Job Description SummaryThe energy transition drives an unprecedented growth in demand for and generation of electricity. To accommodate this growth, the capacity of transmission system is projected to grow three-fold. High voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission systems will play a key role in connecting remote and offshore renewables, interconnecting energy markets and reinforcing AC grids. Converter stations are required to convert AC to DC and vice versa. The brain of such converter stations are the control and protection systems which, among other things, ensure efficient, safe, and reliable operation of the power electronic valves and peripheral equipment. GE Vernova’s Grid Systems Integration business line offers control and protection solutions for both voltage sourced converter (VSC) as well as line commutated converter (LCC) HVDC valve technologies to meet the transmission planning needs of utilities, system operators, developers and industrial clients worldwide. The control & protection algorithms are required on dedicated state-of the art digital hardware platforms which ensure signal processing capability, connectivity, cyber security.

GE Vernova’s CTO office is tasked with developing the R&D roadmap for HVDC control & protection platforms, managing competencies within the company, and supporting projects with specialised technical support. Consulting Engineers, who sit in the CTO team, are the highest technical authority within GE Vernova's Grid Systems Integration and Cross Electrification business. They act as executive technical consultant, ensuring customer confidence, reviewing and enhancing design practices, acting as a gate keeper for technical reviews, applying lessons learned, leading complex, state-of-the-art technology improvements, engaging with quality reviews and cost optimization exercises both within their specialist domain and across other domains.

GE Vernova is currently looking for an experienced technical specialist to join us as Consulting Engineer for HVDC control & protection platforms.

Job Description

Consulting Engineers are highly sought after within the GE Vernova business to provide expertise on challenging problems and to facilitate interfaces with adjacent technical domains. They are likely to have a number of publications, including conference papers, and patents. These professionals lead major technical initiatives, advocate for technological advancement, chair design reviews, mentor Principal Engineers and senior engineers, and benchmark their technology domain. They define the need for new design practices, author and review design standards, ensure lessons learned are documented and disseminated, and deliver effective technical presentations to upper management and external parties.

Consulting Engineers lead R&D and product enhancement projects with broad scope and significant impact on the business, acting as recognized experts in specific fields. They are tasked with major and complex assignments that bear long-term business implications, contributing to overall strategy and navigating complex issues within their area of expertise.

Key Responsibilities:

Serve as a recognized technical authority in HVDC control & protection platform solutions both internally and externally, and act as technical advisor to senior leadership levelsActively contribute to and drive both internal and external standardization, coordinate working group activities and proactively represent GE Vernova in IEC/CIGRE and similar professional bodies, task forces and industry committeesStay abreast of, collect and internally communicate state-of-the-art technology developments in HVDC control & protection platform technologies and applicationsGather external information to determine future market needsWork with external parties to identify new requirements, products and solutionsCollaborate with internal stakeholders to develop and maintain a strategic HVDC control & protection platform technology roadmapSuggest areas for technological advancement and recommend approaches/programs to pursueEvaluating and championing innovative ideasContribute to Intellectual Property management in terms of:The creation of patentsParticipating in patent evaluation boardThe review of patents to ensure freedom to operate Mentor other engineers in the patenting processOversee various R&D programmes from conception through to industrialisation, integrating new technology smoothly into production and ensuring successful project deliveryChair and act as technical authority in technology and product development gate reviewsCollaborate and promote technology synergies across GE Vernova businesses of Power Conversion Systems, Grid Automation and Power Technology, utilizing shared expertise and resources.Support the commercial teams with their technical business development and salesSupport supply chain and procurement departments with technical expertiseLead/support study teams addressing identified project challenges in focused technical areasLead/support the development of technical proposals to collaborate on the development of new technologies, functions and applications sponsored by external funding bodiesSupport project technical tendering and delivery in the introduction of new solutionsSupport the quality teams on major quality issues and act as technical authority in root cause analysis processesAct as technical authority in competence managementIdentify and recommend improvements in specific discipline knowledge or technical training needs.Contribute to creating structured training plans and associated training material Delivering trainingMentor others to deliver trainingAct as technical authority in competence assessments of senior and principal engineers Lead/support the creation and presentation of conference papers and act as a validator to ensure that papers prepared by others are relevant, correct and of a high standardAct as a knowledge ambassador, providing technical education to external universitiesConsult with and support the Chief Engineer’s Office in executing the office’s technical objectives to implement best practice technologies and methods.

Qualifications/Requirements:

The position requires a deep technical understanding of the technologies and design techniques required to develop, manufacture and maintain, high availability, real time, flexible control systems.

The successful candidate will deeply understand the intricacies of communication and computing platform technologies and techniques, and how to translate this into an effective value proposition to GE Vernova’s customers. This requires a strong foundation in both research and development and project engineering, having demonstrated significant technical depth and recognition as a domain expert across large scale, high reliability, high performance real time control systems, and able to apply state-of-the-art technology to resolve complex technical challenges.

Masters degree or equivalent experience in the product development, manufacturing, maintenance of cost effective, low volume, high availability, high reliability, high performance, large scale, real-time control and protection systems and Interfacing to the high voltage measurement devices, switchgear and other equipment, within the harsh electrical and physical environments that typically exists within the high voltage switchyards, or similar environments, across  the world. 

Knowledge, proven experience and an in depth understanding of:

High power electronics and switching techniquesOptical communicationLarge and small scale networking systems operation, design and security Cabinets design and manufactureHigh speed PCB design and manufactureFPGA design and testSoftware design test Operating systems and machine codeEMC design and test methodsTesting, verification and validation strategies for HVDC control & protection platformsSafety by designFMEAProduct Management for long operational life systems Lean manufacturing principles

Acting as mentor, including to principal engineersResearch and development in power electronics control & protection platformsSystem engineering approach towards identifying platform design choices which optimize and derisk site installation and commissioningFuture developments in HVDC control & protection platforms e.g. further digitalisation, centralization and virtualisationHVDC control & protection platform market and supply chainOverview of and active involvement in pre-standardisation and standardization initiatives for HVDC control & protection platforms in international bodies such as IEEE, IEC and CIGREUnderstanding of typical relevant regulatory frameworks, grid codes and standards applicable to the realization of HVDC control & protection platformsFamiliarity with typical power system planning strategies, processes, and studies HVDC control & protection platform pro’s and con’s, and the ability to develop a business case for different HVDC control & protection platform technologies based on a lifetime performance, costs and benefits analysis Familiarity with patent evaluation, application and managementOpen to regular business travel

Desired Characteristics:Strong oral and written communication skillsStrong interpersonal and leadership skillsLeadership to pursue correct engineering process in adverse conditionsAble to interface and communicate effectively with all levels of the organizationConsidered an industry expert and thought leader in the HVDC control & protection platform engineering discipline

Additional Information

Relocation Assistance Provided: No