Principal Protection Engineer - BTM Microgrids

About the role

Our client builds fully islanded, behind-the-meter microgrids (solar, BESS, and gas peakers) powering AI data centers in West Texas at record speed. As Principal Protection Engineer, you own the protection and control philosophy that keeps these plants safe and selective: relay coordination, protection settings, short-circuit and arc-flash studies, and grounding across MV, LV, and DC. You define how the plant detects, clears, and rides through faults on an inverter-dominated island — where fault current is low and dynamic, and grid-forming BESS, PV, and gas peakers all have to coordinate. You work day-to-day under the Director of Power Systems Engineering, setting the protection basis-of-design the rest of the electrical team designs to and the Engineer of Record (EOR) stamps against.

One scope note on what this role is and is not. The company integrates utility-scale equipment and runs an external Engineer of Record as its engineering-of-record agent. You own the protection philosophy, the studies, the relay setting files, and protection design quality; you coordinate the EOR's review and stamp; you are not the project's stamping engineer of record. You define the protection scheme the controls engineer implements in logic; you are not writing the controls application code.

Responsibilities

• Own the protection and control philosophy for fully islanded, behind-the-meter microgrids (PV + BESS + gas peakers) and translate it into a coordinated, selective protection scheme.
• Perform short-circuit, protective-device coordination, and arc-flash studies (ETAP / SKM / ASPEN / CYME) and issue relay setting files for MV, LV, and DC protection.
• Engineer protection for MV switchgear and collector, BESS, PV inverter blocks, and gas gensets, accounting for the low and inverter-limited fault current of an IBR-dominated island.
• Define system and equipment grounding, bonding, and ground-fault detection across the plant.
• Produce the protection basis-of-design and the technical inputs the Engineer of Record requires, and coordinate the EOR's review and stamp.
• Specify relays, CTs/PTs, and protection hardware; support OEM evaluation and PO with the protection inputs needed for selection.
• Partner with the controls engineer to translate the protection scheme into settings, interlocks, and trip logic, and validate it through commissioning.
• Drive protection design to compliance with IEEE C37, NEC, NESC, IEEE 1547, UL 1741-SB, and NFPA 70E/855.

Qualifications

• BSEE, power systems, or related STEM discipline.
• 8+ years in protection and control / protective relaying for utility-scale, industrial, or generation power systems, with end-to-end ownership of studies and relay settings.
• Deep hands-on short-circuit, coordination, and arc-flash study experience in ETAP, SKM, ASPEN, or CYME.
• Fluency with microprocessor relays (SEL and similar) and authoring relay setting files.
• Strong command of IEEE C37 protection standards, NEC, NESC, and IEEE 1547; working knowledge of UL 1741-SB and NFPA 70E/855.
• Protective device coordination across DC, LV, and MV (34.5 kV class).
• Working understanding of inverter-based resource fault behavior and its impact on protection.
• Extreme attention to detail with a bias for speed and rapid iteration.

Nice to have

• Islanded, off-grid, or BTM microgrid protection experience.
• Grid-forming inverter protection and IBR-dominated fault-current schemes.
• Combined BESS + gas generation protection and interconnection.
• MV switchgear, MV collector, and substation-adjacent protection (up to 500kV).
• ERCOT / Texas project experience.
• Commissioning and field validation of protection settings.
• High-velocity, detail-rigorous engineering culture (comparable to leading energy/aerospace/EV companies).