Substation Commissioning Lead – Power Transmission

About the role

Balfour Beatty is recruiting a Commissioning Manager to join our Power Transmission & Distribution (T&D) Substation team. This is an exciting opportunity to play a key role in delivering substation projects across North East Scotland and continually seeking to make the energy system cleaner. Demand for clean, secure energy is rising, to meet this demand there is a significant industry investment.

You’ll work on multi-million pound projects ranging from substation extensions to new-build substations, supporting the delivery of critical infrastructure that powers homes, communities, and industries to help revolutionise and decarbonise the future of energy. The Commissioning Team is UK based, with regular travel to project sites in North East Scotland.

What you'll be doing

You’ll lead all aspects of commissioning delivery across the lifecycle of our substation projects, from tendering and technical support to on‑site execution and handover.

Your Key Responsibilities:

• Act as the go‑to technical expert on substation commissioning, supporting tendering, design, operations, and delivery teams
• Oversee commissioning strategies from early contractor involvement through to final handover
• Provide technical guidance across HV/LV & P&C equipment testing to SSE commissioning standards
• Ensure compliance with safety, quality, and procedural standards across all commissioning activity
• Provide on‑site project support for commissioning issues, and availability to assist with commissioning when required.
• Lead commissioning input during all project stages
• Develop outline and detailed commissioning programmes
• Develop accurate recourse forecast for future projects
• Build up commissioning costs for tendering
• Attend project handovers, ensuring smooth transition from design to delivery
• Manage and mentor a growing commissioning team (engineers, technicians, and sub‑contractors)
• Forecast and allocate resources across multiple projects.
• Confirm competence and authorisations of all commissioning resources
• Monitor progress, spend, and performance against plan
• Attend commissioning panels, site progress meetings, and provide regular updates to Project Managers
• Continuously improve testing and commissioning productivity, innovation, and delivery outcomes

Who we're looking for

• Extensive hands on substation commissioning experience within the Electricity Transmission environment
• In-depth knowledge of transmission commissioning procedures for HV / LV and Protection and Control equipment testing
• Ideally HNC (or higher) in Electrical Engineering or similar discipline
• Proven ability to manage remote technical teams and commissioning subcontractors
• Solid understanding of industry documentation and commissioning QA/QC processes
• Proven Stakeholder Management, including customer, client and internal interfaces
• Ideally possess experience delivering large-scale infrastructure projects
• Previous SSE Authorisations and commissioning experience - ideally
• Ideally Degree-qualified in a technical discipline
• Familiarity with digital commissioning tools and reporting platforms - Ideally
• Ideally Chartered Engineer Status

Why work for us

Day in, day out, our teams deliver some of the UK’s most ambitious, exciting and meaningful projects; developing, building and maintaining the vital infrastructure that supports national economies and strengthens communities.

Why join us?

As if contributing to and supporting work that makes life better for millions wasn’t rewarding enough, we offer a full range of benefits too. You’ll have the freedom to shape the package that’s right for you and your life. Here are some of our key benefits:

• Smart working, giving you more flexibility such as staggered start and finish times, with up to 40% remote working, where roles allow.
• 25 days paid annual leave (pro rata)
• Family friendly policies which include 28 weeks full pay for maternity/adoption leave and four weeks full pay for paternity/partners leave
• Pension, share incentive plan, volunteering leave, recognition schemes and much more…

About us

Balfour Beatty’s Power Transmission & Distribution teams work with regional, national and international electricity network owners and operators to provide technical engineering solutions across the full spectrum of the electricity grid, including overhead lines, cabling, substations and distribution networks.

From scoping and feasibility, to design, construction and on‑going maintenance, our in‑house experts, flexible resources and industry‑leading innovations support customers in the development of some of the UK’s most ambitious power transmission and distribution projects.

Diversity and inclusion

At Balfour Beatty we believe that diversity and inclusion are essential components of any successful, happy workplace. Through our Value Everyone Diversity and Inclusion Strategy and Action Plan, we are growing our diverse workforce and developing our inclusive culture where everyone is able to thrive and reach their full potential, regardless of their identity or background. To find out how we are making this a reality, visit

To help and support us with our desired commitment to create an inclusive culture we are members of WISE, enei, Business Disability Forum and the Association for Black and Minority Ethnic Engineers (AFBE). In 2020, we signed the Audeliss and Involve Open Letter to demonstrate our commitment to taking key long term and sustainable actions on Black Inclusion. Balfour Beatty is also a Gold Award holder in the Ministry of Defence 'Employer Recognition Scheme' and actively encourage applications from Armed Forces personnel, veterans and reservists.

As a Disability Confident Employer, we are committed to working with people who have disabilities and long‑term health conditions to remove barriers for them in obtaining employment. We are also committed to offering applicants with a disability an interview if they meet the minimum requirements for the role. For more info, visit

We are looking to continually improve our resourcing process and ensure that it is fair and inclusive for all. If you have any feedback on the process, please share this with us at

#J-18808-Ljbffr