Electrical Design Engineer - Network Design

About Us

We’re National Grid Electricity Distribution (NGED), the owner and operator behind the electricity distribution systems for the Midlands, the Southwest of England and South Wales. Serving communities of more than 8 million people, our expert teams deliver heat, light and power for homes and businesses.

National Grid employs over 29,000 people worldwide. We are building an inclusive workplace, a place to actively celebrate the cultures, personalities and preferences of our colleagues – who in turn help to build the success of our business and reflect the diversity of the communities we serve. Our vision is to be at the heart of a clean, fair and affordable energy future and we are doing this in a fast-moving industry with an increasing focus on tackling climate change, exploring new energy sources that are renewable, low carbon, and improve efficiency to meet demand.

Job Introduction

The Engineering Design Team prepare electrical, protection/control, mechanical and civil designs for schemes to construct, extend or modify electricity substations energised at up to 132,000 volts. Our primary outputs consist of detailed engineering drawings to facilitate the real world build of conceptual network changes, and the calculation and issuing of protection settings. Across the business we handle in excess of 500 active design commissions at any time ranging in capital value from £50k to over £35m.

Engineering Design are the conduit through which conceptual network designs become buildable solutions, for the replacement and reinforcement of our substation assets. With the urgent need to achieve carbon neutrality across the country, having robust and reliable network assets is critical. We have an accelerating workload to meet this demand and require additional, talented engineers to help us rise to the challenge.

Although mainly office based, we are regularly mobile throughout the area and engineers have autonomy to arrange whatever meetings/site inspections/surveying they feel are required to complete their assigned work. Transport provisions such as hire vehicles/mileage allowances and are available as appropriate, as is accommodation in instances where travel time is particularly significant.

Please see attached document to read more about our work.

*Please note the successful candidate may initially be appointed at a lower salary until all relevant courses and training are complete.

Evidence of any stated qualifications will be required prior to appointment

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Main Responsibilities

The key responsibilities of the role include:

• Physical design of indoor and open-terminal substations (preparation of substation layouts and associated detailed mechanical drawings/ schedules under the supervision of senior engineers).
• Preparation of detailed engineering drawings in an AutoCAD environment; specifically 2D wireframe but 3D skills may prove useful.
• Ensuring compliance of design output with NGED policy.
• Considering the safety implications of decisions made at design stage on the constructability, operation, maintenance, and final decommissioning of substation asset. 
• The modelling of clearance enquiries associated with tower line asset using proprietary software (training provided)
• Updating and archival of records based upon as-built data received from site.
• Contribution to the standardisation of substation design and general upkeep of drawing archives etc as necessary.
• Potential scope to also work on Protection and Control Panel & Scheme Designs for a willing and capable candidate.

We are a growing team with a culture of support, progress, and continuous improvement. We are looking for individuals who can join us in expanding and developing our outputs, who is committed to the success of the team and is able to take ownership and personal responsibility for their workload.

The Ideal Candidate

Candidates should ideally be qualified to a national certificate level or equivalent in an appropriate engineering discipline. We would like applicants to have experience in preparing and manipulating engineering drawings using computer-aided design tools (e.g. AutoCAD) as this is the main tool we use; however for a promising candidate who is able and willing to gain these skills rapidly, this may not be a barrier. Applicants should hold a full UK driving licence.

Candidates will further be expected to demonstrate customer focus, flexibility, good communication skills and an ability to manage several design commissions.

The successful candidate may initially be appointed on a designate basis on a lower grade until set criteria can demonstrated.

* Please note, interviews are proposed to be held in person at our Avonbank office in Bristol.

National Grid Electricity Distribution is committed to safeguarding the interests of the Company, colleagues and customers.

This role is subject to a satisfactory Barring Service (DBS) check.  Depending on the role, different levels of screening and vetting are required. Some roles require a triannual check.

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About The Company

If this is your opportunity to join us, you’ll find we offer a supportive, rewarding and friendly working environment where you’ll be empowered to build a career. Along the way, you’ll be invested in, be enabled by the latest technology and find that we’re always interested in evolving our systems and processes so that we get even better, every day.

In return, you’ll enjoy a package of benefits designed to reward your hard work and incentivise your ambition. In addition to your competitive salary, we offer a competitive contributory pension scheme where the company will double match your pension contributions up to a maximum company contribution of 12%. You will also have access, subject to eligibility criteria, to join our annual Share Save plan.

You will receive a generous annual leave entitlement on joining, starting at 26 days rising to 28 days following 10 years’ service, plus 8 bank holidays. Protective clothing and Safety Equipment will be provided where required and we offer free parking at all main sites. In addition, you will be able to access support via our Employee Assistance Programme, including musculoskeletal and physiotherapy services.

Additional Application Information

Recruitment correspondence is usually sent by email, so please do check your email account including spam/junk folders regularly after the closing date.

To enhance your candidate experience, we recommend using Google Chrome to complete your online application. Should you have any questions regarding this or require additional support to complete your online application, please email nged.recruitment@nationalgrid.co.uk

We reserve the right to close the vacancy early should sufficient numbers of suitable applicants be received.