Principal Operations Engineer

Overview

At National Grid, we keep people connected and society moving. National Grid supplies us with the environment to make it happen. As we generate momentum in the energy transition for all, we don’t plan on leaving any of our customers in the dark. Join us as a Principal Operations Engineer to find your superpower. National Grid is hiring a Principal Operations Engineer to join the operations team on site at our interconnector in Sellindge
. National Grid Interconnectors is at the heart of UK’s transition to our net zero energy future. We operate HVDC interconnectors that connect the UK’s energy system to neighbours, allowing energy to be imported and exported. We are developing new projects to meet the UK’s future demands for greener energy solutions.

As our Principal Operations Engineer, you will play a critical role ensuring that IFA assets (Converter Station, Cables Systems, Substation & associated Operational Technology) maintain high operational performance. You will lead on various deliverables and projects within IFA’s high voltage electricity Converter Station, supervising team members to ensure safe systems of work are implemented and followed, and share your knowledge to complete maintenance, refurbishment or replacement works on plant and equipment at IFA.

• Undertake a range of duties including monitoring, maintenance, fault investigation & repair, witnessing & testing & commissioning, record updating.
• Lead on technical or system related Tap Root Incident investigations.
• Lead on fault response incidents.
• Line management of IFA Technicians, Routines Persons, Apprentices and Stores Persons, and supervision of Engineers and third-party contractors to ensure optimum efficiency, cost effectiveness and high safety and environmental performance.
• Support and mentor development requirements for Engineers & Technicians to gain Authorised Persons (AP) & Senior Authorised Persons (SAP) under NGV Interconnector Safety Rules.
• Adhere to site safety rules, establish safe systems of work (risk assessment), raise and issue safety documents to NGV and Contractor CPs ensuring safety from the system.
• Manage the delivery of specific deliverables and projects (acting as Project Leader / Subject Matter Expert) to maintain and improve asset and system performance.
• Undertake standby and emergency call-out duties, acting as Senior Authorised Person (SAP).
• Provide support and guidance around evolving positive safety culture.
• Aid in developing assurance of procedural compliance and consistency across Interconnectors.
• Responsible for ensuring Protection & Control maintenance compliance onsite.
• Represent IFA at internal and external technical & planning meetings.
• Plan and deliver outage maintenance periods to maximize availability and value, in line with safety processes and procedures.
• Maintain a productive interface with Service Providers & 3rd parties.
• Support implementation of asset management and work planning tools (MAXIMO).
• Support Contract Management in Warranty & Service Providers KPI’s and management information.

• Senior Authorised Person (SAP) authorisation and Project Leader experience.
• Knowledge and experience of work and/or failures on HV & LV systems, including electrical and mechanical aspects.
• Experience authorised and knowledge of commissioning and decommissioning equipment.
• Experience preparing and undertaking High Voltage System State Certificates (HVSCC) & Site Responsibility Schedule (SRS).
• +3 years’ experience working within high voltage environments or similar.
• Educated to a minimum of HNC in an engineering discipline or NVQ in electrical discipline or equivalent apprenticeship.
• Strong experience managing and overseeing contractor and in-house team performance including safety, health, environment & quality.
• Experience making critical business and operational decisions with conflicting priorities under pressure.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to influence and lead teams.
• Safety and environmental knowledge and ability to respond to emergencies.
• Experience in managing on-call activities and decisions in ambiguous environments.
• Foundational knowledge…