Digital Substation Leader-Architect Leader

Job Description Summary

To accelerate growth and enhance customer value, Grid Automation is evolving its structure to drive innovation in grid flexibility, reliability, and sustainability while strengthening its core portfolio. A key aspect of this transformation is the creation of the GridBeats Product Line, which focuses on software-defined automation solutions, integrating advanced technologies, and developing differentiated product platforms to meet future market needs.

Job Description

Scope :

The Transmission PAC Solution Architect Leader is a senior, global leadership role responsible for translating customer and market needs into well-architected, end-to-end Digital substation solutions for Transmission System Operators (TSOs).

The role has global accountability for PAC and SAS solution architecture across Transmission Sector including brownfield modernization, installed-base upgrades, and phased migration strategies. Acting as the global technical and solution bridge between customers, commercial teams, and product management, this leader converts system-level challenges into clear solution architectures, product requirements, and portfolio priorities. This role requires a unique combination of technical expertise, market knowledge, and leadership capabilities to align cross-functional teams and deliver impactful solutions for our customers.

As a senior leader, the role also represents GE Vernova in industry forums and standards bodies, including IEEE working groups, UCAIug, and North American utility standards committees.

This position plays a critical role in shaping global PAC and SAS strategy, influencing portfolio roadmaps, and accelerating adoption of digital substations, virtualization, and software-defined automation, while continuing to evolve and support conventional architectures. Roadmap prioritization is driven by installed-base impact, regional scalability, and risk reduction.

• Act as the senior global solution authority for PAC and SAS solutions in TSO customer engagements.
• Engage directly with customers to understand operational challenges, system constraints, lifecycle expectations in order to identify future roadmap needs.
• Support commercial teams during pre-sales, tenders, and strategic pursuits with technically optimal and differentiated solutions to position GEV next generation solutions
• Build customer trust by balancing proven conventional architectures with next-generation digital and virtualized solutions.
• Maintain architectural accountability beyond pre-sales, ensuring continuity of solution intent through execution, commissioning, and early-life support.

• Define, own, and govern global reference architectures for:
• Ensure architectures are scalable, secure, interoperable, and cost-effective across regions.
• Influence global portfolio and technology strategy by identifying gaps, overlaps, and opportunities across PAC, SAS, and digital software stacks.
• Validate architectures against delivery constraints, system integration complexity, cybersecurity posture, and operational maintainability.
• Establish clear architectural decision rights and governance for approving deviations from reference architectures.
• Govern brownfield and installed-base architectures, including backward compatibility, migration paths, mixed-vendor environments, and legacy relay integration.

• Translate customer and project requirements into clear product requirements, system specifications, and NPI inputs.
• Act as a senior contributor to product roadmap definition, prioritization, and trade-off decisions.
• Partner with Product Management and the GA CTO organization to ensure solutions are productized, repeatable, and aligned with long-term global strategy.
• Drive standardization, modularization, and reuse across regions and customers.
• Support roadmap prioritization based on installed-base impact, regional scalability, and risk reduction.

• Support the definition of value propositions, technical differentiators, and competitive positioning.
• Provide technical guidance on make/buy decisions, ecosystem partnerships, and integration strategies.
• Act as the technical arbitrator between global reference architectures and region-specific customer or regulatory requirements.

• Lead and develop a global Solution Architect community, ensuring consistent methodologies, tools, and best practices.
• Establish and maintain governance for solution approval, architectural decisions, and technical risk management.
• Promote a culture of customer-centricity, accountability, and system-level thinking at a global scale.
• Represent GE Vernova as a senior solution thought leader in industry forums, standards bodies, and key customer workshops.
• Define and track KPIs for solution effectiveness, architectural compliance, delivery risk reduction, and win-rate impact.
• Provide senior technical leadership across the full lifecycle through post-award reviews, lessons learned, and continuous improvement feedback loops.

• Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Automation, Systems Engineering, or a related field (advanced degree preferred).
• 15+ years of experience in Transmission & Distribution, Substation Automation, or Industrial Automation.
• Expertise in:
  • Protection relays, bay controllers, and SAS architectures
  • IEC 61850, digital substations, and process bus technologies
  • System integration, cybersecurity, and lifecycle management
• Proven experience engaging directly with customers and commercial teams in senior solution definition and pre-sales roles.
• Strong ability to translate complex customer challenges into system and product requirements.
• Strategic mindset combined with strong hands-on technical credibility.
• Excellent communication and influence skills across technical, commercial, and executive stakeholders.
• Experience leading or coordinating cross-functional, global teams.