What does a distribution engineer do?
The duties of a distribution engineer depend on one's line of work or industry of employment. Typically, their responsibilities revolve around installing and repairing power distribution systems, understanding blueprints, devising strategies to optimize performances, coordinating with different engineers and technicians, and developing new power systems. They must also perform regular maintenance checks to ensure the efficiency and quality of distribution systems. Furthermore, as an engineer, it is essential to implement the company's policies and regulations to maintain a safe and productive work environment for everyone.
Distribution engineer responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real distribution engineer resumes:
- Manage general facilities including commissioning, building management systems, and calibrations for GMP area for tablets production operation.
- Provide power flow, protection, NEC, ANSI, UL code applications, trouble shooting of electrical system outages.
- Develop industrial standards and submit same to ANSI.
- Assist when need in updating construction designs in GIS.
- Use GIS base software to update and design field work.
- Develop the HMI system that are implemented by a third party.
- Review all electrical drawings and personally update as necessary - AutoCAD 2D & 3D!
- Follow standards and guidelines for electrical design as provided by the company and the NESC.
- Update and interpret drawing, build one line's, PLC programming, problem solving.
- Recommend breaker (with adjustable settings) and relay settings as per IEEE, NEC standards.
- Design, estimate, evaluate and size water mains and water services using hydraulic modeling and AutoCAD drafting.
- Identify and conduct maintenance projects on various transformers, circuit breakers, cables, and other electrical equipment.
- Develop electrical installations which can be sell in the Europe market, and vehicles that meets UL requirements.
- Design, engineering, and participate in creating proposals for electrical transmission projects up to 287 kV transmission lines.
- Perform power calculations base on customer's existing load or new load to correctly size transformers and conductor size.
Distribution engineer skills and personality traits
We calculated that 20% of Distribution Engineers are proficient in Aided Design, GIS, and CAD. They’re also known for soft skills such as Concentration, Initiative, and Speaking skills.
We break down the percentage of Distribution Engineers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Aided Design, 20%
Program Development Evaluated vendors and recommended purchase of Computer-Aided Design and Drafting (CADD) System for mapping and substation projects.
- GIS, 18%
Trained co-ops/employees in GIS, Storms and field construction.
- CAD, 15%
Design customer projects using Bentley Designer CAD software for streamlining solid estimates.
- NESC, 14%
Designed facilities in compliance with NESC (National Electric Safety Code) as well as utility specific standards and practices.
- Voltage Drop, 7%
Created settings and best Capacitor regulator locations for optimal performance and reduced voltage drops on circuits.
- UG, 5%
Designed OH to UG conversions project on transmission lines that relocated the transmission lines underground.
"aided design," "gis," and "cad" are among the most common skills that distribution engineers use at work. You can find even more distribution engineer responsibilities below, including:
Concentration. One of the key soft skills for a distribution engineer to have is concentration. You can see how this relates to what distribution engineers do because "electrical and electronics engineers design and develop complex electrical systems and electronic components and products." Additionally, a distribution engineer resume shows how distribution engineers use concentration: "designed system monitor systems using abb plc's and including data concentration and climatecontrols. "
Initiative. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling distribution engineer duties is initiative. The role rewards competence in this skill because "electrical and electronics engineers must apply their knowledge to new tasks in every project they undertake." According to a distribution engineer resume, here's how distribution engineers can utilize initiative in their job responsibilities: "presented preliminary and critical design reviews to executives and nasa providing procedural review for the creation of performance improvement initiatives. "
Speaking skills. This is an important skill for distribution engineers to perform their duties. For an example of how distribution engineer responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "electrical and electronics engineers work closely with other engineers and technicians." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a distribution engineer: "attended and presented progress reports at regular weekly meetings responsible for improving emi emissions for sabre ii platform. ".
Writing skills. For certain distribution engineer responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "writing skills." The day-to-day duties of a distribution engineer rely on this skill, as "electrical and electronics engineers develop technical publications related to equipment they develop, including maintenance manuals, operation manuals, parts lists, product proposals, and design methods documents." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what distribution engineers do: "assisted plc programmers in writing functional description and setting programming schedules. "
Math skills. A commonly-found skill in distribution engineer job descriptions, "math skills" is essential to what distribution engineers do. Distribution engineer responsibilities rely on this skill because "electrical and electronics engineers must use the principles of calculus and other advanced math in order to analyze, design, and troubleshoot equipment." You can also see how distribution engineer duties rely on math skills in this resume example: "compared the reliability of substation topology alternatives using statistical reliability calculations performed in mathcad in accordance with ieee std. "
The three companies that hire the most distribution engineers are:
- Ashley HomeStore180 distribution engineers jobs
- Leidos166 distribution engineers jobs
- Burns & McDonnell70 distribution engineers jobs
Compare different distribution engineers
Distribution engineer vs. Senior electrical designer
A Senior Electrical Designer is in charge of creating electrical schematics, layouts, and other grid plans for their organization, as well as providing the best solution for improvements. They supervise the material, construction, labor costs, and project timescales.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between distribution engineers and senior electrical designer. For instance, distribution engineer responsibilities require skills such as "gis," "cad," "nesc," and "electrical engineering." Whereas a senior electrical designer is skilled in "electrical design," "revit," "electrical systems," and "autocad electrical." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Senior electrical designers tend to make the most money working in the manufacturing industry, where they earn an average salary of $90,234. In contrast, distribution engineers make the biggest average salary, $80,357, in the energy industry.senior electrical designers tend to reach similar levels of education than distribution engineers. In fact, senior electrical designers are 1.8% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.7% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Distribution engineer vs. Electrical designer
An electrical designer designs and develops electrical circuit and system layouts for electric power distribution. The responsibilities of an electrical designer include assembling electrical panels and leading a team of document control personnel in-charged to identify and organize facility maintenance drawings. The position requires good initiative, writing, speaking, and mathematical skills to accomplish such responsibilities. The job's education requirements include possessing a college degree in electrical engineering, design, or a related field.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that distribution engineer responsibilities requires skills like "gis," "cad," "nesc," and "voltage drop." But an electrical designer might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "revit," "electrical design," "autocad electrical," and "ul."
Electrical designers earn a lower average salary than distribution engineers. But electrical designers earn the highest pay in the manufacturing industry, with an average salary of $72,768. Additionally, distribution engineers earn the highest salaries in the energy with average pay of $80,357 annually.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Electrical designers tend to reach similar levels of education than distribution engineers. In fact, they're 2.2% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.7% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Distribution engineer vs. Electrical engineer internship
The electrical engineer internship offers tasks to undergraduate engineering students related to electrical systems analysis and branch circuiting, site investigations, lighting calculations, and design drawings by complementing theoretical knowledge with practical duties on the job to gain experience and increase marketability. Through the internship, the undergraduate engineering students may develop professional aptitude, strengthen their character, and may increase their confidence in their work as it prepares them for what to expect in their field.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from distribution engineer resumes include skills like "nesc," "voltage drop," "electrical engineering," and "ug," whereas an electrical engineer internship is more likely to list skills in "c++," "c #," "analog," and "revit. "
Electrical engineer interns earn the best pay in the hospitality industry, where they command an average salary of $66,132. Distribution engineers earn the highest pay from the energy industry, with an average salary of $80,357.electrical engineer interns typically earn similar educational levels compared to distribution engineers. Specifically, they're 3.6% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.3% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Distribution engineer vs. Electrical & instrumentation designer
An electrical instrumentation designer's main job is to design instruments that can be used in various areas such as laboratories, power plants, or research institutes. They work together with a team or individually to design instruments, create a prototype, and test its functions. They can even install these instruments in different establishments and locations. They are tasked with repair and training engineers. At other times, they are assigned to record expenses and other documentation.
Types of distribution engineer
Updated January 8, 2025
