Substation Front-End Engineering & Design (FEED) Lead
HDR
At HDR, our employee-owners are fully engaged in creating a welcoming environment where each of us is valued and respected, a place where everyone is empowered to bring their authentic selves and novel ideas to work every day. As we foster a culture of inclusion throughout our company and within our communities, we constantly ask ourselves: What is our impact on the world?
Watch Our Story:' https://www.hdrinc.com/our-story'
Each and every role throughout our organization makes a difference in our ability to change the world for the better. Read further to learn how you could help make great things possible not only in your community, but around the world.
We believe electricity powers modern life. As part of our Power sector, you’ll help shape how electricity is generated, transmitted and delivered as global energy demands grow. From massive data centers to modernizing transmission systems, our industry-recognized engineers and scientists have been at the forefront of grid transformation for more than a century. You’ll work side-by-side with these experts and contribute to reliable, resilient and sustainable power systems, helping communities thrive and industries expand. This isn’t just a job, it’s a chance to drive infrastructure forward, power innovation and leave your mark on our energy future.
HDR is seeking a national Substation Front-End Engineering & Design (FEED) Lead within our Power Delivery Practice to be part of our national Alternative Delivery (AD) Leadership Team. Within HDR, AD consists of collaborative delivery models such as Design-Build (DB) / Progressive Design-Build (PDB), Engineer-Procure-Construct (EPC), Construction Manager-General Contractor (CMGC) / Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR), and/or Integrated Project Delivery (IPD). This position will involve all technical risk aspects of our power delivery AD program, including medium voltage through 500kV. The successful candidate will drive collaboration between HDR’s global power delivery staff and our construction teaming partners, focusing on mitigating the inherent engineering and design risks associated with AD projects. The primary duties of this position include front-end planning, pursuing, executing and managing technical aspects of substation AD proposals and projects within the utility, developer, renewable (medium/high voltage), battery energy storage system and data center markets.
Primary responsibilities include:
- In collaboration with marketing and technical staff, develop, lead and/or oversee technical aspects of substation AD proposals, including risk analysis and mitigation, preliminary layout and design, contractor bill-of-material takeoff support, and HDR scope, schedule and budget development with a focus on activities and risks unique to AD projects (e.g. procurement support, construction support, critical path scheduling, etc.). While this individual’s primary focus will be leading substation teams, coordination with land survey, geotechnical, transmission line, environmental, real estate and geographic information system (GIS) staff is also expected.
- In collaboration with engineering and design teams, review AD project intel, opportunities and RFPs to evaluate technical and commercial project risk and estimate technical investments prior to the Go/No-Go discussion. Risk evaluation will be shared with commercial, business development and operations leaders to determine if/how to pursue opportunities.
- Responsibilities include interfacing with construction contractors and HDR subconsultants during the pursuit and project while driving conversations on risk identification and mitigation.
- Assist in Go/No-Go discussions, project risk assessments, SOQs, proposals, interviews, and negotiations as required.
- In collaboration with technical and operations leadership, perform technical resource planning, workload forecasting and staff assigning on AD projects. As AD program grows, work with regional practice and operations leadership to develop and oversee multiple substation FEED teams. This individual will lead efforts to develop consistency and availability to support AD pursuit efforts.
- Serve in project technical leadership roles, including engineering manager, discipline lead, technical advisor, or other. While this individual’s focus will be on FEED development and standing-up project teams, ongoing technical risk analysis will be required to determine if/when to “handoff” the project.
- Understand the technical risks for all substation AD projects and implement appropriate measures to mitigate those risks (e.g. assigning appropriate technical expertise, adding additional QA/QC measures, subcontracting technical expertise, etc.). While responsibilities will frequently involve integration and oversight of engineering and design teams, direct engineering and design development may be required.
- When not involved in pursuits or projects, develop templates, standards, specifications, drawings, processes and procedures to support substation AD pursuits and projects (e.g. design/model templates and basis of design standards, bill-of-material templates, foundation standards, scope templates, budget templates, schedule templates, etc.), including development and maintenance of a database. Provide AD best practice guidance to pursuit and project delivery teams.
- Team development, mentorship and leadership, including discipline specific practitioners such as substation site/civil, structural/foundation, environmental, real estate and GIS individuals.
- Collaborate with HDR regional and area operations leaders, market sector leaders, practice leaders, project managers, commercial managers, and project teams to deliver world-class quality in engineering, environmental, real estate, GIS and construction support services for power delivery AD projects.
- Perform other duties as needed.
- Report to Substation Business Class Lead.
Preferred Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Electrical or Civil Engineering.
- Professional Engineering License
- Minimum 10 years of experience in substation design.
- Minimum 5 years building and leading engineering teams on EPC projects.
- Proficient in CDEGS, BIM Software (Autodesk, Revit, Bentley).
- Minimum 5 years of experience developing engineering scope, schedule and budget estimates on EPC projects.
- Experience developing EPC design and construction packages.
- Specific experience performing all aspects of substation design, procurement and construction including: Estimating, engineering design, procurement, and construction specifications, and detailed design and drawing development for substation projects up to 500kV.
- Understanding of oneline and general arrangement drawings, equipment selection and the benefits/drawback of various physical arrangements. Has experience offering value engineering solutions that align with industry best practices while leading discussions with material vendors and subcontractors on such topics.
- Experience optimizing substation designs (site layouts, foundations, automation, etc.) in tandem with discipline specific subject matter experts (SMEs).
- Experience working with environmental, real estate and GIS teams.
- Strong leadership skills and engineering management experience with multiple remote teams.
- Self-starter with excellent writing and communication skills.
- Strong conceptual, organizational, problem solving, and collaboration skills.
- Proficient with Microsoft Office and conferencing platforms (Zoom, WebEx, Teams, etc.).
- Position requires up to 20% travel.
#LI-MB1, *LI-MB1
- Bachelor's degree in a Professional, Architecture, Engineering or closely related field
- 10 years experience in related field
- Maintains a professional or Engineering registration and has related technical experience
- Experienced in development and management of diverse teams
- Works cooperatively with other business class regional directors, operations managers, technical directors and marketing managers on business class efforts
- Committed to quality, improvement and HDR values
- An attitude and commitment to being an active participant of our employee-owned culture is a must
What We Believe
HDR is our company. Together, we build on each other's life experiences and perspectives to make great things possible every day. This shapes our collaborative culture, encourages organizational trust and connects us closer to the clients and communities we serve.
Our Commitment
As employee owners, we all have a role in creating an inclusive environment where each of us is welcomed, valued, respected and empowered to bring our authentic selves to work every day.
Our eight Employee Network Groups (Asian Pacific, Black, Hispanic/Latino(a), LGBTQ+, People with Disabilities, Veterans, Women, Young Professionals) help create a sense of belonging and foster a supportive environment where everyone is empowered to engage and contribute. Each group has an executive sponsor and is open to all employees.