Substation Automation Engineer - Grid Modernization (IEC 61850)
Date: Aug 31, 2026
Location:
Burlington, MA, US Ann Arbor, MI, US Cary, NC, US Phoenix, AZ, US Bloomington, MN, US Orlando, FL, US Tualatin, OR, US Dallas, TX, US Chattanooga, TN, US Houston, TX, US Chicago, IL, US Greenwood Village, CO, US Irvine, CA, US Walnut Creek, CA, US Overland Park, KS, US
Company: Black & Veatch Family of Companies
Together, we own our company, our future, and our shared success.
As an employee-owned company, our people are Black & Veatch. We put them at the center of everything we do and empower them to grow, explore new possibilities and use their diverse talents and perspectives to solve humanity's biggest challenges in an ever-evolving world. With over 100 years of innovation in sustainable infrastructure and our expertise in engineering, procurement, consulting and construction, together we are building a world of difference.
Company : Black & Veatch Corporation
Req Id : 116803
Opportunity Type : Staff
Relocation eligible : Yes
Full time/Part time : Full-Time
Project Only Hire : No
Visa Sponsorship Available: No
Why Black & Veatch?
At Black & Veatch, you'll be part of work that matters-designing, creating, and building the infrastructure communities rely on every day, from concept through execution.
We care about how the work gets done as much as what we build. Safety is built into every decision, and people look out for each other-speaking up, collaborating, and doing the right thing because it affects real lives.
You'll work alongside teams solving complex challenges and turning ideas into solutions that perform in the real world-gaining hands-on experience across projects, technologies, and disciplines.
Ownership shows up in how we work. We take responsibility for outcomes, follow through on commitments, and take pride in what we deliver. As a 100% employee-owned company, employees share in the long-term success we build together.
With flexible ways of working and meaningful development opportunities, you'll build a career you can be proud to stand behind.
The Opportunity
In this role, you may have the opportunity to:
Lead the transition of IEC?61850-based digital and virtual substations from pilot to production , shaping real-world grid modernization outcomes.
Design and standardize secure, vendor-agnostic substation automation architectures that improve resilience, flexibility, and scalability.
Serve as a technical leader and subject-matter expert , influencing system architecture, best practices, and emerging standards.
Collaborate with utilities, technology partners, and industry groups (including vPAC Alliance ) to help define the future of protection, automation, and control.
Candidates located near any Black & Veatch U.S. Regional Office (bv.com/offices) may be considered.
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The Team
Black & Veatch is expanding its Power SCADA team to support a strategic grid modernization initiative focused on IEC 61850 - based substation automation and virtual substation technologies. As a founding member of the Virtual Protection, Automation, and Control (vPAC) Alliance, Black & Veatch is collaborating with industry leaders to advance open, secure, and vendor - agnostic digital substation solutions that replace traditional, hardware - intensive architectures with virtualized, software - defined platforms. Following successful pilot efforts, BV is now transitioning virtual substations into production environments. This role is being created to bring in experienced SCADA professionals who can help design, implement, standardize, and support production - ready Power SCADA solutions that enable resilient, flexible, and future - ready grid infrastructure.
Key Responsibilities
IEC?61850 Engineering & Modeling
Develop SCL engineering artifacts including ICD, CID, and SCD files, datasets, logical node mappings, reporting and control blocks, and GOOSE publications and subscriptions.
Configure and validate MMS, GOOSE, and SV messaging for protection, automation, monitoring, and SCADA applications.
Substation Networking & Time Synchronization
Design and document station-bus and process-bus network architectures using PRP/HSR, VLANs, QoS, multicast management, and traffic segmentation practices.
Design deterministic real-time networking paths for time-sensitive protection and automation applications, incorporating latency budgeting, PTP timing performance, and behaviors defined for substation-class devices meeting IEC?61850-3 and IEEE?1613 environmental and EMC requirements.
Diagnose and optimize real-time network behavior through traffic-capture analysis, timing-accuracy evaluation, and system-level tuning techniques for time-critical digital-substation workloads.
Develop PTP-based time-synchronization architectures including grandmaster, boundary, and transparent clock configurations and incorporate timing considerations into the system design.
Protection, Automation & SCADA Integration
Integrate multi-vendor IEDs with protection settings and logic, coordinating measurements, controls, alarms, and event data with SCADA and HMI systems.
Apply IEC?61850 data-modeling concepts to confirm interoperability across mixed fleets of protection and control devices.
Cybersecurity & System Hardening
Incorporate cybersecurity principles into system architecture, including authentication, role-based access control, network segmentation, secure communications, and device hardening.
Apply cyber-informed engineering principles by identifying high-consequence functions and integrating protective measures directly into system architecture, embedding security decisions from the earliest stages of engineering rather than treating them as add-on controls.
Virtualization of Substation Functions
- Develop and configure virtualized protection, HMI, gateway/RTU, and related substation applications on platforms including VMware ESXi with vCenter, vSAN, and NSX; Red Hat KVM or OpenShift Virtualization; and SEAPATH's real-time, high-availability hypervisor platform designed to run virtualized protection, automation, and control workloads with deterministic performance and PTP-synchronized operation on industrial servers meeting IEC?61850-3 and IEEE?1613 criteria.
Industry Engagement & Technical Leadership
Contribute to, or develop toward contributing to, IEEE and IEC standards and collaborative initiatives related to IEC?61850, digital substations, time synchronization, and cybersecurity.
Support participation in technical bodies and industry groups such as IEC, IEEE, CIGRE, ISA99, and vPAC Alliance workstreams.
Support the advancement and practical application of virtualized protection, automation, and control concepts in alignment with the architectural direction established by the vPAC Alliance.
Project Delivery & Collaboration
Produce engineering documentation including network specifications, SCL models, timing plans, interface definitions, and system diagrams used across design, laboratory validation, and field implementation.
Collaborate with project managers, technical leads, clients, and vendors to align designs with project goals, operational requirements, and industry best practices.
Preferred Qualifications
Familiarity with cybersecurity frameworks for operational technology environments, including secure communications and system-hardening practices.
Interest or participation in IEEE and IEC standards development related to IEC?61850, time synchronization, digital substations, and cybersecurity.
Experience deploying or supporting virtualized protection, automation, and control applications on VMware ESXi/vCenter/vSAN/NSX, Red Hat KVM or OpenShift Virtualization, and SEAPATH's real-time, high-availability hypervisor platform for vPAC workloads.
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