and NEC standards for power distribution equipment, with technical depth in power systems protection, system analysis, and fault response

• Familiarity with Stage-Gate or similar structured product development processes
• DFMEA experience

• R&D or Product Development Engineers from power distribution OEMs
• Consulting Engineers with complex substation design experience particularly those who've worked closely with equipment suppliers on specs
• Experience with utility-scale power systems (protection engineering, distribution equipment, standards development)
• Candidates from consulting backgrounds without direct product development experience are encouraged to apply especially if you've worked on substation design projects with deep exposure to similar equipment.