Lead Substation Engineer

The Role INS is looking for an experienced substation engineering lead who brings recent, hands-on capability in both physical substation design and protection and control (P&C) design.

As our Lead Substation Engineer, you'll own technical design and deliverable quality, coordinate physical, P&C and civil/structural interfaces, mentor distributed teams, and partner with project managers who oversee contractual scope, schedules and budgets.

What You'll Do

Lead physical substation design

• Personally develop and review physical layouts, general arrangements, elevations, equipment placement, bus configurations and HV/MV equipment specifications, and resolve constructability issues.
• Execute or validate grounding-grid calculations, clearances, bus sizing and related physical calculations, including raceways, conduit, lighting and lightning protection.
• Coordinate station clearances and interfaces with civil, structural and transmission line teams.

Lead protection and control design

• Own and review single-line and three-line diagrams, AC/DC schematics, wiring diagrams and communication diagrams.
• Evaluate control building, transformer, breaker, switchgear and related equipment submittals.
• Resolve design issues through construction support, change reviews and multidisciplinary coordination.

Lead delivery and people

• Develop technical execution approaches and perform independent QA/QC across simultaneous projects.
• Guide engineers and designers, assign tasks and review technical work against standards.
• Represent substation engineering in client and utility discussions, in coordination with the project manager.

What You Bring

Required

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering and a Professional Engineer (PE or P.Eng) license.
• Recent design work you personally executed in both physical substation design and P&C design.
• High-voltage substation experience, ideally across 12–500 kV facilities.
• Ability to personally evaluate GAs, elevations, bus, grounding, raceways, one- and three-lines, AC/DC schematics, wiring and communications drawings.
• Proven technical leadership, multidisciplinary coordination, QA/QC and client support.

Nice to have

• About 8+ years of substation design experience, including work at 500 kV or higher.
• Renewable PV, BESS, wind or collector-station engineering experience.
• Experience with AutoCAD, Plant 3D, Revit, PLS-CADD, AutoPIPE or other tools relevant to specific deliverables.

Tools you'll use AutoCAD, Plant 3D, Revit, PLS-CADD and AutoPIPE, plus technical checking and calculation platforms.

Don't check every box? If you meet most of the requirements and this role excites you, we encourage you to apply.

What Success Looks Like

• First 30 days: You've learned INS's substation design and drafting standards, met the physical, P&C and civil/structural leads, and reviewed general arrangements, one-lines and schematics on active projects.
• 60 days: You're personally producing and checking physical and P&C deliverables, such as grounding calculations, bus sizing and AC/DC schematics, and coordinating clearances and interfaces with civil/structural and transmission line teams.
• 90 days: You can independently review physical and P&C packages on live projects and are representing substation engineering in client and utility discussions alongside the project manager.
• 6 months: You lead coordinated substation deliverables and resolve design-interface issues with minimal rework.
• 12 months: You've established reliable technical ownership and mentorship across multiple HV substation projects.

Where You'll Work This is a remote role based in the United States. You'll collaborate with INS engineering and client teams across locations, with occasional project- and client-dependent travel.

Life at INS We hire good people, give them the tools and support they need, and trust them to do great work, with no micromanagement. Your ideas are heard and your contributions are recognized. We work remotely and make time to reconnect in person at team gatherings, where families are welcome too. You'll work alongside experienced Ph.D. and P.E. engineers who invest in mentorship, training and knowledge-sharing, and as INS grows, there's real room to grow with the company.

Compensation Annual bonus opportunities may be available, subject to plan terms. The final offer will depend on your experience, skills and location.