Protection Applications Department Manager (Midwest Region)

The Protection Applications Department Manager is responsible for the managerial direction, leadership, development, and growth of the Protection Applications (PA) Department within Burns & McDonnell’s Midwest Region Transmission & Distribution (T&D) Global Practice. This role is responsible for developing a high-performing team, supporting and executing business strategy, promoting Burns & McDonnell’s MacCulture principles, and ensuring the department delivers high-quality technical work while supporting the needs of our clients and business.

The Department Manager will maintain an active connection to Protection Applications engineering and project execution while carrying full accountability for the leadership and management responsibilities of the department.

Specific areas of responsibility include:

• Provide overall leadership and direction to the Protection Applications Department through clear expectations, accountability, effective communication, empowerment, and sound decision-making.

• Advocate for Protection Applications staff with T&D and Burns & McDonnell leadership and help ensure the needs of the department and its employee-owners are understood and appropriately addressed.

• Maintain an accessible and approachable leadership presence and provide timely follow-up on employee, project, and organizational needs.

• Communicate department priorities, decisions, expectations, and business context with transparency and consistency.

• Foster a healthy, collaborative, and inclusive employee-owner culture grounded in Burns & McDonnell’s MacCulture principles, safety, quality, integrity, accountability, teamwork, and outstanding service.

• Promote equitable and consistent people practices and decision-making across the department.

• Drive a culture focused on safety and compliance with company, regional, project, and client safety requirements.

• Develop and foster an innovation culture that challenges existing approaches and leverages tools, technology, and processes to improve quality, efficiency, and the employee and client experience.

• Interpret and support company and T&D policies, procedures, initiatives, and strategic objectives within the department.

• Develop leadership capability within the department and create opportunities for employees to grow their influence, ownership, and leadership skills.

• Meet regularly with department staff to understand career interests, development needs, performance, workload, and short- and long-term goals.

• Provide employees with coaching, guidance, feedback, and opportunities that support their continued development.

• Educate employees about career paths and opportunities throughout T&D and help them develop the knowledge, skills, experience, and relationships necessary to pursue their desired career path.

• Lead and conduct the annual performance appraisal process and support other performance and development conversations throughout the year.

• Establish clear performance expectations and provide timely, candid, and constructive feedback.

• Work with Human Resources and appropriate leaders to identify, prepare, communicate, and monitor performance improvement plans when additional performance support or accountability is needed.

• Identify technical, project delivery, leadership, and professional development needs and coordinate training opportunities with technical teams, business line leadership, and other departments.

• Promote mentoring, knowledge sharing, succession planning, and development of future technical and people leaders within the department.

• Establish effective and consistent communication practices for the department, recognizing that employees may require different methods and levels of communication to remain informed and engaged.

• Proactively share relevant business, staffing, project, organizational, and Global Practice information with department staff.

• Coordinate and collaborate with T&D business line leadership, project managers, account managers, and other department leaders to align the needs and development of our people with the needs of the business.

• Develop a strong partnership with Substation leadership and other closely aligned T&D disciplines to promote coordinated project delivery and team cohesion.

• Communicate and coordinate regularly with Protection Applications leadership throughout the T&D Global Practice regarding staffing, workload, clients, pursuits, technical initiatives, training, and overall business line strategy.

• Build strong relationships across offices and regions to support resource sharing, knowledge transfer, consistent practices, and successful project delivery.

• Support T&D and regional initiatives and effectively lead the department through organizational and business change.

• Develop and maintain an annual personnel and workforce strategy aligned with department workload, anticipated growth, succession needs, and the broader T&D business plan.

• Partner proactively with Human Resources and Recruiting to identify and attract candidates who align with Burns & McDonnell’s MacCulture principles and the department’s technical and business needs.

• Participate in recruiting through appropriate channels, including experienced-hire recruiting, employee referrals, university recruiting, internships, internal transfers, and other talent pipelines.

• Lead thoughtful and consistent candidate assessment practices designed to identify the qualifications necessary for success while providing candidates with professional and equitable experience.

• Support diverse candidate pools and interview teams and utilize structured interview questions tied directly to the qualifications and expectations of the position.

• Lead and coordinate onboarding for employees transitioning into the department, including interns, new graduates, experienced hires, internal transfers, contract employees, and converted contract employees.

• Promote employee retention by creating meaningful development opportunities, maintaining appropriate workloads, recognizing contributions, addressing concerns, and fostering an environment in which employees can build successful careers.

• Regularly review department workload, staffing, utilization, and employee assignments to ensure resources are effectively deployed and employees have opportunities that support both project needs and professional development.

• Coordinate staffing assignments with project managers, project engineers, and T&D leadership to support efficient, cost-effective project execution.

• Monitor department chargeability, staff loading, and workload forecasts and take appropriate action to support established business and financial objectives.

• Balance project demands with employee strengths, technical development needs, career goals, and available capacity.

• Participate in business planning and establish department staffing and development priorities that support anticipated workload and growth.

• Provide leadership with appropriate workload, staffing, utilization, and department performance information.

• Promote responsible use of overhead investments and department resources.

• Support profitable and sustainable growth by aligning staff capabilities and capacity with client and project opportunities.

• Leverage the technical capabilities of the Protection Applications Department to identify and advance opportunities with existing and prospective clients.

• Support pursuits, proposals, client relationships, and business development efforts where Protection Applications expertise can contribute to client success.

The Department Manager is expected to maintain strong technical credibility and an active connection to Protection Applications work. Responsibilities may include performing, reviewing, advising on, or providing leadership for the following:

• Apply applicable industry standards, client requirements, and NERC regulatory requirements for protection of electric system equipment, including power buses, power transformers, high- and medium-voltage circuit breakers, capacitor banks, reactors, transmission lines, and distribution feeders.

• Develop power system models and perform protective relay coordination analyses utilizing ASPEN OneLiner, Siemens APA, or similar industry software.

• Develop and review protection design calculations, including short-circuit calculations, current-transformer performance and ratio selection, overcurrent element coordination, zone-distance element selection and coordination, and relay loadability calculations.

• Develop and review native relay settings utilizing applicable manufacturer software, including SEL AcSELerator and GE Enervista.

• Develop fault simulation test files used in protection system testing and commissioning.

• Provide engineering support for construction and commissioning activities associated with Protection Applications design deliverables.

• Develop protection requirements and provide technical support in resolving protection and control issues for clients and project teams.

• Serve as a senior technical resource for Protection Applications staff and project teams.

• Promote quality and continuous improvement and ensure applicable corporate, T&D, and department quality processes are implemented.

• Support appropriate QA/QC assignments and reviews for Protection Applications work.

• Maintain awareness of emerging protection technologies, industry practices, standards, and client needs and help translate those developments into department capabilities and opportunities.

• Advance tools, workflows, standards, and technical practices that improve consistency, quality, and efficiency across the department.

Bachelor’s degree in engineering, architecture, construction or related degree from accredited program. Minimum seven (7) years related professional experience in design and/or project management. Other qualifications include:

• Minimum three (3) years of experience preparing protection relay setting calculations.

• Demonstrated technical knowledge of electric power system protection principles and practices and the ability to apply that knowledge across a broad range of assignments.

• Demonstrated credibility and technical expertise sufficient to represent Burns & McDonnell’s Protection Applications capabilities with clients and industry partners.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to clearly and effectively communicate complex technical and business information to employees, management, project teams, and clients.

• Strong interpersonal, collaboration, facilitation, planning, organization, analytical, and problem-solving skills.

• Demonstrated ability to establish priorities, make sound decisions, follow through on commitments, and hold oneself and others accountable.

• Ability to navigate difficult situations and conversations with tact, poise, professionalism, and discernment.

• Ability to thoughtfully and positively influence, lead, and manage change.

• Proven leadership in developing and implementing vision that has brought positive impact.

• Experience with project planning, execution, budgeting, scheduling, quality management, and client coordination.

• Professional Engineering licensure preferred.

• Previous leadership and/or management experience preferred.

• Previous consulting experience preferred.