P&C Field / Commissioning Engineer

Position Overview

We are seeking a Protection & Control (P&C) Field / Commissioning Engineer to support the testing, commissioning, troubleshooting, and energization of protection and control systems within high-voltage substations.

This individual will work closely with engineering, construction, utility, and field teams to ensure protective relays, control schemes, and associated substation equipment are installed, configured, tested, and commissioned properly. The ideal candidate will have hands-on experience with protective relays, relay testing equipment, electrical drawings, and substation commissioning activities.

Key Responsibilities

• Perform field testing and commissioning of protection and control systems for transmission and distribution substations.
• Test, verify, and troubleshoot protective relay schemes for transmission lines, transformers, buses, breakers, capacitor banks, and other substation equipment.
• Perform functional testing, end-to-end testing, secondary injection testing, and trip/close circuit verification.
• Test and commission protective relays from manufacturers such as SEL, GE, Siemens, and ABB/Hitachi Energy.
• Utilize relay testing equipment including OMICRON CMC, Doble, Megger, or similar platforms.
• Configure, test, and troubleshoot SEL protective relays using AcSELerator QuickSet.
• Verify relay settings, logic, communications, alarms, SCADA points, and control functions prior to energization.
• Read and interpret one-line diagrams, three-line diagrams, AC/DC schematics, wiring diagrams, elementary diagrams, logic diagrams, and protection and control drawings.
• Perform point-to-point wiring checks and verify CT/PT circuits, breaker controls, lockout relays, annunciation, and trip circuits.
• Support substation energization, cutovers, outage work, and commissioning activities.
• Troubleshoot wiring, relay logic, communications, settings, and equipment issues discovered during testing and commissioning.
• Document test results, deficiencies, redlines, and field modifications and develop commissioning reports and turnover packages.
• Coordinate closely with utility personnel, P&C engineers, relay settings engineers, construction teams, technicians, and project managers.
• Support investigation of relay operations, misoperations, and equipment issues as required.
• Follow applicable client safety procedures, switching requirements, commissioning procedures, and utility standards.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or a related engineering discipline preferred.
• Experience with P&C testing, relay testing, substation commissioning, or field engineering within the electric utility or power delivery industry.
• Hands-on experience testing and troubleshooting protective relays and control systems.
• Strong understanding of protective relaying, CT/PT circuits, DC control systems, breaker control, trip circuits, and substation protection schemes.
• Experience with protective relay platforms from SEL, GE, Siemens, ABB/Hitachi Energy, or similar manufacturers.
• Experience using OMICRON, Doble, Megger, or comparable relay and electrical test equipment.
• Ability to read and troubleshoot protection and control schematics and physical wiring diagrams.
• Ability and willingness to travel to substations and project sites as required.

Preferred Qualifications

• PE license, EIT certification, or NICET certification.
• Experience commissioning high-voltage transmission substations.
• Hands-on experience with SEL-311, SEL-351, SEL-421, SEL-451, SEL-487E, SEL-487B, or similar relay platforms.
• Experience with AcSELerator QuickSet and SEL communications.
• Experience with end-to-end relay testing, including GPS-synchronized testing.
• Familiarity with IEC 61850, DNP3, SCADA, RTUs, Ethernet-based substation communications, and station automation systems.
• Experience with greenfield substation commissioning as well as brownfield retrofits and cutovers.
• Familiarity with transmission line, transformer, bus, breaker failure, and differential protection schemes.
• Previous experience supporting utility outages and substation energizations.

Ideal Background

The strongest candidate will come from a utility, engineering consulting firm, testing organization, or commissioning group and have substantial hands-on experience working inside substations.

This position is particularly well suited for engineers who can bridge the gap between P&C engineering and field implementation. The ideal candidate should be comfortable reviewing drawings and relay settings, connecting test equipment, performing functional and end-to-end testing, troubleshooting problems in the field, and supporting a substation through final energization.