Arcadis
Principal Substation Protection & Control Engineer

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Principal Substation Protection & Control Engineer
As an Arcadian, you already help us deliver world leading sustainable design, engineering, and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets. You are part of our global business comprising 36,000 people, in over 70 countries, dedicated to improving quality of life.
Everyone has an important role to play. With the power of many curious minds, together we can continue to solve the world’s most complex challenges and deliver more impact together.
Role description:
The energy landscape as we know it is rapidly transforming. Join us as a Principal P&C Engineer and you’ll have the opportunity to accelerate your career, too. You’ll be part of our industry-leading team Transmissions and Distributions teams, acting as partners to our clients, building a deep understanding of their challenges and applying your expertise to solve them.
As a Principal P&C Engineer you will be working on engineering and construction projects primarily in industrial, transmission/distribution and renewable sectors. You must be able to appreciate complex, practical, regulatory, technical and commercial issues and to work constructively with a broad range of senior stakeholders.
Role accountabilities:
Responsible for the design of transmission protection systems for voltages up to 400 kV. Reviewing in-house designs and those produced by external contractors. Responsible for delivering tender design man-hours estimates, deliverables lists, design programs. Leading and guiding junior engineers through various P&C tasks by offering technical advice and support. Experience in the concepts required in the safe design and operation of electrical networks, and development construction. Advising on design and design change issues. Specialist in an Electrical field but experience and extensive knowledge of other Engineering fields would be advantageous. Substantial experience with Construction and Design Management (CDM). Ensure that design projects are undertaken by competent personnel and sub-contractors reviewing designs created by others. Challenging, proposing, agreeing and implementing alternative solutions compared with those dictated by the transmission specifications, policies, processes and “best practices”. Accountable for the effective delivery of the assigned tasks and deliverables of projects to time, to the required quality and to budget. Undertake site visits / non-intrusive surveys as required as part of the design activities or as part of site support. Ensuring risks are proactively identified, assessed and managed to avoid adverse impacts on the project. Identification, assessment and adoption of the best technical solution. Client Interface management comprising: infrastructure planners, project resource, Direct Labour / Construction team, System Operator, property & consents, procurement as well as co-ordinating & attending necessary site meetings. Risk and CDM management.
Reasons to use Rodeo
I’m in my final year doing Economics and I don’t know whether to apply for grad schemes now or do a masters first. What do you think?
Honest answer — it depends on where you want to end up. A lot of top grad schemes (Big 4, civil service, banking) don’t need a masters. Let’s look at the ones you’d be competitive for now, and we can decide if a masters actually adds anything.
Also worth knowing: most autumn 2026 applications are open now. Timing matters more than you think.
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Graduate Consultant — 2026 Scheme
Why you're a good match
StrongYour economics background and your summer at a regional bank line up with what PwC looks for on the consulting scheme. Applications close in four weeks.
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Why you're a good match
You’ve got the grades and the economics background, and your bank internship is exactly the experience this scheme looks for. Apply soon — deadlines close within the month.
Experience fit
Your summer at the bank plus your econometrics coursework map directly to the day-one responsibilities on this scheme — client modelling, market briefings, and deal support.
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Qualifications & Experience:
Proven technical capability associated with the design and/or application of power system protection. Preference will be given to candidates with experience in protection application at transmission voltage levels up to 400 kV, gained within a transmission utility, consultancy or manufacturing environment. Strong candidates with a distribution background will be considered. Preparation of Protection and Control design deliverables, feasibility studies, reports, programmes and cost estimating. Calculation of relay settings and preparation of logic files. Proven ability of working with internal and external parties, e.g. equipment suppliers, manufacturers, service providers, professional bodies, and working within a strong team-working culture. Experience in the preparation of detailed electrical schematic diagrams for substation Protection and Control systems. Experience in Busbar, Feeder, Transformer, Reactor, Circuit Breaker fail, DAR protections and SCADA interface is essential and FACTS, HVDC protection systems is desirable. Protection design utilising conventional and non-conventional Instrument Transformers. Knowledge of IEC61850 communication protocols. Experience in preparing Single Line Diagram, Substation Layout, Key Line Drawings (SLD, KLD). Experience in preparing Panel general arrangements, panel equipment bill of materials, panel internal wires, termination external cable connection diagrams, cable block diagrams, cable schedules, cable core sheets, cable sizing, DC battery sizing. Experience in interface engineering between protection systems and primary/plant equipment. A good working experience of computer-based packages relay coordination and short circuit calculation e.g. ASPEN OneLiner, ETAP, DIgSILENT would be advantageous. National Grid TP141 or CDAE or LCDAE Protection and Settings authorisation would be advantageous. Chartered status would be advantageous. Detailed design experience on SCADA systems for example network architecture, HMI design with Zenon-Copa-Data would be advantageous. Proven ability of communicating complex technical or commercial issues to peers or senior managers. Proven ability to work in and lead cross functional teams. Proven ability to develop working relationships quickly and effectively. Proven experience in writing clear and concise documentation


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Continue your career journey as an Arcadian.
We can only achieve our goals when everyone is empowered to be their best. We believe everyone's contribution matters. It’s why we are pioneering a skills based approach, where you can harness your unique experience and expertise to carve your career path and maximize the impact we can make together.
You do meaningful work, and no matter where your next role in Arcadis takes you, you’ll be helping to deliver sustainable solutions for a more prosperous planet. Make your mark; on your career, your colleagues, your clients, your life and the world around you.
Together, we can create a lasting legacy.
Our Commitment to Equality, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
We want you to be able to bring your best self to work every day which is why we take equality and inclusion seriously and hold ourselves to account for our actions. Our ambition is to be an employer of choice and provide a great place to work for all our people. We believe that by working together diverse people with different experiences develop the most innovative ideas. Equality, diversity and inclusion is at the heart of how we improve quality of life and we work closely with our people across six ED&I Workstreams: Age, Disability, Faith, Gender, LGBT+ and Race. A diverse and skilled workforce is essential to our success.
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