Senior High-Voltage Test Engineer

Eaton’s PCS division is currently seeking a Senior High-Voltage Test Engineer to join the team. This role is based at the Horseheads, NY manufacturing site. Relocation assistance is available!

The expected annual salary range for this role is $97000 - $143000 a year.

Please note the salary information shown above is a general guideline only. Salaries are based upon candidate skills, experience, and qualifications, as well as market and business considerations.

What you’ll do:

The Senior High-Voltage Test Engineer will provide senior engineering and technical leadership for high-voltage testing, dielectric verification, commissioning, and certification of high-voltage electrical assets. This role is responsible for executing, supervising, and certifying critical insulation and dielectric test processes, including seasoning/conditioning, Basic Insulation Level (BIL)/lightning impulse testing, Gas Test and AC withstand testing. The position applies high-voltage engineering, power systems, insulation systems, partial discharge diagnostics, waveform analysis, and rigorous safety practices to verify equipment performance against applicable requirements and defined customer specifications. The role partners with Quality, Maintenance, EHS, Production, suppliers and customers personnel to ensure safe, accurate, traceable, and compliant test execution.

Essential Functions:

High-Voltage Testing Operations: Oversee seasoning/conditioning processes for VIs after they leave the Assembly area to ensure the internal components reach the rated withstand voltage. Work with Quality when excessive rejects are identified following the seasoning process, including punctures, and partner with Maintenance when equipment downtime or malfunctions occur. Support the high-voltage impulse testing process. Ensure ongoing proper test setup and verify that grounding, clearances, controls, and other test conditions are maintained as required. Support troubleshooting of test equipment issues as needed. Responsible for the safe setup and execution of AC Withstand and Gas Check tests using approved test systems and procedures. Establish appropriate test connections and hold conditions, and monitor equipment response throughout voltage ramp-up, test duration, and de-energization.

Safety and Compliance: Ensure safety controls on test equipment remain in good working condition, specifically safety interlocks, high-voltage perimeter barriers, grounding systems, emergency trip circuits, and access controls. Ensure LOTO and applicable energy-control requirements are followed during setup, troubleshooting, maintenance, and testing activities. Exercise stop-work authority when unsafe conditions, abnormal test indications, or unexpected acoustic/electrical events are observed. Ensure high-voltage testing activities are executed in accordance with applicable requirements, approved internal procedures, and customer specifications. Support audits, technical reviews, nonconformance investigations, corrective actions, and process improvements related to dielectric and insulation testing.

Test Planning and Project Execution: Review product requirements, customer specifications, drawings, test plans, instrumentation needs, and acceptance criteria prior to developing a CAR or project for new equipment. Coordinate test sequencing, resources, setup readiness, equipment availability, and cross-functional support to enable the safe and efficient execution of factory or site test activities. Partner with Quality, Design Engineering, Production, EHS, Maintenance, suppliers, and customers to resolve technical issues and establish manufacturable and testable solutions. Communicate complex high-voltage test results, risks, and recommendations clearly to both technical and nontechnical stakeholders.

Instrumentation and Troubleshooting: Maintain technical oversight of high-voltage instrumentation, including impulse measurement systems, AC test systems, partial discharge analyzers, Tan Delta test bridges, oscilloscopes, voltage dividers, and related measurement equipment. Coordinate calibration activities with Quality, as well as verification, maintenance, and repair activities, to maintain measurement integrity and test readiness. Lead structured troubleshooting of failed or abnormal dielectric tests, insulation concerns, test-equipment issues, and instrumentation anomalies. Use test data, transient waveforms, PD response, insulation measurements, equipment history, and engineering analysis to identify likely failure mechanisms and recommend appropriate containment and corrective actions.

Qualifications:

What will make you successful?

An ideal candidate functions with a high degree of autonomy and technical judgment during critical dielectric testing activities and clearly communicates test abnormalities to Quality leadership, Production, EHS, customers, and suppliers, as needed. This role requires strong analytical judgment when interpreting insulation resistance, PI, dew point, Tan Delta, impulse waveforms, ground-current, partial discharge, and AC Withstand results. You may be required to support troubleshooting and process documentation creation or updates, as well as provide technical support outside normal working hours when required by business or project needs.

Required (Basic) Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering or related technical discipline from an accredited institution

• Minimum 3 years of electrical engineering experience

• Minimum 1 year of direct hands-on experience in a high-voltage test laboratory or field testing/commissioning.

• Deep working knowledge of IEC 60076-3 and IEEE C57.12.90 dielectric and high-voltage test requirements.

• Strong knowledge of insulation systems, dielectric behavior, transformer and switchgear test methods, grounding, high-voltage clearances, and electrical test-bay safety.

• Eaton will not consider applicants for employment immigration sponsorship or support for this position. This means that Eaton will not support any CPT, OPT, or STEM OPT plans, F-1 to H-1B, H-1B cap registration, O-1, E-3, TN status, I-485 job portability, etc.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering; specialization in High-Voltage Engineering or Power Systems is highly preferred.

• Proficiency with multi-stage Marx impulse generators, AC series-resonance test systems, partial discharge analyzers (Omicron, Doble, or similar), oscilloscopes, high-voltage measurement systems, and automated Tan Delta/Dissipation Factor test bridges.

• Advanced capability in transient waveform analysis and interpretation of voltage, ground-current, and partial discharge data.

Additional Information:

• Responsibility to immediately stop a test sequence when abnormal waveforms, partial discharge indications, unexpected acoustic emissions, equipment behavior, safety-system concerns, or other conditions could indicate an unsafe condition or potential equipment damage.

• Requires regular presence in high-voltage test areas and interaction with energized test systems and heavy electrical equipment under controlled test conditions. Appropriate PPE, barriers, interlocks, grounding practices, and site safety requirements must be followed.

• Must ensure Maintenance exercises disciplined control of high-voltage access, grounding, safety interlocks, emergency trip systems, LOTO/energy-control requirements, and safe test sequencing.

All positions may require participation in video and in-person interviews as part of the hiring process. All candidates will be evaluated based on job-related competencies, and all candidates’ privacy rights and data security will be protected in accordance with applicable laws.

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Eaton believes in second chance employment. Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction history will be considered regardless of their arrest or conviction history, consistent with the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, the California Fair Chance Act and other local laws.

You do not need to disclose your conviction history or participate in a background check until a conditional job offer is made to you. After making a conditional offer and running a background check, if Eaton is concerned about conviction that is directly related to the job, you will be given the chance to explain the circumstances surrounding the conviction, provide mitigating evidence, or challenge the accuracy of the background report.

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We know that good benefit programs are important to employees and their families. Eaton provides various Health and Welfare benefits as well as Retirement benefits, and several programs that provide for paid and unpaid time away from work. Click here (https://www.youreatonbenefits.com/candidates) for more detail: Eaton Benefits Overview. Please note that specific programs and options available to an employee may depend on eligibility factors such as geographic location, date of hire, and the applicability of collective bargaining agreements.