Designer Specialist – Secondary Systems

• Location: Brussels
• On-site presence: Minimum 2 days per week on-site; remainder remote
• Contract type: Freelance consultancy – full-time (100%)
• Compensation: Competitive
• Start: 05-10-2026
• End: 31-12-2027
• Travel: Occasional short trips abroad for Factory Acceptance Tests (FATs) at supplier facilities
• Languages: Dutch or French: perfect (at least one) | English: good command (mandatory – supplier contacts)

Context

The Grid Expertise & Standards – Secondary Systems (GXS SecSys) department is responsible for establishing and maintaining the technical standards applied across all infrastructure investment projects on the Belgian high-voltage transmission grid. Secondary systems encompass the protection, control, automation, and measurement equipment that governs the safe and reliable operation of HV substations and grid assets — including protection relays, bay controllers, interlocking systems, SCADA/EMS interfaces, and metering installations.

The department produces and owns the 'typicals' — standardised reference drawings and design documents that define how secondary systems must be designed, documented, and applied across all the client's projects. These standards are the baseline against which all equipment suppliers and project designers must align. The Designer Specialist is embedded in this standards function and works at the intersection of electrical engineering, supplier management, and technical documentation.

Responsibilities

Supplier drawing review and control

• Review and verify standard plans and designs ('typicals') submitted by equipment suppliers — assess conformity with the client's standards, applicable norms, approved equipment specifications, and internal methodologies
• Identify non-conformities or gaps between supplier submissions and the client's requirements; document findings clearly and communicate them to suppliers and the project team
• Participate in Factory Acceptance Tests (FATs) at supplier manufacturing facilities, when required — verify that protection, control, and automation panels are built and configured in accordance with approved drawings and specifications

Design and documentation

• Produce AutoCAD drawings of symbols and schematic elements based on supplier plans and approved standards
• Create and/or review standard plans — protection block diagrams (beveiligingsblokschema's) and detailed schematic diagrams (gedetailleerde principeschema's) — based on concept notes, applicable norms, approved equipment, and project-specific design guidelines
• Ensure all standard plans and typicals accurately reflect the current state of approved equipment, methodologies, and the client's design rules for secondary systems
• Manage own planning and workload autonomously in line with project priorities and deliverable schedules

Standards tools and Excel/VBA maintenance

• Adapt and maintain all standards and tools in the Secondary Systems domain that rely on Excel macros and VBA — ensure they remain up to date, functional, and aligned with evolving the client's standards
• Design, develop, and maintain additional Excel-based tools as needed to support the standards function — a proactive approach to tooling improvement is valued

Requirements

Education

• Professional bachelor in Energy Technology, Electromechanics, or Electronics — or equivalent demonstrated experience in a comparable technical domain

Technical skills

• Electrical schematics: ability to read, understand, and critically analyse electrical schematic diagrams — protection block diagrams, single-line diagrams, wiring diagrams. This is the core technical literacy required for the role.
• AutoCAD: good command — used daily for drawing and updating secondary system schematics and standard symbols
• Excel with VBA/macros: proficiency in Excel is required; experience writing or maintaining VBA macros is a strong differentiator and is explicitly required for the standards tools maintenance scope
• Basic electricity and HV knowledge: solid understanding of electrical principles — sufficient to interpret and challenge secondary system designs for HV substations. Specific HV experience is an asset but deep specialisation is not required at entry; the role is designed to build this over time.
• Windows Office suite: general proficiency

Experience

• First experience in a similar function — design or review of secondary systems, protection/control schematics, or technical documentation in an electrical/HV environment. This is not a purely junior role but does not require years of deep specialisation; the right candidate is technically grounded and eager to develop into a high-expertise function.

Languages

• Dutch: perfect — the GXS SecSys team and most internal the client's Belgium operations run in Dutch.
• French: perfect — valued as an alternative first language for candidates based in or familiar with the French-speaking Belgian context.
• English: good command — mandatory. Equipment suppliers are frequently international (German, UK, Swiss, French manufacturers); FAT participation and supplier correspondence require confident English.

Note: the brief specifies Dutch and/or French perfect. A candidate who is native in one and functional in the other, combined with good English, meets the language requirement.

Profile

• Autonomous and organised: the role requires self-directed workload management across multiple deliverables and concurrent supplier review cycles — the candidate must track their own priorities without being micro-managed
• Precise and quality-focused: secondary system standards are used across all the client'sinvestment projects — an error in a typical propagates across every project that applies it. Accuracy is non-negotiable.
• Assertive communicator: the designer must be capable of formally communicating non-conformities to suppliers and defending the client's technical position
• Intellectually curious and willing to learn: the brief explicitly states that this role eventually requires a high and specific level of expertise in secondary systems. The right candidate is motivated by depth, not breadth — someone who wants to become a genuine specialist in protection, control, and automation for HV grids
• Mobile for FATs: occasional short trips abroad to supplier factories (Germany, Switzerland, UK, France are typical destinations for HV protection and control equipment manufacturers)
• Non-EU candidates: must hold a valid Belgian work permit and residence permit at the time of engagement