Principal Engineer

Position Summary

The Principal Engineer is an established subject matter expert in utility engineering and provides technical oversight and leadership for the Engineering Department, using broad expertise and extensive experience. This role drives complex solutions that align with CoServ's strategy and may direct the activities of others. The position is responsible for developing standards through technical research, mentoring the team about problem‑solving methodologies, and establishing excellence in all engineering practices.

The Principal Engineer exercises independent judgment in methods, techniques, and evaluation criteria to obtain results without oversight and is accountable for results that may impact the entire organization.

• Responsible for implementing processes and devices to comply with ERCOT emergency protocols, such as load shed and under-frequency, and to comply with other ERCOT protocols.
• Provides testimonial support as needed by the organization on technical and regulatory matters.
• Maintains comprehensive knowledge of NESC, NFPA, RUS, ANSI, IEEE, and OSHA regulations and ensures compliance in all projects.
• Develops engineering standards through research of regulations, laws, and industry codes and is responsible for implementation within the organization.
• Maintains a thorough knowledge of equipment and device specifications and construction practices used within the electric distribution system.
• Exercises full autonomy in material selection for projects, considering cost, quality, and project requirements.
• Lead complex engineering projects throughout the project lifecycle, including budgeting, design, material selection, procurement, risk management, and construction.
• Oversees contingency solutions, which includes preparation of power system grid modeling on engineering software to assess potential system overloads to the electric grid.
• Provides technical guidance for power quality investigations, including power outages, equipment failures, insufficient grounding, harmonics, ferroresonance, voltage sags and swells, flicker, animal protection, tree trimming, recloser and breaker trips, etc.
• Performs forensic studies on failed equipment and executes corrective solutions without supervision.
• Performs loading, voltage, and motor analysis of potential future large or sensitive loads, routing of onsite facilities, and direction and options of feeds. This can include recommending two‑way feed systems.
• Recommends permanent mainline changes of feed (switching) when needed.
• Attends industry conferences and trainings to stay abreast of the latest developments related to gas and electric distribution safety, efficiency, and reliability.
• Assists in training new engineering department personnel in planning and designing electric power facilities.
• Identifies electrical facilities to be placed into the system, including sizing wire, calculating transformer capacity, sizes and classes of poles, computing voltage levels, assessing capacitor placement and size, regulator placement, vaults, switchgears, and duct banks.
• Oversees preparation of five‑year Construction Work Plan that identifies system improvements, budget, and schedule that are required to meet the expected demand of the gas and electric distribution systems throughout the planning period.
• Provides technical guidance for various system studies such as saturation studies, substation justification studies, coordination studies, long‑range studies, power factor studies, switching studies, and voltage studies.
• Advises senior management on long‑term engineering strategies and goals.
• Oversees preparation of 10‑year load forecast for Construction Work Plan, ERCOT ALDR, and transmission and substation budget.
• Complies with established CoServ safety and operating rules, procedures and guidelines including reporting unsafe practices to a supervisor.
• Complies with established CoServ Information Security Handbook, policies, procedures, and guidelines including reporting suspected information security incidents to Tech Support.

• Evaluate emerging technologies and industry trends to identify…