Renewables Controls Engineer (Staff, Senior, or Principal)

Job description

Are you looking for an exciting job where you can put your skills and talents to work at a company you can feel proud to be a part of?

Do you want a workplace that will challenge you and offer you opportunities to learn and grow?

A position at Xcel Energy could be just what you’re looking for.

**The below job summary and responsibilities reflect the staff engineer level role.

The successfully chosen candidate will be placed at a level that is commensurate with their skills and experience as different skills and/or experience will be required at senior, and principal engineer levels.**

**This is a hybrid role with three days in the office and two days remote.**

**Position Summary**

The Renewables Reliability Engineering team is responsible for elevating the reliability and availability of renewable energy systems while optimizing costs.

The team leverages technical expertise, innovative engineering practices, data-driven insights and teamwork to deliver resilient, safe, and cost-effective solutions, resulting in operational excellence across the wind, solar, and battery storage portfolio.

We are seeking a highly skilled Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) Engineer to join our team.

This individual will have an opportunity to develop and apply general power plant electrical and control subsystem expertise to an expanding fleet of wind, solar, and battery farms across our three service territories.

Willingness to occasionally climb wind turbines and enter substations for educational and small project purposes is desired.

This role will require occasional on-call availability to support plant outage troubleshooting and restoration.

Familiarity with component failure rate calculations and other reliability engineering concepts is strongly preferred.

In this role you will have the opportunity to:

+ Deliver cyber-secure solutions to enhance data capture and equipment reliability in our fleet
+ Perform routine troubleshooting of Remote Terminal Units (RTUs) and site SCADA infrastructure including Windows Servers and network switches
+ Develop expertise in single and multiple-power plant control methodologies
+ Perform root cause analysis and identify corrective action plans to prevent repeat failures.
+ Provide technical and operational insights to influence new equipment design specifications
+ Participate in industry networking and piloting new technologies to improve equipment reliability
+ Leverage software and analytics to streamline processes and improve efficiency.

**Additional Details**

Under general direction, demonstrates complete understanding & wide application of engineering technical principle, theories, & concepts in the field.

Independently determines & develops approaches to solutions.

Receives technical guidance on complex problems; completed work reviewed for adequacy in meeting objectives.

May lead small-medium non-critical projects or critical projects under direction of higher-level engineer/supervisor.

May provide work direction to other professionals &/or staff.

Represents the organization in providing solutions to difficult technical issues associated with specific projects.

Frequent inter-organizational & outside customer contact.

Demonstrates a broad knowledge & proficiency of precedents in the specialty area, a good knowledge of related specialties, & general knowledge of other related disciplines.

**Essential Responsibilities**

+ Uses & applies technical standards, principles, theories, concepts, & techniques to perform activities/assignments that may include a variety of complex features such as conflicting design requirements, unsuitability of conventional materials or methods & difficult coordination requirements.
+ Supports the development of technical documentation (including but not limited to designs, testing, calculations, reports, standards, etc.) Utilizes & may assist with the development of procedures requiring a broad knowledge & proficiency in a specialty area & has a general knowledge of related disciplines.
+ Works under the general direction of a higher-level engineer or supervisor for routine engineering projects.

Provide ongoing technical support for project activities within areas such as Operations, Maintenance, testing/diagnostics & Regulatory.

May provide field engineering oversight &/or direction for activities such as commissioning, testing, inspections, etc.
+ May lead small-medium, non-critical projects.

Coordinate/leads critical projects or portions of projects (including phases such as research, design, equipment selection, procurement support, installation & commissioning), under the direction of a higher-level engineer or supervisor.

Work reviewed upon completion for adequacy in meeting objectives.
+ Under the direction of a higher-level engineer/supervisor supports bid/evaluation processes including preparation of bid documents, completion of technical evaluations for proposals; provide recommendations for selection, etc.

Partners & communicates with areas such as Supply Chain & Legal following appropriate processes.
+ Frequently exchanges information in all formats, on matters having a wide range of importance & complexity both inter-organizationally & with outside customers.
+ May assign tasks & coordinate work of interns, drafters, technicians, craft personnel &/or others.

Provide guidance & mentoring to less experienced engineers.

Responsible for continuous self-development of technical skills & competencies.
+ Performs activities such as budgeting, estimating, forecasting, accounting, work order management, in support of engineering projects.

**Staff Engineer Level (Salary Range: $79,800-$103,666)**

**Minimum Requirements**

+ Bachelor’s degree in engineering from ABET accredited, electrical engineering degree preferred.
+ 2+year's relevant engineering experience.

Demonstrated broad knowledge & proficiency in specialty area, knowledge of related specialties, & general knowledge of other related disciplines.
+ Ability to demonstrate the unique technical skills & core competencies for this engineering level established & documented by the organization.
+ EIT/FE (Engineer in Training/Fundamentals of Engineering) strongly preferred.

**Senior Engineer Level (Salary Range: $94,600-$126,134)**

**Minimum Requirements**

+ Required bachelor’s degree in engineering from ABET accredited curriculum, electrical engineering degree preferred.
+ 5+ years relevant engineering experience with EIT/FE (Engineer in Training/Fundamentals of Engineering) required; 7+ years relevant engineering experience without EIT/FE.
+ Ability to demonstrate the unique technical skills and core competencies for this engineering level established & documented by the organization.
+ Preferred PE (Professional Engineer) registration may be required depending on business need.

**Principal Engineer (Salary Range: $109,300-$152,766)**

**Minimum Requirements**

+ Required bachelor’s degree in engineering from ABET accredited curriculum, electrical engineering degree preferred.
+ 9+ years relevant engineering experience with PE (Professional Engineer) registration required; 15+ years relevant engineering experience without PE.
+ Ability to demonstrate the unique technical skills and core competencies for this engineering level established & documented by the organization

**Preferred Requirements**

+ Experience with SEL RTAC platform and Novatech OrionLX preferred
+ Experience with Ignition SCADA from Inductive Automation preferred
+ Familiarity with DNP3, MODBUS, and OPC protocols preferred
+ Strong computer skills, specifically in computer networking (e.g. CCNA certification) and understanding of computer architecture preferred
+ Proficiency in programming languages such as Python and SQLpreferred

As a leading combination electricity and natural gas energy company, Xcel Energy offers a comprehensive portfolio of energy-related products and services to 3.4 million electricity and 1.9 million natural gas customers across eight Western and Midwestern states.

At Xcel Energy, we strive to be the preferred and trusted provider of the energy our customers need.

If you’re ready to be a part of something big, we invite you to join our team.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.

Individuals with a disability who need an accommodation to apply please contact us at recruiting@xcelenergy.com .

Non-Bargaining

The anticipated starting base pay for this position is: $79,800.00 to $152,766.00 per year

This position is eligible for the following benefits: Annual Incentive Program, Medical/Pharmacy Plan, Dental, Vision, Life Insurance, Dependent Care Reimbursement Account, Health Care Reimbursement Account, Health Savings Account (HSA) (if enrolled in eligible health plan), Limited-Purpose FSA (if enrolled in eligible health plan and HSA), Transportation Reimbursement Account, Short-term disability (STD), Long-term disability (LTD), Employee Assistance Program (EAP), Fitness Center Reimbursement (if enrolled in eligible health plan), Tuition reimbursement, Transit programs, Employee recognition program, Pension, 401(k) plan, Paid time off (PTO), Holidays, Volunteer Paid Time Off (VPTO), Parental Leave

Benefit plans are subject to change and Xcel Energy has the right to end, suspend, or amend any of its plans, at any time, in whole or in part.

In any materials you submit, you may redact or remove age-identifying information including but not limited to dates of school attendance and graduation.

You will not be penalized for redacting or removing this information.

Deadline to Apply: 10/23/25

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Required Skill Profession

Other General