Sr. or Principal Engineer, HV Engineering

ABOUT AVANTUS

Avantus develops, owns and operates utility-scale clean energy projects across California and the Desert Southwest. Our development pipeline of solar with integrated storage will generate enough dispatchable power to serve more than 10 million Americans, day and night. Backed by strategic investment from KKR and EIG, and building on more than a decade of industry leadership, Avantus is growing its position as an independent power producer, delivering affordable, reliable clean energy solutions to meet America’s growing energy demand.

ABOUT THE POSITION

We are seeking a highly motivative and organized candidate for the Principal Engineer, HV Engineering. The successful candidate will demonstrate sound industry knowledge, superior communications, and detail-oriented organizational skills. This role reports to our Vice President, Design & Cost Engineering.

The Senior or Principal Engineer, HV Engineering serves as the technical authority for high-voltage infrastructure supporting utility-scale solar, energy storage, and hybrid energy projects. This role provides technical leadership for substations, switchyards, generation tie lines, interconnection facilities, owner-furnished high-voltage equipment, telecommunications systems, utility coordination, and project execution activities from early development through construction, commissioning, and operations.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES 

• Provide technical leadership for high-voltage engineering activities, including design basis development, shared infrastructure strategies, and review and approval of engineering deliverables through all project phases for facilities up to 500kV.
• Establish and maintain design standards and long-term infrastructure strategies for shared high-voltage facilities supporting multi-phase developments.
• Act as the Owner's technical representative and primary technical interface with utilities, EPC contractors, engineering consultants, Owner's Engineers, equipment vendors, and internal stakeholders.
• Support utility interconnection requirements, RFIs, technical reviews, power system studies, and utility approvals throughout the project lifecycle.
• Lead routing, siting, and design activities for transmission lines, generation tie lines, and interconnection facilities.
• Manage and coordinate Owner's Engineers, engineering firms, specialty consultants, and design contractors.
• Provide technical oversight of owner-furnished HV equipment including transformers, breakers, reactors, protection and control systems.
• Support telecommunications, SCADA, protection, control, and communications architecture coordination.
• Support HV estimating, cost engineering, value engineering, and cost optimization initiatives.
• Review project schedules, engineering deliverables, procurement strategies, equipment delivery plans, and execution plans.
• Identify and mitigate technical, schedule, procurement, cost, constructability, utility, execution, and operational risks.
• Drive collaboration across Optimization, Development, Land, Permitting, Legal, Procurement, Construction, Asset Management, Operations Technology, EPC contractors, utilities, and consultants. 

REQUIRED SKILLS AND QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or related engineering discipline. 
• 10+ years of experience in HV engineering, substations, transmission systems, or utility-scale renewable energy projects. 
• Extensive experience with substations, switchyards, transmission lines, generation tie lines, and utility interconnections up to 500kV. 
• Experience supporting utility-scale solar, BESS, hybrid energy, or large-scale power infrastructure projects. 
• Experience managing owner-furnished HV equipment including transformers, breakers, reactors, and protection systems. 
• Demonstrated experience managing multiple engineering firms, Owner's Engineers, EPC contractors, utilities, equipment vendors, and technical stakeholders. 
• Strong knowledge of IEEE, NESC, NFPA, IEC, utility standards, and interconnection requirements.
• Strong project management, communication, and stakeholder management skills. 

NICE TO HAVES

• Professional Engineer (PE) license. 
• Advanced degree 
• Experience with CAISO, PG&E, SCE, NV Energy, or other utility interconnection processes. 
• Experience supporting telecom, SCADA, protection and controls. 
• Experience supporting construction, commissioning, and energization activities. 

#LI-Hybrid