Substation Design Civil Engineer Lead

Department Summary

This position is within the Substation Design Division of the High Voltage Distribution (HVD) Design Department. This division is responsible for all electric substation layout engineering and design for both high- and low-voltage distribution systems of Consumers Energy.

Project

The Engineer will be a key member of the Substation Design team. The Engineer serves in a lead capacity within the substation department civil team.  The Engineer will support capital and O&M projects as well as process improvements and other Division objectives.  

Job Description / Responsibilities

Engineering tasks that the Engineer may complete include structural analysis and design, grading/drainage design, foundation design, oil containment and pavement design. The successful candidate will develop designs including scoping documents, drawings, bill of materials, and permitting to support the civil design portion of electric substation projects.  This position will be responsible for the Spill Prevention Countermeasure and Controls (SPCC) program for electric substations.  The position will review, certify and ensure Consumers Energy’s electric substations are within compliance of 40 CFR 112. The engineer will review work of designers and act a technical lead on some projects including SPCC compliance projects. 

The successful candidate reviews work of company designers and outside contractors, manage workload, and set priorities among competing interests. They will need to interface at times with many groups including Substation Construction, , Substation Design - Layout, Planning, Project Management, the Environmental Department, the Permitting Group, and others. In addition, the Engineer will support Electric Grid Integration Standards department with refinement/development of existing and/or new substation standards, develop Substation Design process improvements, as well as provide presentations and/or training as needed to support ongoing technical development.

Education Requirements

Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from an ABET accredited college or university.

Minimum of 8+ years of engineering experience required

Preferred skills: 

• Supervisory experience
• Advanced degree in engineering
• Knowledge of substation design
• Experience working with SAP
• Experience managing and certifying SPCC plans
• Knowledge of permitting including but not limited to: ROW, special land use, SESC, and EGLE.
• Experience working with RISA
• Experience working in MicroStation
• Experience with AutoCAD Civil 3D and/or MicroStation InRoads.
• Experience managing consultants
• Participation in professional and / or technical organizations.

Primary location is Jackson-Parnall, flexibility to be remote. 

Requirements/Qualifications

This position requires someone who has a positive attitude, strong work ethic, is self-motivated, and can motivate/develop others. The position also requires the ability to work successfully in a multi-cultural team environment and with employees of varying technical skills and grade levels.  Additional successful candidate attributes include:

• PE License
• Strong organizational skills
• Strong technical skills
• Strong interpersonal skills
• Strong communication skills
• Related engineering experience preferred
• Knowledge of industry and building codes as they relate to discipline specific design and construction
• Experience in reviewing designs to assure compliance with engineering design, applicable codes, constructability, and industry standards

  Essential Functions

• Design electric substations to support the operation of the electric utility.
• Individual possesses the skills to lead, problem solve, and works well in a team environment. 
• Individual should exemplify safe work practices and follow the company’s compliance standards. 
• Lead and/or assist with engineering projects to include design, plans, inspections, system planning, specifications, reports, maps, environmental impacts, permits, contracts, schedules, estimates, surveying, easements, data collection, construction observation, and field investigation. 
• Provide engineering services with accuracy, integrating all applicable governmental and company laws, standards and procedures on time and under budget.
• Use computer assisted engineering, design, and drafting software and equipment to prepare engineering and design documents. 
• Understand and follow company established standard procedures for file structure and standard drawing procedures for projects. 
• Become familiar with plans and specifications, maps, and related material for each project and be able to utilize the information appropriately. 
• Assists in client contact and communication. 
• Utilize effective oral and written communication skills to provide technical expertise to coworkers, clients, customers, government entities and the public. 
• Public involvement may include producing reports, graphics, presentations, and other visual material as well as occasional speaking or meeting with stakeholders.
• Attend internal and external meetings. 
• Provide all engineering services in a legal and ethical manner.
• Resolve all customer complaints in a timely manner.
• Serve as onsite project representative. 
• Reviews operating and construction sites to monitor progress and other duties per the design documents. 

Hours and Travel

This position requires the individual work a minimum of 40 hours per week (45-50 typical) with 90% of time spent in the office or specific field locations. Travel is required to job sites and project meetings and could be significant dependent upon location.  Individuals need to be willing to work additional hours as necessary to meet deadlines or assist with storm restoration activities. Individual should be willing to participate in the on-call rotation in case of potential storms. Individual may have to work outside of assigned headquarters to help with storm restoration which may require overnight stays Individuals must have a valid driver’s license.

Physical Requirements

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. 

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit; stand; walk; and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl; use hands to finger, handle, or feel objects, tools, or controls; and reach with hands and arms. Must be able to stand and walk for periods of up to and beyond eight hours in all kinds of weather; snow, mud, dirt water, ice, etc.  The employee frequently is required to talk or hear.   The employee must frequently lift and move up to ten pounds and occasionally lift and move up to fifty pounds.  The recommended maximum weight for employees to lift without the aid of other employees or a lifting device is 35 pounds.  Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, color vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.  The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate. The noise level on the construction site is often loud.  Individual must have the ability to work up to 16 continuous hours during emergent work.

Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from an ABET accredited college or university.

Minimum of 8+ years of engineering experience required