Principal Electrical Engineer

Job Title: Principal Electrical Engineer
Job Description

The Principal Electrical Engineer provides high‑quality electrical engineering services on large, complex industrial projects and ensures technical excellence across all phases of delivery. This role leads both low to medium voltage and high voltage electrical engineering scopes, driving work to meet defined schedule, budget, scope, and quality requirements. The Principal Electrical Engineer also plays a key role in mentoring and developing the electrical engineering team, supporting multi‑disciplinary project execution in sectors such as energy, mining, chemicals, power, and infrastructure.

Responsibilities

• Lead the execution of electrical engineering activities for assigned projects and defined project scopes, ensuring alignment with client requirements and applicable statutory and regulatory standards.
• Deliver electrical engineering services on time and within budget, maintaining high technical quality and compliance with internal procedures.
• Support project planning and delivery by participating in project meetings, preparing progress reports, and adhering to established checking and quality assurance processes.
• Ensure project scope is clearly defined and maintained, and manage scope changes in accordance with project change management procedures.
• Provide technical input and support during procurement, construction, and commissioning phases, including preparation and review of electrical equipment and material requisitions.
• Perform technical bid evaluations and review vendor documentation and purchase orders to confirm technical compliance and suitability.
• Coordinate electrical engineering activities with multidisciplinary teams, including process, instrumentation, mechanical, piping, and automation, to ensure integrated and coherent project delivery.
• Identify and resolve discrepancies between internal standards and client standards or requirements, proposing and implementing appropriate resolutions.
• Support the development, review, and approval of electrical engineering deliverables, such as single-line diagrams, schematics, power studies, layouts, and work packages.
• Provide technical guidance, leadership, and mentoring to intermediate and junior engineers and designers, fostering skill development and knowledge sharing.
• Communicate effectively with internal teams, clients, and project stakeholders, ensuring clear understanding of technical issues, decisions, and project status.
• Proactively identify technical issues, risks, and opportunities related to electrical systems and project execution, develop practical solutions, and escalate concerns when required.
• Lead and manage a small onshore team of electrical engineers and designers, typically 4–5 people, ensuring efficient workshare and positive team engagement.
• Contribute to the implementation and optimization of workshare execution models, maintaining a positive mindset toward distributed engineering and collaboration.
• Apply process safety and operability considerations in electrical engineering work, including participation in HAZOP and LOPA sessions where electrical systems interface with safety functions.

Essential Skills

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering.
• Professional Engineer ( designation with demonstrated experience in engineering stamp responsibility.
• 15–30 years of electrical engineering experience, including at least 8 years with an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) organization.
• Proven experience delivering electrical engineering work on industrial projects in sectors such as energy, mining, chemicals, power, or infrastructure.
• Experience leading and managing a team of approximately 4–5 onshore electrical engineers and designers.
• Strong working knowledge of electrical engineering deliverables, including electrical single-line diagrams and schematics, power distribution studies and load lists, motor control center (MCC) layouts and schematics, cable schedules and routing, tray and conduit layouts, grounding and bonding drawings, lighting and small power layouts, area classification and hazardous area electrical layouts, bills of material, material requisitions, and construction and engineering work packages.
• Working knowledge of electrical system design and application for low and medium voltage power distribution systems.
• Expertise in motor control and protection systems and variable frequency drives (VFDs).
• Knowledge of lighting systems, emergency power systems, and related electrical infrastructure.
• Strong understanding of grounding, bonding, and lightning protection design principles.
• Experience in hazardous area electrical design and application of relevant codes and standards.
• Working knowledge of engineering systems, workflows, and document management tools such as SAP, KMS, or equivalent project systems.
• Familiarity with process safety and operability considerations, including participation in HAZOP and LOPA where electrical systems interface with safety functions.
• Experience using SKM for power system studies and EPLAN for electrical design, particularly for single-line diagrams and schematics.
• Demonstrated ability to manage scope, schedule, and budget while maintaining technical quality and compliance.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to interact effectively with multidisciplinary teams, clients, and stakeholders.
• Proven ability to identify technical risks and issues and develop robust, practical solutions.

Additional Skills & Qualifications

• Positive mindset and demonstrated experience with workshare execution models and distributed engineering teams.
• Experience supporting large, multi‑billion‑dollar industrial projects over multi‑year timelines.
• Ability to mentor, coach, and develop intermediate and junior electrical engineers and designers.
• Comfort working with complex project systems and document management platforms such as SAP, KMS, or similar tools.
• Familiarity with the practical impacts of TA/NTA execution models on project delivery and resource planning.
• Strong organizational and planning skills, with the ability to manage multiple project scopes and priorities simultaneously.
• Ability to interpret and reconcile differing internal and client standards and specifications.
• Experience contributing to procurement activities, including technical bid evaluations and vendor document reviews.
• Capability to work effectively within multidisciplinary teams and foster collaborative problem solving.
• High attention to detail and commitment to quality in engineering deliverables and documentation.

Work Environment

This role operates within a dynamic, project‑driven environment focused on large‑scale industrial developments, including major oil sands expansions, cogeneration and carbon capture facilities, pipeline projects with compressor stations, greenfield gas processing plants, and gas plant relocations. The Principal Electrical Engineer reports into the Chief Electrical Engineer and works closely with process, instrumentation, mechanical, piping, and automation disciplines on multi‑billion‑dollar projects over approximately 3.5–4 years. The work involves significant exposure to advanced engineering systems and document management tools such as SAP, KMS, SKM, and EPLAN, and requires careful coordination across multiple project phases from design through procurement, construction, and commissioning. The environment emphasizes collaboration, technical excellence, and continuous mentoring, with opportunities to influence growing portfolios of projects across western Canada for operators and midstream companies. Specific hours, shifts, and dress code are typically aligned with professional engineering office and project standards.

Job Type & Location

This is a Contract position based out of Edmonton, AB.

Pay and Benefits

The pay range for this position is $90.00 - $110.00/hr.

Workplace Type

This is a hybrid position in Edmonton,AB.

À propos d'Actalent

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