Principal Design Engineer – HV Substations

Location: Glasgow (Hybrid working available)

Salary: Competitive + excellent benefits including car allowance and performance-related bonus.

A leading engineering and infrastructure organisation is seeking a Principal Design Engineer to join its growing transmission and distribution team. This is a senior technical role offering the opportunity to lead the design and delivery of complex HV/EHV substation projects across the UK and potentially internationally.

Working as part of a highly skilled engineering group, you will take technical ownership from early-stage tendering through to detailed design, construction support and as-built documentation, ensuring compliance with applicable standards, specifications and safety requirements.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and manage all engineering activities across the project lifecycle, ensuring compliance with project specifications, QA/QC processes, HSSE requirements and engineering standards.
• Act as technical lead on large and complex AIS and GIS substation projects.
• Supervise and coordinate multidisciplinary engineering teams, including internal specialists, external partners and suppliers.
• Coordinate interfaces between civil, structural, protection and control, auxiliary systems and primary equipment suppliers.
• Lead technical discussions with clients and suppliers and respond to site and construction queries.
• Manage engineering budgets, schedules, forecasts, risks and change control activities.
• Support technical claims and provide engineering input to project and commercial teams.

Technical Scope

• Develop technical solutions including single line diagrams, layouts, equipment selection and supporting calculations.
• Prepare technical specifications, bills of quantities and cost estimates for tenders and projects.
• Review supplier designs and test documentation; attend factory and site acceptance tests where required.
• Provide technical support during tender development, including scheme options and scope definition.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering (or equivalent).
• Demonstrable experience in transmission substation engineering, including detailed design, tendering and site support.
• Strong knowledge of UK utility standards and requirements (e.g., transmission network operators).
• Chartered Engineer (CEng) status, or actively working toward chartership, is preferred.

Technical Competencies

• Expert knowledge of primary substation design, layouts, grounding and lightning protection, and major equipment such as transformers and HV/MV switchgear.
• Familiarity with system studies including load flow, short circuit calculations and CT/VT sizing.
• Understanding of protection and control systems and secondary engineering interfaces.
• Experience supporting installation and commissioning activities is advantageous.
• Proficiency in MS Office, MicroStation and AutoCAD.
• Strong communication skills and ability to work effectively in multidisciplinary and multicultural teams.

Additional Information

• Hybrid working model with periodic site attendance as required.
• Benefits include car allowance, potential bonus and contributory company pension.

The Opportunity

This position offers the chance to play a key role in delivering major infrastructure projects that support the evolving energy network. You will join a collaborative engineering environment where technical expertise and professional development are strongly supported.