Jobs and Careers

Senior Physical Substation Engineer, PE

ISG

United Statesfull_timeVerifiedPosted 9 Jul 2026

💰 $150,000/yr($105,000/yr – $150,000/yr)

About the role

Senior Physical Substation Engineer, PE

Department: Power

Employment Type: Full Time

Location: Columbus, OH

Compensation: $105,000 - $150,000 / year

Description

Founded in 1973, ISG is a multi-disciplinary, employee-owned firm providing architecture, engineering, environmental, and planning services to communities across the nation. Guided by our mission: simplify solutions and passionately design the future; we partner with clients to turn complex challenges into meaningful, lasting impact.

We are seeking a Senior Physical Substation Engineer who will lead the design of high-voltage transmission and distribution substation physical packages, including layouts, bus work, grounding, conduit, and equipment placement. This role ensures designs meet client(s), utility, and regulatory standards while optimizing for safety, reliability, and constructability. The Senior Engineer mentors’ junior staff, reviews and approves deliverables, and serves as a primary client contact for resolving technical issues.

This position will work on projects directly associated with FirstEnergy, one of ISG’s trusted and longstanding client partners.

ISG employee owners are motivated by a shared goal to stretch the limits of great design and positively influence each other, our clients, and the communities we serve. Within our Energy Business Unit, ISG’s Power Group plays a vital role in delivering resilient infrastructure solutions, supporting projects and clients nationwide.

Regardless of where this position is posted, we encourage all qualified candidates from any ISG geography to apply. We operate as a one-profit-center firm and we work as one team across all offices, sharing resources, expertise, and opportunities to best serve our clients and support our employee owners.

To provide a glimpse into the work, below are examples of similar projects and initiatives you may contribute to as part of this role:

Essential Duties

Develops and reviews complete physical design packages for high-voltage substations, including: One-line and three-line diagrams, general arrangement (GA) drawings & section views, bus work layouts and equipment plans, grounding layouts and calculations per IEEE Std 80, conduit, trench, and cable routing plans, and engineering documents and bill of materials
Ensures compliance with utility, client, and regulatory standards (IEEE, ANSI, NEC, NESC, NFPA).
Applies advanced engineering judgment to optimize substation layouts for safety, reliability, constructability, and cost efficiency.
Oversees integration of civil/structural and protection & control (P&C) requirements into the physical design.
Performs and reviews calculations including but not limited to grounding, voltage drop, conduit fill, lightning protection, illumination, cable sag/tension, etc.
Reviews and approves design packages including drawings, technical reports, and construction notes for accuracy and completeness.
Leads design coordination meetings with clients, utilities, vendors, and internal teams to resolve design issues.
Serves as the technical point of contact for clients, providing solutions to complex design challenges.
Mentors and guides junior engineers and designers, reviewing their work and providing structured feedback.
Supports project schedules and budgets by accurately forecasting design hours and meeting deliverable milestones.
Recommends and implements improvements in design processes, tools, and templates to increase efficiency and quality.
Stays current with emerging technologies, equipment, and industry standards impacting substation design.

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering (focus in power systems or related discipline required).
5+ years of experience in substation physical design, with proven leadership on medium to large projects.
Professional Engineer (PE) license, required
Proficiency with marking up drawings digitally and understanding of CAD operations.
Experience with grounding analysi