Electrical Design Specialist

You dream about electrical systems. You’re passionate about utilities, manufacturing, industrial process, engineering design. You love to collaborate with a technically proficient team. And you never stop growing.

The Job

Our office in Dublin, Ohio is looking for an Electrical Design Specialist 1 to provide design, drafting, and CAD services to clients for their design projects either directly through on-site assignment or through the Salas O’Brien engineering and design project team.  This position is based in our Dublin office and will have a hybrid schedule with some days in the office and some working remotely.

Specific responsibilities include (but are not limited to):

• Possess a working level of technical knowledge and an experience base that supports the application of technology to the solution of reasonably well-defined problems in design or analysis.


• Possess the capacity to analyze system architectures, system component relationships.


• Provide training and mentoring for subordinate technical staff; take an active role in personnel development through providing comprehensive and timely project personnel performance reviews; seek out client perspectives on the Varo products personnel and services rendered. Read, interpret, and apply standards, customer specifications, and standard drawing formats. Exhibit mastery of discipline design and drawing conventions.


• Interpret codes and standards and apply them.  


• Resolve conflicts and accommodate conflicting approaches and objectives at the project level. 


• Facilitate and coordinate work activities of others within a project team or technical area. 


• Facilitate and coordinate all work activities that affect the quality of administration, proposals, engineering & design, document control, inspection & testing, and commissioning in accordance with Varo’s Quality Assurance Program. 


• Find and understand job requirements, visualize and design in three dimensions (3D), interpret customer job specific requirements.


• Work from written and verbal instructions.


• Access and efficiently utilize information contained in technical manuals, vendor and customer drawings, and previous designs.


• Be proficient in CAD and manual drafting techniques.


• Perform routine design calculations, interpret graphs, access and obtain information from tables and codebooks.


• Perform effectively as a member of a design team.


• Deliver a quality design product in the allotted time to support client project needs.


• Effectively apply self-checking to work product.


• Conduct work activities that affect the quality of engineering & design in accordance with Salas O’Brien’s Quality Assurance Program.


• Review and check the work of others.


• Ascertain the correctness of inputs, question inconsistencies, and apparent errors and omissions.


• Assist in documenting engineering inputs, time and material estimates.


• Assist in project scoping.


• Participate in the personal Employee Assessment & Development process.


• Perform other responsibilities as assigned by the project team or deemed appropriate for the position by management.

Your Background

To succeed in this role, you need to meet the following basic requirements:

• Associates or bachelor’s degree in design or drafting


• 2-5 years of experience in electrical design


• Solid understanding of electrical substation design, power transmission & distribution, and generating layout plans, electrical assemblies, and bills of materials


• Must have experience working with AutoCAD as a design tool


• Inventor experience strongly desired

Why Work for Salas O’Brien?

With a motto of “expect a difference,” a compelling, ownership-driven culture, and offices around the country, Salas O’Brien draws the best engineering, architecture, and construction professionals in the country. We believe our attitude of ownership has profound impacts on how we treat each other and serve our clients.

We challenge you to find a firm with more opportunities for personal and professional growth than Salas O’Brien. Our many offices offer our team of employee-owners:

• Variety of projects and clients


• Collaboration with experts in your field


• Growth opportunities within a local office or other Salas O’Brien offices


• Awesome culture defined by our Ownership Values

Of course, we also offer outstanding benefits—everything you would expect for insurance and vacation time, plus incentives for sustainable living, professional education & licensure reimbursement, and flexible work scheduling at arrangement of your manager.

Equal Opportunity Employment Statement

Salas O’Brien is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to a work environment that supports, inspires, and respects all individuals and in which personnel processes are merit-based and applied without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, age, disability, national or ethnic origin, military service status, citizenship, or other protected characteristic.