{"id":1138076,"url":"https://alion.io/job/aeso-lead-engineer-system-protection-controls","title":"Lead Engineer, System Protection & Controls","company":{"id":1051622,"name":"AESO","domain":"aeso.ca","url":"https://alion.io/company/aeso","size_band":null,"is_staffing_agency":false,"is_intermediary":false,"ats_vendor":"Workday","truth_index":null},"role":"Industrial Engineering","role_family":"Industrial Engineering","seniority":"lead","employment_type":null,"work_mode":"hybrid","remote_scope":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Calgary, Canada"],"countries":["CA"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":106000,"max_usd":214000,"period":"year","method":"role_seniority_country_remote_cell","sample_n":71},"experience_years_min":12,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-09-18T00:00:00Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-09-18","last_verified_at":"2026-09-24T06:48:34Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":6,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":6},"description":"The Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) is responsible for the safe, reliable, and economic planning and operation of the Alberta Interconnected Electric System. We provide open and non-discriminatory access to Alberta’s interconnected power grid and also facilitate Alberta’s competitive wholesale electricity market. The AESO strives to foster an inclusive, diverse and equitable workplace where people feel respected and welcomed for who they are, together we deliver high performance and innovative results.\nJob Description\nHelp power Alberta's future through technical leadership on critical transmission infrastructure projects.\nReporting to the Manager, Project Engineering, the Lead Engineer, System Protection & Controls serves as AESO's senior technical expert for protection, control, and reliability engineering across Alberta’s electricity system.\nIn this role, you will lead complex protection studies, disturbance investigations, reliability initiatives, and standards development to support the secure, reliable, and resilient operation of Alberta's power grid. Working closely with internal teams, utilities, generators, regulators, and industry partners, you will provide technical leadership, influence strategic decisions, and help shape the future of Alberta's electricity system. You will collaborate across AESO, including Connection Projects, System Projects, Operational Engineering, Operational Planning, and Power System Modelling, to advance strategic organizational and industry initiatives.\nThis full-time opportunity offers a competitive salary, paid vacation and flex time, health and dental benefits, mental health support, a defined contribution pension plan, and learning and development opportunities as part of your overall compensation package. We support a hybrid work environment, where the team is in the office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Mondays and Fridays are flexible for where you work best.\nWhy join AESO?\nInfluence the reliability and future development of Alberta's electricity system.\n\nLead technically complex projects with province-wide impact.\n\nCollaborate with industry leaders, regulators, transmission owners, and generation developers.\n\nContribute directly to Alberta's energy transition and grid modernization initiatives.\n\nGrow your leadership profile while mentoring the next generation of engineers.\n\nWhat You’ll Do:\nServe as the senior technical expert on system protection, control, coordination, and reliability matters.\n\nLead technical reviews of transmission, generation, distribution, and large-load interconnection projects, providing technical recommendations on protection schemes and coordination practices proposed by interconnected entities.\n\nDevelop and maintain protection philosophies, engineering practices, standards, and technical requirements.\n\nLead complex protection and coordination studies involving transmission lines, transformers, buses, reactors, capacitor banks, HVDC facilities, renewable generation, and inverter-based resources, and evaluate protection system performance under contingency conditions, emerging reliability risks, and abnormal operating scenarios.\n\nConduct technical investigations of protection system and disturbance events to identify root causes and recommend reliability improvements.\n\nSupport the development, implementation, audit readiness, and compliance of AESO Technical Rules, Alberta Reliability Standards, NERC requirements, and other regulatory obligations related to Protection and Control, including the review of rule waivers, variances, and compliance matters.\n\nProvide engineering expertise to support connection projects, system planning, operational engineering, and strategic initiatives across AESO.\n\nLead and participate in industry working groups, standards committees, and stakeholder engagements to advance protection, control, and reliability practices.\n\nMentor engineers and provide technical oversight, coaching, and review of engineering studies, technical reports, and recommendations.\n\nMonitor emerging technologies, industry trends, and best practices to advance system reliability, operational excellence, and grid modernization.\n\nWhat You'll Bring:\nBachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from an accredited institution and registration as a Professional Engineer (P.Eng.) with APEGA, or eligibility for registration.\n\nMinimum 12 years of progressive engineering experience in the electric utility industry with a focus on Protection & Controls.\n\nStrong experience conducting protection system studies, coordination reviews, performance assessments, and complex reliability initiatives.\n\nExperience working with transmission operators, transmission owners, generation owners, utilities, regulators, and reliability organizations.\n\nDemonstrated success leading complex technical initiatives, multidisciplinary engineering teams, and strategic reliability programs.\n\nExperience with Alberta Reliability Standards, ISO Rules, NERC reliability requirements, compliance activities, and regulatory frameworks.\n\nExpertise in protection coordination studies, remedial action schemes (RAS), anti-islanding, synch-check, power swing and out-of-step protection, effective grounding, and protection system performance analysis.\n\nExperience with inverter-based resources, renewable generation integration, HVDC systems, digital substations, facility modelling, Project Development Update Processes (PDUPs), and Real-Time Digital Simulation (RTDS) tools.\n\nMaster's or Ph.D. in Electrical Power Systems Engineering or a related discipline, and experience developing technical standards, engineering policies, and regulatory documentation, are considered assets.\n\nYou will enjoy working with us if you:\nEnjoy applying deep technical expertise to real-world challenges that impact Alberta's electricity system.\n\nValue collaboration and influencing outcomes across technical, regulatory, and operational stakeholders.\n\nAre motivated by solving complex problems and navigating ambiguity.\n\nTake pride in mentoring others and advancing engineering excellence.\n\nEmbrace innovation and continuous learning in an evolving energy landscape.\n\n#LI-Hybrid\nIf you are contacted for a pre-screening and/or interview, please advise of any accommodation measures required to enable you to fully participate. Information received relating to accommodation measures will be addressed confidentially.\nThe Alberta Electric System Operator is unable to accept unsolicited agency resumes.\nThe Alberta Electric System Operator, and its members, officers, employees and agents (collectively, the \"AESO\") is committed to protecting personal information provided to it. When you submit your personal information to the AESO for the purpose of pursuing employment with the AESO, the collection, use and disclosure of personal information is in accordance with the provisions of the Protection of Privacy Act (POPA) of Alberta.\nAs noted, the AESO is mandated to maintain the safe and reliable operations of the provincial power grid. As part of meeting its obligations, the AESO may require the successful candidate to undergo a criminal background check for the position. This collection of personal information for the purposes of a check will be conducted in accordance with Section 4 of POPA.","description_format":"text","description_chars":7318,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":12,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Continuous learning","Hybrid work"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"Canada","iso":"CA","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Cybersecurity","Energy & Utilities","Financial Services"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-09-23T09:04:50Z"}],"liveness":{"score":79,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.791,"p_room":1,"age_days":6,"expected_fill_days":23,"reasons":["conf:1","win:early"],"computed_at":"2026-09-24T05:45:00Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/aeso-lead-engineer-system-protection-controls","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/aeso-lead-engineer-system-protection-controls.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-09-24T11:01:49Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers"}}