Substation Design Supervisor - Hybrid - Denver, CO

The Opportunity

A growing engineering firm serving the electric utility sector is hiring a Substation Design Supervisor for its Denver-based team. The firm's design and drafting work is grounded in real operational experience — its affiliated field organization actively maintains a sizable base of substations and microgrid assets under multi-year utility contracts, which keeps this group busy with steady, ongoing project work rather than one-off engagements.

This is a hands-on leadership role: you'll oversee a team of drafters and designers, assign and quality-check their work, and stay directly involved in developing and coordinating the drawings that go into substation and microgrid projects (500 kW to 10 MW). There are no silos here — you'll work closely with engineering staff, interface with clients, and see your team's designs through from concept to field verification.

Note: this role sits with a federal contractor. Candidates must be U.S. citizens or Permanent Residents (Green Card holders) and able to obtain Military Base Security Access Clearance.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and manage a team of drafters and designers, assigning projects, monitoring workload, and ensuring high-quality, on-time delivery.
• Develop and quality-check design work, including plans, elevations, sections, and bills of material for substation and facility systems (above and below ground).
• Prepare and oversee electrical power system drawings — single-line diagrams, three-line diagrams, schematics, and wiring diagrams — to recognized drafting standards and company practices.
• Perform complete design checks, verifying applicable codes, standards, and technical accuracy, and ensuring project comments and markups are incorporated into final documents.
• Collaborate directly with engineering staff, attending coordination meetings and providing design input and review.
• Conduct field verification of existing facilities and support customer-facing technical discussions as designs are integrated.
• Exercise independent judgment, developing designs with minimal direction while concurrently supporting multiple projects.
• Own and evolve the design/drafting standards, working with the team to keep them current.

Why This Role Stands Apart

This firm operates one of the more distinctive platforms in the industry: an engineering consultancy that also holds direct operational ownership of the systems it designs. For a design leader, that shows up in a few concrete ways:

• Real ownership of a team and a standard. You're not just checking drawings — you're building the team and the design standards that shape how projects get delivered.
• Your work doesn't stop at the drawing set. You stay connected to projects through field verification and coordination, seeing how your team's designs perform in practice.
• A genuinely stable pipeline. Long-term utility privatization contracts mean the project backlog isn't dependent on any single client relationship or market cycle.
• Room to grow into new tools. Exposure to platforms like Bentley Substation, Autodesk Inventor, Substation Design Suite, Arc-GIS, PLS-CADD, and Pole Foreman, with training provided.
• A culture built around retention, not churn. Hybrid schedule, real work-life balance, and a track record recognized externally as a top employer.

Candidate Profile

• Associate degree (or equivalent) in drafting, engineering technology, or a related field preferred
• 10+ years of relevant experience, including 5+ years designing electrical systems (substations and/or microgrids)
• Solid grounding in electrical circuit and power flow fundamentals
• Comfortable laying out equipment and routing conduit, cable tray, duct banks, and grounding grids
• Proficient with AutoCAD and/or MicroStation, Bluebeam, and MS Office
• Prior experience as a Team Lead or Design Supervisor strongly preferred
• Demonstrated leadership and team management skills, with a genuine interest in mentoring others
• Strong communication and cross-functional collaboration skills

Supervisory Responsibility

• Oversees and manages a small team of drafters and designers

Additional Requirements

• U.S. citizenship or Permanent Residency (Green Card) required (federal contractor)
• Must be able to obtain Military Base Security Access Clearance
• Valid driver's license required, meeting company fleet policy standards
• Travel to project sites as needed

Compensation & Benefits

Base salary of $120,000–$143,000, based on experience, plus eligibility for a Short-Term Incentive Plan. Full benefits package includes medical, dental, and life insurance, 401(k) with company contribution, and paid time off and holidays.