Substation Physical and Protection and Controls Staff Engineer

Substation Physical and Protection and Controls Staff Engineer

Join Ampirical as a Substation Physical and Protection and Controls Staff Engineer. Your actual pay will be based on your skills and experience — talk with your recruiter to learn more.

Location: Fredericksburg, VA (relocation assistance offered)

Base Pay Range: $130,000 – $185,000 per year

Company Overview: At Ampirical, we shape the future of the power grid with precision, innovation, and purpose. We focus on quality, forward‑thinking solutions, and empowering our team to grow and thrive. We don’t just build projects—we build careers.

Benefits:

• Salary Range: $130,000 – $185,000 – commensurate
• Profit‑Sharing Bonus:
  Semi‑annual, performance‑based (10% to 20% of salary)
• Day‑One Benefits:
  Medical, Dental, Vision
• 401(k) with 4% match and immediate vesting
• PTO:
  Starting at 80 hours of vacation & 40 hours of sick time per year + 10 paid holidays
• Flexible
  
  Work Schedule:
  
  Every other Friday off
• Career Development:
  Advancement opportunities, tuition reimbursement
• Perks:
  Gym membership stipend, wellness program, fertility benefits, pet insurance, and more

Your Role: Substation Physical and Protection and Controls Staff Engineer

What You’ll Do

Physical Design

• Lead development of substation electrical design packages including general arrangement, equipment layout, grounding, conduit, bus schemes, shielding, and lighting.
• Perform quality reviews of physical design packages to ensure compliance with industry and client standards.
• Prepare scopes of work, estimates, and construction drawing packages for bids.
• Support field teams during construction and review submittals for design alignment.
• Interface with clients, vendors, and internal teams to ensure project alignment and constructability.

Protection & Control

• Identify appropriate protection and control schemes for transmission and distribution substations (69 kV–500 kV).
• Select proper protection devices for substation equipment.
• Perform quality checks for relay protection drawing packages including wiring diagrams, schematics, protection panels, one‑line, and three‑line diagrams.
• Support and review load calculations for panels, battery systems, voltage drop, and other substation components.
• Assist substation field personnel and conduct field pre‑inspections for turnkey projects involving protection panels, breakers, transformers, SCADA, and related equipment.
• Ensure adherence to customer standards and industry regulations related to relay protection.

General & Leadership

• Act as Engineer of Record and provide backup support for design supervisors as needed.
• Mentor junior engineers and deliver technical training sessions.
• May manage development of project proposals, bid preparation, and project schedules for assigned substation projects.
• Represent Ampirical at technical conferences and industry committees (e.g., IEEE).

What You Bring

Education

• Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from an ABET‑accredited university (preferred emphasis in Power Systems)
• 10 years of experience – Professional Engineer (PE) license required.
• 12+ years of experience without a PE.

Experience

• 10+ years of experience in substation design, including both physical and protection & control disciplines.
• Strong knowledge of SCADA, automation, settings, configuration, testing, commissioning, and protection & control engineering concepts.
• Familiarity with NERC/FERC, IEEE standards, and tools such as ETAP, WinIGS, IEEE 80/998.
• Experience with AutoCAD, Inventor, Bentley Micro Station/Substation software is a plus.
• Proven industry involvement (e.g., IEEE committees, conference presentations).
• Engineering supervisory experience preferred.
• Ability to travel to meet with clients and attend technical conferences.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Ampirical is an Equal Opportunity Employer, meaning we do not discriminate based on the following characteristics in our hiring and employment practices:
Age, sex, color, race, creed, national origin, religion or religious attire, marital status, pregnancy (child birth or related medical conditions), citizenship status or amnesty, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, physical or mental disability, military or veteran status, genetic information, sickle‑cell trait, status as a tobacco user or non‑user, or any other classification protected by federal, state, or local law.

Seniority Level: Mid‑Senior level

Employment Type: Full‑time

Job Function: Engineering and Information Technology

Industries: Utilities