Chef de projet (H/F)

Job Description

At Transgrid, we play a crucial role in delivering safe, reliable, and sustainable energy to millions of Australians. Operating over 13,000 km of high-voltage transmission lines and 128 substations across NSW and the ACT, we connect electricity generators to the distribution network - powering homes, businesses, and communities. As Australia accelerates its energy transition, the work we do has never been more significant.

The Opportunity

We're looking for an experienced Project Manager with a strong electrical engineering foundation to take end-to-end delivery ownership across a portfolio of high-voltage substation and transmission line projects. This is a role built for someone who has grown up in the industry - someone who understands what it takes to safely energise a substation, string transmission conductors across challenging terrain, and drive contractors to deliver on time and to specification.

Reporting to the Senior Project Manager, you'll be accountable for the full project management lifecycle across your assigned scope - planning, scheduling, budget management, risk, contractor performance, stakeholder engagement, and governance - while bringing the technical credibility to make real-time decisions on site and in the project office. You'll be embedded in Transgrid's Delivery team, working on infrastructure that directly underpins the reliability and stability of Australia's electricity grid.

This isn't a role for someone who learned project management from a textbook. We need someone who has been on the tools, walked the line routes, stood in live HV switchyards, and knows exactly what's required to bring complex electrical infrastructure from design to energisation.

The Projects You'll Deliver

Your portfolio will span high-voltage substation upgrades, new substation builds, and transmission line projects across NSW. The work is technically demanding and operationally complex - involving:

• High-voltage switchgear installation and commissioning
• Transformer installation, testing, and energisation
• Protection, control, and SCADA systems integration
• Civil and structural works including control buildings, gantries, and cable trenching
• Transmission line construction - tower erection, conductor stringing, insulator installation, and line commissioning
• Interface with live transmission network assets under stringent safety and outage management protocols

A Day in the Life

Your week will move between construction sites across NSW and the project office - and you'll need to lead confidently in both environments:

• Construction Execution & Site Leadership: Being on-site during critical phases - switchgear installation, protection testing, conductor stringing, and commissioning - holding contractors to account with the technical authority that comes from genuine HV infrastructure experience.
• Schedule & Milestone Management: Driving the integrated project schedule against key milestones, monitoring contractor and subcontractor performance, and escalating program risks before they become delivery issues.
• Contractor & Stakeholder Management: Managing multi-discipline contractors including civil, electrical, and commissioning teams, as well as internal interfaces across Engineering, Commercial, HSE, and Planning to keep delivery seamlessly integrated.
• Safety Leadership on Site: Setting the standard for safety culture on your projects - conducting site inspections, participating in safety shares and toolbox talks, and ensuring all work is carried out in compliance with Transgrid's HSE frameworks and relevant legislation.
• Project Governance & Reporting: Preparing project status reports, governance packs, and executive-level updates on cost, schedule, quality, and risk - translating complex project realities into clear, decision-ready information for senior leadership.
• Risk & Outage Management: Identifying and managing project-specific risks, coordinating planned outage windows with network operations, and ensuring work on or near live assets is planned and executed to the highest safety standards.

Why This Role Matters

Every substation you deliver and every transmission line you commission is a piece of the infrastructure that keeps hospitals powered, trains running, and homes lit across NSW and the ACT. As Australia's energy mix shifts rapidly toward renewables, the transmission network needs to be expanded, upgraded, and strengthened at a pace not seen in decades.

The projects in your portfolio aren't maintenance work - they are the enabling infrastructure for the energy transition. Getting them delivered safely, on time, and within budget is one of the most consequential things someone with your background can do right now. Transgrid gives you the scale, the resources, and the mandate to do it properly.

About You - Essential Requirements

You'll have come through an electrical engineering pathway and built your project management career on high-voltage infrastructure - not in commercial construction or general civil works. The following is what we're looking for:

• Tertiary qualifications in Electrical Engineering or a closely related discipline - degree level preferred.
• Demonstrated hands-on experience delivering high-voltage substation and/or transmission line projects, with direct field and construction execution responsibility.
• Solid understanding of HV substation systems - switchgear (66kV to 500kV), power transformers, protection and control, SCADA, civil and structural scope - and the ability to apply that knowledge in a delivery context.
• Experience managing transmission line construction - including tower erection, conductor stringing, insulator and hardware installation, and line commissioning.
• Proven end-to-end project management capability: scope, schedule, budget, risk, quality, contractor management, and stakeholder engagement across the full project lifecycle.
• Track record of managing multi-discipline contractors and subcontractors on complex electrical infrastructure projects, with the commercial acumen to manage claims and performance.
• Experience working under outage management and live-line safety protocols in a high-voltage environment.
• Strong risk management skills - able to identify, escalate, and mitigate construction, program, and safety risks in a structured and timely manner.
• Excellent stakeholder communication skills - effective with site crews, internal engineering and commercial teams, senior executives, network operators, and regulators.
• Willingness and ability to travel regularly to project sites across NSW.

Our Leadership Principles & Values

Our Leadership Principles - Courage, Care, Clarity, and Connection - form the foundation of how we lead at Transgrid. Courage means embracing challenges and doing what's right. Care means leading with heart and valuing people as the core of our organisation. Clarity ensures teams understand what success looks like and the impact of their work. Connection links individuals to our purpose and strategy while fostering strong relationships across teams, customers, and partners.

You'll also uphold our Values: Safety, Achievement, Integrity, and Service - delivering safe, sustainable, and customer-focused outcomes that make a real difference.

Benefits & Perks

At Transgrid, we empower our people with a well-rounded benefits package designed to support their personal, professional, and social well-being - helping them deliver their best work every day.

• 20 Weeks Paid Parental Leave: Genuine support for every stage of family life.
• Corporate Discounts: Retail, utilities, travel, health & wellbeing, and more.
• Novated Leasing: Tax-effective vehicle options through novated leasing arrangements.
• Workplace Flexibility: Flexible working arrangements to suit your life and role.
• Tertiary Education Support: Financial backing for ongoing study and professional development.
• Career Mentoring & Training: Regular, ongoing training and career mentoring to grow with you.

Transgrid is committed to equal opportunity employment and creating an inclusive workplace where diversity is celebrated.