Job Description
Title: Lead Electrical Engineer
Location: Oak Brook, IL
Hire Type: Direct
Compensation: $130K-$175K
Must have Skill Set: P.E. Licensure/ Stamping Ability
Overview:
The Senior Electrical Engineer, PE is accountable for the successful execution and coordination of complex electrical design projects supporting mission critical, commercial, and institutional facilities. This role supports all project phases, from concept and design development through construction support, while leading, mentoring, and developing a team of engineers.
What you’ll do:
The Senior Electrical Engineer collaborates closely with project managers, designers, clients, contractors, and other internal departments to ensure designs are accurate, code-compliant, constructible, and aligned with project scope, schedule, and budget.
Opportunities exist to be based out of our Oak Brook office, supporting Chicagoland projects, with limited travel to project sites as required.
Technical Leadership:
· Serve as the technical lead for electrical system design, ensuring quality, accuracy, constructability, and code compliance across all project phases.
· Develop and review electrical designs including:
o Low- and medium-voltage power distribution
o Generator and UPS systems
o Lighting and lighting control systems
o Fire alarm and life safety systems
o Grounding and bonding systems
· Perform and oversee electrical engineering analyses including:
o Short circuit, coordination, and arc flash studies
o Load calculations
o Cable ampacity and fault current analysis
· Produce and review design deliverables such as one-line diagrams, specifications, equipment schedules, floor plans, and BIM/Revit models.
Project & Team Leadership:
· Lead, mentor, and develop a small team electrical engineers, providing technical guidance, coaching, and performance feedback.
· Delegate tasks, establish priorities, and monitor progress to ensure adherence to schedules, budgets, and quality standards.
· Support resource planning and workload forecasting across active projects.
· Conduct internal QA/QC reviews and enforce engineering standards and best practices.
Client & Stakeholder Collaboration:
· Maintain strong working relationships with clients, internal project teams, and external partners.
· Attend and lead design meetings; clearly communicate technical concepts and design intent.
· Coordinate with multidisciplinary teams to ensure seamless integration of electrical systems into overall project delivery.
· Support proposal development, scope definition, and technical input during preconstruction and pursuit phases.
Construction Support:
· Conduct site surveys to assess existing conditions and verify installation progress. (5 – 10% local travel).
· Respond to RFIs, review submittals, and support construction administration activities.
· Provide field and engineering support during commissioning, testing, and startup phases.
Continuous Improvement:
· Stay current with emerging technologies, industry trends, and code updates.
· Contribute to the development of standard design tools, templates, and calculation methods.
· Support initiatives that improve efficiency, consistency, and engineering quality across the organization.
Qualifications:
· Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering or related field with a focus on building electrical systems.
· Minimum 7–10+ years of experience in electrical engineering design for commercial, institutional, or mission critical facilities; data center experience strongly preferred.
· Professional Engineer (PE) license required or ability to obtain within 12 months.
· Demonstrated experience leading technical teams and coordinating multi-discipline projects.
· Proficiency in:
o Revit and AutoCAD
o SKM, ETAP, or similar electrical modeling software
o Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, Teams)
· Strong working knowledge of NEC, Chicago Electrical Code, NFPA, IBC, IECC, and related standards.
· Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
· Superior organizational, prioritization, and time-management abilities.
· Strong analytical, problem-solving, and attention-to-detail skills.
· Demonstrated leadership, influence, and collaborative mindset.
· Ability to travel to project and construction sites as required.
Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or genetic information.
Numbers & Facts
| Location | Oak Brook, IL |
| Industry | Staffing/Employment Agencies |
| Salary | $130,000–$175,000 Per Year |
| Company Size | 500 to 999 employees |
| Year Founded | 1969 |
| Website | http://www.sterling-engineering.com |
About Company
Sterling Engineering has been a trusted partner for engineering, project management, and staffing solutions for over five decades. We provide exceptional engineering/technical recruitment and engineering project services to clients nationwide:
- Engineering & Technical Recruitment - With our focus on engineering, technical, and IT, Sterling has the in-depth knowledge, industry expertise, and robust employee pipeline it takes to rapidly find talent for even the most difficult to fill positions. Sterling’s extensive recruitment methodology allows us to engage the most talented employees in the marketplace. We offer exciting work and career-building opportunities for our candidates, along with expert support at every step of the process.
- Engineering Project Services – Our experienced, multi-disciplined team of project managers, engineers, and designers, led by licensed Professional Engineers (PE), provide project management, engineering, design, and Commissioning, Qualification, and Validation (CQV) to manufacturing, OEM, and R&D customers. We work on complex, highly technical projects across a number of industry sectors, and our ability to scale and seamlessly integrate at multiple levels of your organization is what differentiates us.
Sterling offers a unique combination of engineering solutions and Best of Staffing level service to help our clients and talent achieve their goals.
Skills
- Administrative Skillsunmatched
- Analysis Skillsunmatched
- Best Practicesunmatched
- Budgetingunmatched
- Coachingunmatched
- Commissioning - Engineeringunmatched
- Communication Skillsunmatched
- Constructionunmatched
- Construction Administrationunmatched
- Construction Supportunmatched
- Continuous Improvementunmatched
- Cross-Functionalunmatched
- Customer Relationsunmatched
- Electrical Designunmatched
- Electrical Engineeringunmatched
- Electricityunmatched
- Emerging Technologyunmatched
- Equipment Specificationunmatched
- Establish Prioritiesunmatched
- Forecastingunmatched
- Industry/Trade Analysisunmatched
- Leadershipunmatched
- Maintain Complianceunmatched
- Medium Voltage (MV)unmatched
- Mentoringunmatched
- Microsoft Excelunmatched
- Microsoft Officeunmatched
- Microsoft Wordunmatched
- National Electrical Codeunmatched
- National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)unmatched
- Network Operations Centerunmatched
- On Site Supportunmatched
- Organizational Skillsunmatched
- Presentation/Verbal Skillsunmatched
- Professional Engineerunmatched
- Project Designunmatched
- Project Scheduleunmatched
- Project Trackingunmatched
- Project/Program Managementunmatched
- Proposal Developmentunmatched
- Quality Assuranceunmatched
- Quality Controlunmatched
- Quality Metricsunmatched
- Standards Developmentunmatched
- Startupunmatched
- System Integration (SI)unmatched
- Team Lead/Managerunmatched
- Team Playerunmatched
- Technical Leadershipunmatched
- Technical/Engineering Designunmatched
- Testingunmatched
- Time Managementunmatched
- Willing to Travelunmatched
- Writing Skillsunmatched
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