Substation Automation Engineer (Grid Modernization)

TL;DR

Substation Automation Engineer (Grid Modernization): Designing and implementing IEC 61850-based digital and virtual substation architectures with an accent on vendor-agnostic automation and secure networking. Focus on transitioning virtual substations into production and optimizing real-time PTP-synchronized communication.

Location: Must be based in or near hirify.global U.S. Regional Offices (Preference for Kansas City, Atlanta, Raleigh, Dallas, Houston, Orlando, Portland, or Phoenix)

Company

An employee-owned global leader in sustainable infrastructure with over 100 years of expertise in engineering, procurement, consulting, and construction.

What you will do

• Lead the transition of IEC 61850-based digital and virtual substations from pilot to production.
• Design secure, vendor-agnostic substation automation architectures and PTP-based time-synchronization systems.
• Develop SCL engineering artifacts (ICD, CID, SCD) and validate MMS, GOOSE, and SV messaging.
• Implement virtualized protection, HMI, and gateway applications using VMware ESXi, Red Hat KVM, or SEAPATH.
• Incorporate cybersecurity principles and cyber-informed engineering into system architectures.
• Collaborate with industry groups like the vPAC Alliance to define the future of protection and control.

Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree in Engineering from an accredited program.
• Minimum of 5 years of related work experience.
• Must be able to complete US pre-employment onboarding (background check, drug screen, and MVR search).
• Ability to work in a typical office environment with occasional site visits.

Nice to have

• Professional Engineer (PE) License.
• Experience with VMware ESXi/vCenter/vSAN/NSX or Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization.
• Experience deploying virtualized workloads on industrial servers certified to IEC 61850-3 and IEEE 1613.
• Participation in IEEE or IEC standards development.

Culture & Benefits

• Employee-owned company (ESOP) with shared financial rewards.
• Comprehensive health benefits including medical, dental, and vision starting day one.
• Company-matched 401k plan and performance-based bonus opportunities.
• Hybrid work options available after the first 90 days of employment.
• Flexible work schedules, paid vacation, holiday, and sick time.
• Tuition reimbursement and adoption assistance.