DSO Operational Telecoms Engineer

82515 - DSO Operational Telecoms Engineer

This DSO Operational Telecoms Engineer will report to the DSO Operational Telecoms Senior Engineer and will work within Operational Telecoms (DSO) based in our Nelson Street, London office. You will be a permanent employee.

You will attract a salary of £68,144 per annum, £6,319.03 Inner London allowance, £344 Non canteen allowance and a bonus of 3%.

If you are successful, you will need to undertake a medical and DBS reference check

Close Date: 2nd June 2026

We also provide the following additional benefits

• 25 Days Annual Leave plus bank holidays.
• Reservist Leave – Additional 18 days full pay and 22 unpaid
• Personal Pension Plan – Personal contribution rates of 4% or 5% (UK Power Networks will make a corresponding contribution of 8% or 10%)
• Tenancy Loan Deposit Scheme, Season Ticket Loan
• Tax efficient benefits: Cycle to Work, Home & Tech, and Green Car Leasing Schemes
• Occupational Health support
• Switched On – scheme providing discount on hundreds of retailers' products
• Discounted gym membership
• Employee Assistance Programme

JOB PURPOSE:

To develop engineering solutions required by DSO that form part of the Operational Telecoms infrastructure. You will design and test solutions against the DSO requirements that can be rolled out in the existing SCADA infrastructure and operated business as usual. We ask that you have hands-on approach in configuring, testing and integrating several substation-based equipment including RTUs and smart devices. You will assist the senior engineer in developing support and maintenance capability of DSO solutions within the existing Operational Telecoms department.

DIMENSIONS:

Strategic importance Establishing an independent DSO is a high-profile commitment to set the tone for ED2 with BEIS, Ofgem and market participants

Potential benefits The DSO estimates direct benefits at £400m, with the system delivering wider benefits with NPV of £0.8-2.6bn by 2040.

Budgetary responsibility None

People responsibility None

PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTABILITIES:

The principal accountabilities for the role will be:

1. Design and testing field-based DSO solutions:

• Design smart DSO solutions following the technical specifications
• Ensure that we test the DSO solutions to our requirements, including conducting trial and proof of concept.
• Configure and test all UKPN RTUs to ensure flexible connections and future use cases
• Help develop business capability for lab testing of customer equipment before site commissioning
• Engage with partners and support the senior engineer in technical discussions to reach agreement and technical decisions
• Provide input to engineering standards and procedures

2. Connect Flexible connection customers:

• Develop repeatable process and business as usual solution to support Connections and Capital Programme teams for flexible connections
• Develop optimum solution for Operational Telecoms team and customers to conduct pre-commissioning tests as business-as-usual function
• Develop process for site commissioning of flexible connection customers
• Communicate with customers to address technical queries
• Perform root cause analysis to investigate issues and take corrective actions

3. Support DSO field-based solution

• Help develop operational procedures for the safe operation of the associated tools and equipment, including safety documents.
• Provide training and necessary documentations to upskill Operational telecoms teams to ensure efficient support and maintenance of DSO solutions.
• Provide operational support to resolve faults and network incidents.
• Monitor system performance; reporting of defects; and escalation of risk and issues to senior engineers.

NATURE AND SCOPE:

The independent DSO will have important dependencies on the DNO infrastructure to fulfil the DSO functions. One of the important DSO capabilities is Visibility and Control (V&C) of the network for system operation. The DNO will continue to manage assets that provide V&C for both DNO and DSO network operations. However, there is a need for additional functionality to be in place on the DNO field assets that support DSO functions such as the automated control of distributed generation. You will take ownership in provisioning the necessary capability in the DNO network on the behalf of the DSO including,

provisioning of SCADA and monitoring assets; implementation of business process; and fit-for-purpose technical solutions.

As a DSO engineer reporting to the senior DSO engineer, you will design and test technical solutions against technical specifications. You will work with Operational Telecoms team to develop working technology solutions to meet the DSO requirements. This will involve working with SCADA networks, IT-OT communications and a range of RTU equipment. As part of this role, there will be a requirement for training and upskilling staff and embed the new solutions within the business. You will support the senior engineer in providing necessary technical input to inform technical decisions and development of standards and procedures. You will need to maintain knowledge of DSO technologies to be the practical implementation of the substation-based solutions.

SKILLS, QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPEREINCE:

Essential:

• Working knowledge of SCADA Networks, RTU design and evolving smart grid technologies
• Experience working with SCADA protocols including, DNP3 standard.
• Experience with Telecommunications and IT networking principles.
• Experience with techniques including, root cause analysis
• Previous experience of testing and commissioning of SCADA systems
• Handle basic IT networking and troubleshooting
• Use network analysis tools including, Wireshark
• Current Valid driving Licence
• Good team player
• Bachelor's degree level in engineering or equivalent
• Clean drivers licence

Desirable:

• Experience of power systems planning and operation
• Experience working in innovation projects
• Knowledge cyber security design for industrial control systems
• Experience working in the smart grid

Health & Safety Responsibilities:

Managers and supervisors carry both legal and company responsibilities for ensuring the health and safety of their employees, those under their control and those who might be affected by the work undertaken, i.e. public, visitors and employees of other organisations. This includes briefing individuals working for them and ensuring there is the necessary understanding, competence and application of requirements to work safely and without harming the environment.

Employees will ensure they understand the health and safety risks involved in their work activities and their responsibility to apply the controls needed to manage those risks to acceptable levels. Similarly where work activities can have an adverse impact upon the environment, and where there are legal requirements, employees will understand those impacts and the controls they must ensure are applied.

Employees need to be aware that for some craft and operational roles that work at height, or use fall arrest devices, there is an upper weight limit of 116Kg due to maximum safe working load of the safety equipment that is used.

If in doubt ask!

We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, colour, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity or expression, or veteran status. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. Where applicable, this role is subject to safer recruitment processes and robust pre‑employment checks

If you have any queries in connection to this vacancy or your application, please contact us at careers@ukpowernetworks.co.uk quoting the vacancy reference number and a member of the team will get in touch with you as soon as possible.