Solution Engineer - Substation Automation Engineer
About this opportunity
Job Title: Substation Automation Engineer
Job Description:
We are seeking a senior Substation Automation Engineer with 12+ years of experience in engineering, integrating, testing, and implementing automation and control systems for electrical substations. The role covers HMI/SCADA engineering, RTU and gateway integration, IEC 61850 communication design, network architecture, cyber security, customer specification handling, vendor coordination, and project-specific documentation.
Responsibilities:
Lead control system specification handling, including concept diagrams, system architecture, communication interfaces, and integration with RTUs, HMIs, IEDs, and gateways.
Engineer, configure, and integrate HMI, RTU, gateway, and SCADA/control systems across multiple vendors; experience with SICAM PAS, A8000, SCC, Toolbox/WinCC, COPA-DATA Zenon, Hitachi Micro SCADA, GE DS Agile, or equivalent platforms is valuable.
Design reliable network and communication architectures, including switches, routers, GPS/time synchronization, firewalls, cyber security components, and protocol selection.
Prepare, review, and approve FDS, system architecture, signal lists, I/O mapping, BOM, general arrangements, panel heat-load calculations, FAT/SAT procedures, test reports, and commissioning documents.
Integrate and troubleshoot IEC 61850, IEC 60870-5-101/103/104, DNP3, Modbus TCP/IP, OPC, serial/IP communication, and process bus technology where applicable.
Support customer offers, technical clarifications, project meetings, sub-supplier supervision, risk identification, corrective actions, customer presentations, trainings, FAT/SAT, and commissioning support.
Requirements:
Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, automation, or a related field.
12+ years of relevant experience in substation automation, control systems, HMI/SCADA engineering, RTU/gateway integration, or a similar power systems automation role.
Strong knowledge of Substation Automation systems, IEC 61850, bay/control/process levels, communication architectures, and substation control philosophy.
Hands-on proficiency in SAS, RTU programming/configuration, HMI development, networking, database troubleshooting, I/O mapping, and IED/control system parameterization.
Working knowledge of OS/tools, PC applications, serial/IP networking, and debugging tools such as Modscan, IEC Tester, IED Scout, Wireshark, or equivalent.
Ability to create standardized engineering and parameterization procedures to improve quality, interoperability, performance, and repeatability.
Strong written and spoken English communication; German language capability is an advantage where required by customer/project interface.
Collaborative working style, strong interpersonal skills, problem-solving ability, and willingness to travel worldwide based on project requirements.
In-depth understanding of substation parameterization and additionally configuration for IEDs and control systems
Experience in developing and implementing standardized parameterization procedures for substation automation equipment
Soft Skills
Excellent customer, supplier, and cross-functional communication skills.
Structured critical thinking, reasoning, and analytical problem solving for complex automation and communication issues.
Self-driven, disciplined, accountable, and able to manage quality, schedule, and cost impact within assigned scope.
Collaborative, adaptive, and eager to learn new technologies, standards, OEM platforms, and project execution practices.
Ability to manage multiple priorities and support parallel project demands under timeline pressure.
Job details
How this role compares
Computed from every other active Controls Engineering role in our database, not just this employer's listings.
We currently track 496 comparable Controls Engineering roles across 18 employers.
Salary context
36 of 496 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)
Peers share this role's job function. This posting doesn't list a seniority level, so peers aren't narrowed by seniority either -- the range below may span more levels than usual.
Where these roles are based
Top locations among the 496 comparable roles
+ 39 more countries
Seniority mix
139 of 496 peers have a known seniority level
Similar opportunities
The closest matches from our peer group, ranked by how similar they are, not how well you'd qualify for them -- treat this as market context, not a guaranteed shortlist; a weak match is labeled as one below.
Notify me about similar jobs
Get an email when we spot other openings like this one – same job function, comparable seniority, roles you'd actually want to see.
Or follow every new Controls Engineering job, narrowed by PLC/SCADA platform, location and employer: set up a job alert.
How we calculate "similar"
No black box, no LLM guesswork: a deterministic score built from four normalized attributes. Here's this role's own peer group at different match levels, so you can see the mechanism, not just the result.
Every comparison starts from the same 100-point budget: 25 for working in the same function, 40 for the same therapeutic area, 20 for the same or adjacent seniority, 15 for the same country. A dimension we can't confirm on both sides contributes nothing, never a guess, never a free pass.
0 points, never a partial guess. A role we know almost nothing about beyond its function bottoms out at 25%; it never inflates to 100% just because there's little to compare against. Seniority uses a defined ladder (Associate → Manager → Associate Director → Senior → Principal → Director → Senior Director → Executive/VP) so "Director" and "Senior Director" count as adjacent, but "Director" and "Executive/VP" do not.