Substation Primary Principal Engineer or Designer

About the role

Arcadis is recruiting a Substation Primary Principal Engineer or Designer to work closely with the National Renewables & Substations Lead on national projects in the Energy Sector. The role leads technical project teams, gives technical advice and guidance to junior engineers and supports the team's growth internally, with ongoing support and training.

Key responsibilities

• Prepare and deliver complex designs, reports, proposals and presentations for transmission and distribution substations, covering concept, FEED, detailed design and owner's engineer services.
• Cover GIS, AIS and hybrid switchyard configurations, brownfield and greenfield developments, extensions, refurbishments, replacements and life extension projects.
• Equipment selection and specification, including transformers, switchgear, reactors, capacitor banks, surge arresters and instrument transformers.
• Optimise substation layouts, assess safety in design and constructability, and integrate renewables, battery energy storage systems and large customer connections.
• Design and optimise earthing systems, perform touch, step and transferred voltage assessments, EPR studies, lightning protection studies, cable rating studies and thermal modelling and ampacity assessments (e.g. CYMCAP, ELTEK).
• Support construction and technical queries, advise on the most effective team for specialised components, and collaborate with other design disciplines.
• Mentor younger team members and act as technical advisor to clients and stakeholders, offering alternatives when project parameters change.
• Liaise with the Project Manager and the client on project developments.

Required profile

• 12-15 years' experience as a substation engineer, with at least 5 years recent as a recognised technical authority for HV and EHV substation primary, earthing and bonding design.
• Tertiary qualification in electrical or power engineering, preferably chartered engineering and RPEQ status.
• Demonstrated ability to lead design teams and deliver substation design packages.
• Experience in a design consultancy role.

Required skills

• Excellent spoken and written communication, including a working knowledge of MS Office.
• Desirable: earthing and induction modelling in CDEGS, HV substation design, protection system design and power system studies.
• Desirable: power system modelling in ETAP or equivalent, transient studies in ATP/PSCAD/EMTP, EMC management plans, maintenance strategies and commissioning plans.