What are the responsibilities and job description for the Transmission Planning Engineer position at Brightsmith?
Transmission Planning Engineer
Brooklyn, NY
About the Opportunity
Our client is building technology that helps accelerate the development of energy and infrastructure projects. By combining software, data, and industry expertise, they enable organizations to move projects from initial evaluation through development more efficiently. Their platform supports activities such as siting, interconnection, permitting, and grid analysis across a range of infrastructure sectors.
This is an opportunity for a Transmission Planning or Power Engineer to join a growing technical team and play a key role in advancing both engineering methodologies and software solutions for grid and interconnection analysis.
What You'll Do
- Perform and interpret bulk transmission and interconnection analysis using commercial power flow software to identify optimal points of interconnection.
- Perform and review transmission planning, power flow, and stability studies using commercial tools (PSS®E, TARA, PSLF, PSCAD, etc.), while helping establish best practices and improve the quality of technical analyses across the team.
- Evaluate transmission system dynamics under high levels of renewable energy penetration.
- Develop technically sound study assumptions using available interconnection queue and transmission upgrade data.
- Assess the technical and commercial viability of new generation and large load projects by forecasting upgrade costs.
- Collaborate closely with product and engineering teams to develop software solutions that improve power system analysis at scale.
- Apply and expand expertise in power systems and interconnection processes across multiple utilities and ISO/RTO markets.
- Serve as a subject matter expert, contributing to internal methodologies and supporting product development initiatives.
- Translate power system principles and utility processes into scalable software applications and proprietary datasets.
Requirements
- 3 years of experience in power system studies, transmission planning, or interconnection engineering within a consulting firm, developer, utility, ISO/RTO, or related organization.
- Strong familiarity with generator interconnection modeling in at least one major ISO/RTO market (e.g., PJM, MISO, ERCOT, CAISO, or WECC).
- Proven ability to perform and interpret power flow, stability, and transmission upgrade cost studies.
- Proficiency with industry-standard tools such as PSS®E, TARA, PSLF, PSCAD, or similar software.
- Strong analytical and quantitative skills with the ability to identify and challenge flawed assumptions.
- Experience mentoring junior engineers or reviewing technical work products.
- Comfortable presenting findings and recommendations directly to customers and external stakeholders.
- Familiarity with scripting, automation, or programming languages such as Python or MATLAB.
Ideal Background
- Hands-on engineering experience combined with a passion for improving technical standards and team performance.
- Strong interest in reviewing, refining, and elevating analytical work.
- Ability to communicate complex transmission and interconnection concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.
- Naturally curious, proactive, and focused on improving processes and workflows.
- Interest in leveraging automation and AI to improve efficiency while maintaining engineering rigor.
Nice to Have
- Experience working in a high-growth or startup environment.
- Familiarity with grid-enhancing technologies (GETs), distributed energy resource (DER) integration, or non-wires alternatives.
- Experience applying GIS or geospatial analytics to transmission planning or interconnection studies.