About the Role
Sr. Engineering Manager/Leading P&C Engineer — Engineering Manager, Protection and Control (Systems Engineering)
Location: Almaty, Kazakhstan | Onsite, with local and international travel | Full time (40 hours per week)
The Engineering Manager/Leading P&C Engineer is responsible for leading the design, development, configuration, testing, and commissioning of protection, control and integrity schemes for electrical substations, power plants, and industrial power systems. This role provides technical leadership across the full project lifecycle, ensuring that protection and control solutions are delivered in accordance with customer requirements, applicable standards, and company engineering practices. The role requires strong expertise in protection applications, control logic, relay configuration, substation automation, and system integration, as well as the ability to coordinate engineering activities, interface with customers, support tendering and training delivery. The Engineering Manager is expected to drive technical quality, support project execution, and provide mentoring and guidance to other engineers.
As a People Leader, you set the technical direction for the protection and control team. You make sure solutions meet customer requirements, applicable standards and our engineering practices from the first design review to energization. You can try new approaches, improve how we work, and take on technically complex projects where your judgment shapes the result.
Responsibilities
•Lead protection and control projects. Guide the engineering and technical delivery of protection, control and integrity scheme projects. Own the technical design and configuration of busbar protection, line differential protection, transformer protection, generator and motor protection, automatic transfer and interlocking schemes, and System Integrity Protection Schemes.
•Set the technical direction. Define and review protection philosophies, control logic, interlocking schemes, integrity schemes and relay coordination studies. Make sure they follow customer specifications, project requirements, grid codes and company standards.
•Configure and validate. Configure and validate protection relays and related control devices. This includes relay settings, logic configuration and communication interfaces.
•Test and commission. Coordinate protection relay, functional, panel and integrated system testing. Plan, organize and lead pre-Factory Acceptance Testing (pre-FAT), Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT), Site Acceptance Testing (SAT) and site commissioning. Provide technical leadership during installation, energization, testing and troubleshooting on site.
•Work with customers and stakeholders. Act as the main technical contact for customers, consultants, contractors and internal teams on protection and control matters. Review design documents, test procedures, reports and as-built files so every deliverable is high quality.
•Support tenders, training and service. Prepare technical solutions, review customer specifications, identify risks and contribute to proposals. Deliver and coordinate technical training on protection relays, control and integrity schemes, testing methods and system operation. Support service teams and customers with advanced troubleshooting, technical clarifications and hotline support under service and framework contracts.
•Develop people and practices. Mentor engineers in the protection and control team and give them day-to-day guidance. Improve engineering practices, tools, templates and testing procedures. Apply sound engineering judgment to complex issues and recommend solutions beyond the standard approach when needed. Guide the technical activities within the protection and control scope of each project. Keep engineering outputs consistent, high quality and on schedule. Identify risks early and resolve technical issues to support project planning and execution. Coach less experienced engineers and encourage knowledge sharing and continuous improvement across the team.
Requirements
•7+ years of experience in protection and control engineering for substations, power plants or industrial power systems. This includes design, configuration, testing and commissioning of protection and control systems, and knowledge of protection, control and integrity schemes in utility and industrial applications.
•Hands-on experience with protection relays such as MiCOM and/or GE Multilin, and a solid understanding of relay coordination, protection philosophies, control logic and substation engineering practices.
•Experience leading or carrying out FAT, SAT and commissioning activities, with protection testing tools such as OMICRON Control Center.
•Knowledge of substation communication protocols and substation automation systems, including digital substations and solutions based on IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) 61850.
•Fluent English and Russian.
•Experience with communication networks in substations (switches, routers, network architecture), cyber-secure solutions, and SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition), DCS (Distributed Control Systems) or other electrical control systems.
•Experience with Engineering Base or Eplan, and experience preparing and delivering technical training.
•Kazakh language skills.
•Clear communication, attention to detail, the ability to manage several assignments at once, and a collaborative approach across engineering, project management, service, tendering and sales teams.
•Willingness to travel locally and internationally.
Education
A Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, ideally with a focus on power systems, protection and control, is required for this role. Engineering sign-off on protection schemes affects the safety of people and power networks.
Additional Information
•Relocation Assistance Provided: No
•Candidates should be aware that this role involves a client's critical infrastructure; shortlisted candidates would therefore be subject to heightened security checks as directed by our clients.
•All personal data will be handled with the utmost confidentiality and in accordance with data protection policies, solely for recruitment and security purposes.
