Principal Electrical Engineer; Substations

Principal Electrical Engineer – Substations

The City of Palo Alto Utilities (CPAU) provides electricity, water, wastewater, natural gas, and fiber optics services to residents and businesses in the city. The Electric Division supplies 100% carbon‑neutral power and offers programs to help customers use energy efficiently.

• 26,428 residential meters
• 3,566 commercial meters
• 938 GWh of energy purchased annually
• 185 MW peak load
• 9 substations
• 19 miles of 60kV sub‑transmission lines
• 317 miles of distribution lines

The ideal candidate is a licensed Electrical Professional Engineer (PE) in California with significant experience in substations and protection systems, the ability to lead electric utility capital improvement programs, and the ability to mentor engineering staff. Candidates should possess strong expertise in power systems, utility infrastructure design, construction management, budgeting, and long‑range system planning. Successful candidates communicate effectively with technical and non‑technical stakeholders, collaborate across departments and agencies, and apply sound engineering judgment to support reliable, safe, and resilient utility operations.

This position functions as the City’s technical expert for substation engineering, protection schemes, and control systems. Incumbents independently perform the most complex engineering work, provide technical guidance to other engineering staff, and lead major capital improvement projects.

• Lead the design, engineering, and analysis of new and existing substation facilities, major system upgrades, and equipment replacement projects within the City’s Electric CIP program.
• Serve as the subject matter expert on substation equipment including transformers, breakers, switch gear, protective relays, SCADA systems, grounding, and control systems.
• Conduct complex power system studies, including short‑circuit, arc flash, relay coordination, and grounding studies.
• Provide technical oversight during construction, commissioning, testing, and energization of substation facilities.
• Develop long‑term substation asset strategies, reliability improvement programs, and lifecycle management plans.
• Ensure compliance with applicable codes, standards, and regulations including NESC, IEEE, NFPA, OSHA, and City policies.
• Prepare and present staff reports, technical memoranda, Council communications, and recommendations.
• Provide mentorship, technical leadership, and training to engineering and technical staff.

• Grid Modernization – Upgrade of distribution lines, substations, and sub‑transmission to support building and transportation electrification and improve system reliability.
• Substation Upgrades – Reconstruct four existing substations with advanced technology to increase system capacity.
• New Customer Connections – Review existing substation capacity and identify improvements to meet the growing needs of the Community.
• Automation – Design and install new automation devices to operate electric infrastructure and enhance system reliability.
• System Protection – Develop engineering standards for various protection schemes and identify advanced protection schemes to improve safety and overall system reliability.

• BSEE and six years of related experience; or an equivalent combination of education and experience sufficient to successfully perform the essential duties of the job.

• Master’s degree in electrical engineering, Power Systems, or related field.
• Progressively responsible professional electric utility engineering experience, including substantial experience with substation design, protection, and capital project delivery.
• Progressively responsible engineering experience in electric utility T&D planning, system modeling, or system engineering.
• Experience in a municipal utility or public sector environment.

• Registration as a Professional Engineer in the State of California (Electric preferred).
• Project Management Professional (PMP) certification (preferred but not required).

Annual…