Jacobs is a global provider of technical, professional, and scientific services including engineering, architecture, construction, operations, and project management. Our portfolio spans industrial, commercial, and government clients across multiple markets and geographies. We have a PAN-India presence, with world-class engineering delivery centres in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune, Chennai and Kolkata.
Challenging Today…Reinventing Tomorrow.
Jacobs is seeking a Associate Director- Protection & Control to support a range of high-profile projects across our Power & Energy portfolio. In this role, you will serve as a global Subject Matter Expert – Protection & Control, IEC 61850 & Digital Substations providing advanced technical leadership for protection and control engineering across substations, transmission and distribution systems, renewable interconnections, industrial power networks and digital grid infrastructure.
The SME will act as a technical authority for conventional, hybrid and fully digital substations, supporting projects across global markets including UK, Australia, Middle East, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific. The role requires deep domain expertise in protection schemes, relay settings, substation automation, IEC 61850 integration, SCADA interfaces, cybersecurity, commissioning support and future-ready digital substation technologies.
The primary responsibilities would be:
Protection & Control Engineering
- Provide specialist technical leadership for protection and control design of medium voltage, high voltage and extra high voltage substations.
- Lead, review and technically assure protection schemes for:
- Line protection
- Transformer protection
- Busbar protection
- Breaker failure protection
- Feeder protection
- Capacitor bank and reactor protection
- SVC / STATCOM protection
- Renewable and BESS interconnection protection
- Industrial power network protection
- Grid connection and interconnection protection
- Lead and review key engineering deliverables including:
- Protection Single Line Diagrams / Key Line Diagrams
- Protection and control schematics
- Control logic diagrams
- Trip and alarm matrix
- AC/DC auxiliary schematics
- Panel GA and BOQ
- Wiring diagrams
- Interface drawings
- Interconnection schedules
- Cable schedules
- Relay assembled forms
- Test and commissioning documentation
- Provide expert review of relay setting calculations and protection coordination studies.
- Review and approve relay settings, protection philosophies, technical reports and protection coordination documents.
- Provide technical direction for distance protection, differential protection, overcurrent protection, earth fault protection, REF, synchro-check, auto-reclose, breaker failure and busbar protection applications.
- Support fault level studies, protection grading, grid code compliance and system performance validation.
- Provide technical support during FAT, SAT, commissioning, energization and post-energization troubleshooting.
- Review vendor drawings, relay configuration files, test procedures, test reports and as-built documentation.
IEC 61850 Integration and Digital Substations
- Lead advanced engineering for IEC 61850-based digital substations, including concept design, detailed design, configuration strategy, integration, testing and commissioning support.
- Define and review complete digital substation architecture including:
- Station bus
- Process bus
- Protection IEDs
- Merging units
- SCADA gateways
- HMI systems
- Engineering workstations
- Network switches
- Time synchronization systems
- Provide expert guidance on IEC 61850 applications including:
- GOOSE messaging
- MMS communication
- Sampled Values
- Logical nodes and data modelling
- Dataset configuration
- Report control blocks
- GOOSE control blocks
- Sampled Value control blocks
- Multi-vendor interoperability
- Lead preparation and review of IEC 61850 deliverables including:
- IEC 61850 architecture drawings
- Communication architecture
- IED capability assessment
- Signal lists and data point schedules
- GOOSE mapping schedules
- MMS mapping schedules
- Sampled Value design documents
- Logical node mapping
- ICD, CID, IID, SCD and SSD file review records
- FAT/SAT procedures for IEC 61850 systems
- Provide expert review and validation of IEC 61850 configuration files and ensure consistency between drawings, relay configuration, automation configuration and SCADA mapping.
- Lead or support multi-vendor integration involving Siemens, Hitachi Energy / ABB, GE Vernova, Schneider Electric, SEL, NR Electric and other global OEMs.
- Support digital substation testing using tools such as Omicron, Doble, Wireshark, IEDScout, StationScout, IET600, DIGSI 5, PCM600, EnerVista and equivalent platforms.
- Guide project teams on migration from conventional hardwired systems to hybrid or fully digital substation architecture.
- Develop digital substation templates, standard architectures, reusable design libraries and configuration governance processes.
Substation Automation, SCADA and Communication Networks
- Provide technical leadership for substation automation systems, SCADA integration, RTU/Gateway interfaces, HMI systems and control centre communication.
- Review communication protocols and interfaces including IEC 61850, IEC 60870-5-101/104, IEC 60870-5-103, DNP3, Modbus, OPC UA, SNMP and synchrophasor interfaces where applicable.
- Lead design and review of digital substation communication networks including:
- Ethernet LAN architecture
- Managed switch configuration philosophy
- VLANs and IP addressing
- Multicast management
- PRP / HSR redundancy
- Network segmentation
- Remote engineering access
- Network monitoring and diagnostics
- Provide guidance on time synchronization systems including IEEE 1588 PTP, SNTP, IRIG-B and GPS-based time sources.
- Review communication architecture for high availability, resilience and reliable operation of critical protection and control systems.
Cybersecurity Considerations
- Provide technical leadership on cybersecurity requirements for protection, control, automation and digital substation systems.
- Ensure cybersecurity is embedded across the engineering lifecycle from concept design through commissioning and handover.
- Review designs against relevant cybersecurity standards and requirements such as IEC 62351, IEC 62443, NERC CIP where applicable, utility standards and client-specific cybersecurity requirements.
- Provide guidance on secure substation architecture including:
- Network segmentation
- Defense-in-depth design
- Secure remote access
- Role-based access control
- User authentication
- Password and credential management
- Firewall and gateway interface requirements
- Secure engineering access
- Logging and event monitoring
- Asset inventory
- Patch and firmware management considerations
- Backup and recovery strategy
- Configuration file control
- IED, gateway, HMI and workstation hardening
- Define cybersecurity requirements for vendors and OEMs during specification, procurement, FAT, SAT and commissioning stages.
- Support cybersecurity risk reviews for IEC 61850 systems, SCADA links, remote access, vendor interfaces and third-party equipment.
- Promote secure-by-design principles for digital substations, renewable plants and future grid automation systems.
Renewable Energy, Grid Connection and Future Capabilities
- Provide SME support for solar, wind, battery energy storage, hybrid renewable plants, collector substations and grid interconnection facilities.
- Support protection design for inverter-based resources, weak grids, low fault current networks and changing grid behaviour.
- Provide technical guidance on grid code compliance for renewable interconnections across different countries and regions.
- Support future capability development in:
- Digital substations
- Process bus implementation
- Centralized protection systems
- Virtual protection and control concepts
- Wide Area Monitoring, Protection and Control
- Synchrophasor-based applications
- Digital twin for substations
- Model-based engineering
- Automated relay setting workflows
- AI-assisted engineering checks
- Cloud-based asset monitoring
- Predictive maintenance
- Cyber-secure remote commissioning
- Standardized global digital substation delivery models
Technical Assurance, Quality and Delivery
- Act as the highest level of technical support for complex protection, control, automation and digital substation issues.
- Provide independent technical review, design assurance and quality validation for critical deliverables.
- Ensure engineering outputs comply with client specifications, utility standards, grid codes, IEC, IEEE, CIGRE recommendations, regional requirements and Jacobs quality procedures.
- Support project execution plans, design criteria, risk registers, assurance plans and quality review processes.
- Support resolution of client queries, technical deviations, design changes, non-conformances and site issues.
- Work with Design Project Engineers, Project Managers and global delivery teams to ensure projects are delivered on time, within budget and to expected quality standards.
- Demonstrate strong understanding of technical, commercial, schedule, risk, HSEC and quality aspects of projects.
Client, Proposal and Capability Development
- Lead technical discussions with clients, utilities, OEMs, contractors and global project teams.
- Support proposals, bids, tenders, technical estimates, capability statements and technical bid evaluations.
- Manage technical relationships and build appropriate level contacts with key clients.
- Strengthen client relationships through technical excellence, practical problem solving and high-quality project delivery.
- Mentor Lead Engineers, Senior Engineers, Graduate Engineers and design teams.
- Develop internal capability through training, technical sessions, lessons learned and knowledge sharing.
- Create and maintain technical standards, design guides, checklists, templates, automation workflows and best-practice documents.
- Drive innovation, digital delivery, standardization and future-ready engineering practices across the Protection & Control discipline.
