Protection Engineer

Base Location

You’ll be expected to spend 50% of your working week in one of the following locations: Inverness, Dingwall, Orkney, Shetland, Wick or Fort William.

Salary

£69,105 - £81,406 depending on skills and experience + a range of benefits to support your finances, wellbeing and family.

Working Pattern

Permanent | Full Time | Flexible. First options available.

The role

We’re looking for an experienced Protection and Control Engineer to join our Distribution Technical Services team, supporting the delivery of a significant capital investment portfolio across the north of Scotland.

Our team provides specialist technical leadership, design, and assurance for protection and control systems on the distribution network up to 33 kV. We work closely with Capital Delivery, Operations, and external partners to ensure schemes are safe, compliant, and fit for purpose, both technically and operationally.

You’ll take a leading role in providing technical assurance across major capital projects, while still retaining hands‑on involvement in design, commissioning, and problem‑solving where required. You’ll be trusted to make engineering judgements, challenge designs where necessary, and act as a point of escalation for complex protection issues.

You will

• Provide technical leadership and design assurance for protection and control aspects of large and complex capital investment and customer connection projects.
• Take a leading role in providing technical assurance across major capital and connections projects.
• Review and approve protection and control designs, relay settings, and commissioning documentation produced by contractors.
• Act as a Design authority for protection‑related technical queries, deviations, and engineering challenges arising during delivery.
• Shape project scope and influence investment decisions through the production and review of scoping documents, single‑line diagrams, and MC & P diagrams.
• Carry out detailed protection and control design where required, including AC/DC schematics, grading studies, relay settings, and configuration files.
• Support onsite activities including commissioning, energisation, fault investigation, and post‑fault analysis.
• Provide guidance and mentoring to less experienced engineers, supporting capability development within the wider Technical Services team and work closely with Capital Delivery, Operations, Control Room, and external contractors to ensure safe, timely, and compliant project delivery.

You have

• A strong safety‑first mindset with demonstrable experience of managing and mitigating engineering risk.
• A qualification in Electrical Engineering (minimum HNC) or equivalent practical experience.
• Significant experience in the design, commissioning, and assurance of power system protection, ideally within a distribution network environment up to 33 kV.
• The confidence and credibility to challenge designs, influence decisions, and provide independent technical judgement.
• Experience working with a range of protection relays, testing equipment, and manufacturer tools.
• Familiarity with industry‑standard engineering software such as PowerFactory and AutoCAD.
• Operational experience on the distribution network would be highly advantageous.

Travel and Vehicle

This role involves travel across various locations to support business needs. To enable you to fulfil these responsibilities, the company will provide access to a vehicle for work‑related travel. A valid driving licence is essential. The requirement will be reviewed on an ongoing basis, and if the company car policy criteria are met, there will be an opportunity to join the company car scheme. Provision of a company car or cash allowance does not form part of the contractual terms and conditions of employment for this role.

Flexible benefits to fit your life

Enjoy discounts on private healthcare and gym memberships. Wellbeing benefits like a free online GP and 24/7 counselling service. Interest‑free loans on tech and transport season tickets, or a new bike with our Cycle to Work scheme. As well as generous family entitlements such as maternity and adoption pay, and paternity leave.

Work with an equal opportunity employer

SSE will make any reasonable adjustments you need to ensure that your application and experience with us is positive. Please contact fiona.smith@sse.com / 01738 340954 to discuss how we can support you. We're dedicated to fostering an open and inclusive workplace where people from all backgrounds can thrive. We create equal opportunities for everyone to succeed and especially welcome applications from those who may not be well represented in our workforce or industry.

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