Field Engineer

Overview

ABM Industries is seeking a Field Engineer to join our Electrical Power Services team. This position is responsible for performing commissioning, testing, troubleshooting, maintenance, and startup activities for substation protection, control, automation, and associated electrical power systems.

The Field Engineer performs assigned protection and control testing, evaluates test results, identifies technical issues, and develops recommendations with guidance from senior field personnel when required.

This role supports safe project execution, technical quality, customer relationships, and operational excellence.

Pay: $60.60–$72.00 per hour

The pay listed is the salary range for this position. Any specific offer will vary based on the successful applicant’s education, experience, skills, abilities, geographic location, and alignment with market data.

You may be eligible to participate in a Company incentive or bonus program.

Benefit Information: ABM offers a comprehensive benefits package. For information about ABM’s benefits, visit ABM 2026 Employee Benefits | Staff & Management

Responsibilities

• Interpret project scopes, specifications, drawings, schedules, and customer requirements to support testing and commissioning activities.

• Prepare and follow commissioning plans, test procedures, isolation plans, functional test plans, and outage requirements.

• Read and interpret substation drawings and documentation, including:

• Single-line and three-line diagrams

• AC and DC schematics

• Panel wiring and layout drawings

• Elementary, logic, and interconnection diagrams

• Protection and control drawings and construction documents

• Perform acceptance, maintenance, troubleshooting, functional, and commissioning testing of:

• Electromechanical, solid-state, and microprocessor-based protective relays

• Protection and control panels

• Circuit breakers, instrument transformers, and DC control systems

• SCADA, metering, alarms, controls, and automation systems

• Pilot protection, transfer-trip, fiber-optic, power-line carrier, and related communications equipment

• Verify relay voltage and current inputs, local and remote metering, alarms, controls, interlocks, function switches, trip circuits, and SCADA points.

• Perform relay calibration, secondary and primary injection testing, trip testing, end-to-end testing, functional testing, and integrated system testing.

• Commission new substations and additions or modifications to existing substations.

• Perform troubleshooting of substation relaying, control, communications, automation, and associated electrical equipment.

• Review relay event records, oscillography, fault data, and sequence-of-events information to help identify root causes and corrective actions.

• Prepare field reports, test documentation, deficiency reports, red-line drawings, and technical recommendations.

• Coordinate assigned field activities with senior field personnel, customers, project managers, engineers, contractors, and subcontractors.

• Provide technical support to technicians and other field service personnel within assigned areas of responsibility.

• Ensure compliance with company procedures, customer requirements, OSHA regulations, NFPA 70E requirements, and applicable industry standards.

• Support outages, startup activities, critical shutdowns, emergency response, and system energization activities.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• Minimum of 3-5 years of field experience in substation commissioning, panel and equipment checkout, relay calibration, protection and control testing, troubleshooting, or repair.

• Demonstrated ability to perform protection and control testing and troubleshooting with limited supervision.

• Strong knowledge of:

• Three-phase AC power systems and DC control systems

• Power system protection and control schemes

• Protective relays, circuit breaker controls, and instrument transformers

• SCADA, metering, automation, and communications-assisted protection

• Ability to read and interpret one-line diagrams, schematics, wiring diagrams, elementary diagrams, logic diagrams, panel drawings, and construction documents.

• Experience using relay and power-system test equipment, associated software, wiring tools, and diagnostic instruments.

• Ability to follow and apply testing procedures, commissioning plans, isolation plans, and functional test plans.

• Ability to evaluate test results, identify abnormal conditions, and recommend corrective actions.

• Strong troubleshooting, planning, documentation, and technical communication skills.

• Ability to organize assigned field activities and make sound technical decisions within established procedures.

• Ability to communicate effectively in English, including reading and writing, due to the safety-related nature of procedures and documentation.

• Proficiency in Microsoft Office, including Word, Excel, and Outlook.

• Valid driver's license and acceptable driving record.

• Ability to travel up to 75% based on project and customer requirements.

Preferred Qualifications

• Associate degree or higher in Electrical Engineering Technology, Electrical Technology, Power Systems, Electronics, or a related field.

• Experience with substation design, protection and control engineering, substation construction, utility operations, or SCADA integration.

• Experience with relay platforms and software from manufacturers such as SEL, GE, Siemens, ABB/Hitachi Energy, or Basler.

• Experience performing end-to-end protection testing and analyzing relay event reports or oscillography.

• Previous experience supporting commissioning projects or coordinating assigned field activities.

• NETA certification, engineering credential, OSHA 30, NFPA 70E, CPR/First Aid, or similar industry certification.

Team and Project Responsibilities

• Coordinate effectively with senior engineers, technicians, project managers, and customers.

• Review assigned test results and documentation for accuracy and completeness.

• Support project scheduling, resource coordination, and field execution activities.

• Promote and follow a strong safety and quality culture.

• Communicate project status, technical concerns, and field conditions to the appropriate project lead.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Ability to execute protection and control testing assignments with limited supervision.

• Strong troubleshooting, analytical, and root-cause-analysis skills.

• Ability to evaluate system performance and recommend practical corrective actions.

• Ability to coordinate assigned field activities and adapt to changing project priorities.

• Strong customer service, communication, planning, and documentation skills.

• Commitment to safety, technical quality, reliability, and continuous improvement.

Physical Requirements

• Ability to lift, carry, push, and pull testing equipment and materials weighing up to 50 pounds.

• Ability to stand, walk, climb ladders, bend, kneel, crouch, and work in confined or restricted spaces.

• Ability to work in substations, electrical rooms, industrial facilities, outdoor environments, and construction sites.

• Ability to wear required PPE, including arc-flash and electrical safety equipment.

• Ability to work extended hours, nights, weekends, holidays, outages, and emergency callouts when required.

Career Progression

The Field Engineer role is an experienced technical position within the Electrical Power Services organization and serves as a development path toward Senior Field Engineer, Lead Field Engineer, Project Manager, or other technical and operational roles.