TLDR – The 30-Second Read
Australia’s distribution network service providers (DNSPs) are entering the 2026-31 regulatory period with the most ambitious investment programs in their history – and a hiring market that hasn’t caught up. Five engineering disciplines are showing up as persistently hard to fill:
- Power systems engineering
- Primary substation design
- Secondary protection and control
- Grid connection engineering
- DSO/DER integration
We see the same pattern in our placement data and in conversations with hiring managers across networks, EPCs and engineering consultancies. The result is longer time-to-hire, premium contractor rates, and a growing reliance on adjacent-sector candidates.
Why DNSP hiring has tightened so sharply
DNSPs are no longer just maintaining poles and wires. They are integrating millions of consumer energy resources (CER), supporting bidirectional power flows, and rebuilding parts of the network to handle generation that didn’t exist a decade ago.
AusNet describes this shift directly: distribution businesses are evolving from one-way power delivery to a Distribution System Operator (DSO) model that actively manages and coordinates energy flows to keep the network safe, secure and able to support CER and new technologies. SA Power Networks, Jemena, United Energy, AusNet and Endeavour are all in the middle of regulatory revenue proposals for the 2026-31 period that lift capital expenditure substantially.
The workforce gap underneath that investment is real. Infrastructure Australia’s 2025 Market Capacity Report projects shortages for engineers, architects and scientists peaking at around 126,000 in late 2026 before gradually declining toward 2028-29, with workforce demand now expected to rise sharply from early 2026. Engineers Australia has confirmed that more than 15 engineering occupations remain on the national shortage list, with electrical, environmental, geotechnical, and water engineering all in continued short supply.
Across the DNSP hires we’ve supported over the past 2.5 years and across the briefs we’re working on right now, the same 5 disciplines keep surfacing as the bottleneck.
What does our placement data tell us about DNSP hiring?
Across the network, substation and grid engineering placements Talesca made between 2023 and May 2026, the dominant role types we placed weren’t general electrical engineers.
They were specialists:
- Power Systems Engineers (multiple Senior and Principal levels)
- Primary Engineers
- Principal Primary Design roles across SA/VIC and QLD/NSW
- Secondary Design and Principal – Secondary Design roles
- Senior Grid Connection Engineers
- Grid Connection Managers
- SCADA & Systems Integration Engineers
These are not interchangeable skill sets. Each represents a distinct technical discipline, and each is in short supply for its own reasons. Some are because the underlying technology is changing faster than the talent pipeline. Some are because the senior generation is moving towards retirement. Some are because EPCs, renewables developers and DNSPs are now competing for the same shortlist.
The five disciplines below are the ones we see hiring managers struggle with most consistently:
1. Power systems engineering
Power systems engineers – particularly those with deep load flow, short circuit and dynamic studies experience using PSS/E, PSCAD or DIgSILENT PowerFactory – are the discipline we field the most senior briefs for.
The demand is driven by two things at once. New connection appliances (renewable generators, large industrial loads, batteries) require detailed studies. And the network itself is getting harder to model as inverter-based resources displace synchronous generators. DNSPs need engineers who can sit across both worlds: traditional power system analysis, and the modelling required for high-penetration CER environments.
The shortlist of senior power systems engineers with both depth and the right software fluency is small, and most of them are already engaged on long-term programs.
2. Primary substation design
Primary design – the high-voltage equipment side of substation engineering, covering transformers, circuit breakers, isolators, busbar arrangements and earthing – sits at the tcentre of every substation project, new build or refurbishment.
Across our Principal Primary Engineer and Manager Primary Design placements, the consistent pattern is that experienced primary designers are concentrated in a small number of consultancies and EPC firms, with very few sitting inside DNSPs themselves. When a network business needs to staff a major substation program, they typically draw from the same shortlist as the EPCs they intend to engage. That competition pushes salries and contractor rates up and lengthens time-to-hire.
3. Secondary design, protection and control
Secondary engineering – protection schemes, control logic, SCADA, communications and the configuration of intelligent electronic devices – is arguably the most acute shortage of the five.
The work has become more complex as numerical relays, IEC 61850 substations and digital protection schemes replace older electromechanical and discrete systems. Many of the engineers who designed the existing protection settings are nearing or in retirement. The pipeline of younger engineers trained in modern protection coordination, settings calculation and SCADA integration has not kept up.
We see this discipline in particular driving extended hiring timelines on substation programs. High-voltage specialists, protection engineers and grid connection experts command premium salaries because of technical complexity and regulatory compliance requirements.
4. Grid connection engineering
Grid connection engineers and managers sit at the interface between DNSPs, transmission network service providers (TNSPs), AEMO and new connecting parties. They handle connection enquiries, run the technical studies that support a connection offer, negotiate Generator Performance Standards and shepherd projects through the National Electricity Rules process.
We’ve placed multiple Grid Connection Manager and Senior Grid Connection Engineer roles over the past 24 months. The demand reflects the volume of renewable generation, battery storage and large industrial loads attempting to connect. The supply is constrained because the role requires a combination most engineers don’t have: power systems depth, commercial awareness, and the patience to navigate a multi-year regulatory process.
The result is that grid connection teams across DNSPs and developers are competing for the same 50 or so genuinely experienced people.
5. DSO and DER integration engineering
The newest of the 5 disciplines is also the most strategically important. DNSPs are evolving into Distribution System Operators that actively manage and coordinate energy flows to support CER and new technologies – using smart meter data and advanced network capabilities developed over the past 15 years and extending them further.
This work requires engineers who can sit across power systems, control systems, data analytics and market mechanisms. They need to understand dynamic operating envelopes, flexible export limits, voltage management with high rooftop solar penetration, and the architecture of the data exchanges between DNSPs, AEMO and aggregators.
There isn’t a clean university pipeline for this. The engineers who can do this work today have largely grown into it from adjacent backgrounds – power systems, SCADA, or grid connection – and are being courted by every DNSP and every consultancy advising on the CER Roadmap.
Where DNSPS are actually finding people
Few of these disciplines can be filled from a clean DNSP-to-DNSP move. The pool is too small.
What we’ve consistently seen that works, is broadening the search to adjacent backgrounds. Senior power systems engineers from renewables developers and consultancies. Primary designers from EPCs. Secondary engineers from rail electrification, mining and heavy industry. Grid connection specialists from generator-side teams. DSO/DER thinkers from analytics-heavy roles in transmission planning.
The DNSPs and EPCs hiring most successfully right now are the ones willing to evaluate candidates on competency rather than direct DNSP experience, and to invest in structured onboarding for Australian standards and network-specific processes. As Engineers Australia has noted, many employers default to requiring prior Australian project experience, but using “local experience” as a gatekeeper can eliminate technically capable candidates before their competencies are properly assessed.
What this means if you’re hiring into a DNSP or DNSP-adjacent role in 2026
Three practical observations from our recent searches:
- Time-to-hire for the disciplines above is consistently longer than for general engineering roles, and the more senior the role, the more pronounced the gap becomes. A senior protection or grid connection hire that took 8-10 weeks in 2022 typically takes 14-18 weeks now if approached through standard channels.
- Salary benchmarks reset roughly ever 6 months in the most contested disciplines. Pay bands from 12 months ago will often miss the market.
- The candidates worth talking to are mostly not actively looking. A passive search with proper context – what the role actually does, what the program looks like, what progression sits behind it – moves them. Generic outreach does not.
Talk to Talesca about your DNSP hiring
Talesca runs retained executive and permanent search across transmission, distribution and the broader electricity networks ecosystem in Australia. If you’re scoping a hire in any of the disciplines above – or building out a 2026-31 program team and want a confidential read on the market then come and talk to us. We work across DNSPs, TNSPs, EPCs and engineering consultancies, which means we see the same candidates from multiple angles.
Read more about our work in the Transmission & Distribution space.
Q&A: Common questions about DNSP engineering hiring
The 5 disciplines we see hiring managers struggle with most consistently are power systems engineering, primary substation design, secondary design and protection and control, grid connection engineering, and DSO/DER integration engineering. These are specialist sub-disciplines within electrical engineering rather than electrical engineering as a whole, and the shortlist of experienced candidates in each is small.
The work has shifted from electromechanical relays to numerical protection, IEC 61850 digital substations and complex SCADA integration. The engineers who designed legacy schemes are retiring, and the pipeline of engineers trained in modern protection coordination, settings calculation and digital substation design has not kept pace. Demand has also broadened, with EPCs, renewables developers and DNSPs all competing for the same shortlist.
Yes, and the DNSPs hiring most successfully right now are doing exactly that. Power systems engineers move well from renewables developers and consultancies. Primary designers move from EPCs. Secondary engineers move from rail electrification, mining and heavy industry. The condition is that the hiring organisation invests in structured onboarding for Australian standards, the National Electricity Rules and network-specific processes.
A Distribution System Operator (DSO) is the role DNSPs are evolving into as more consumer energy resources connect to the grid. Instead of one-way power delivery, a DSO actively coordinates two-way energy flows, integrates rooftop solar, batteries and EVs, and manages local network constraints in real time. It creates demand for engineers who sit across power systems, control systems and data – a profile that is currently in very short supply.
Through standard channels, 14 to 18 weeks is now common for senior protection, primary design or grid connection roles, against 8 to 10 weeks a few years ago. Retained search and targeted contractor engagement can shorten that, but the underlying constraint – a small pool of genuinely experienced specialists – doesn’t go away.
We’ve seen the most contested disciplines (senior protection, grid connection and DSO/DER specialists) reset roughly ever 6 months in the senior bands. Pay benchmarks more than 12 months old typically miss the market, particularly for principal-level engineers with credible large-program experience.
Sources & References
- Engineers Australia / Jobs and Skills Australia – “Nation’s future workforce under strain as key engineering shortages persist” (November 2025) https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/news-and-media/2025/11/nations-future-workforce-under-strain-key-engineering-shortages-persist
- Australian Manufacturing – “Engineers Australia urges national strategy amid ongoing engineering workforce pressures” (November 2025) https://www.australianmanufacturing.com.au/engineers-australia-urges-natl-strategy-amid-ongoing-engineering-workforce-pressures/
- Infrastructure Australia – 2025 Infrastructure Market Capacity Report (November 2025) https://www.infrastructureaustralia.gov.au/reports/2025-infrastructure-market-capacity-report
- Jobs and Skills Australia – 2025 Occupation Shortage Drivers Report (October 2025) https://www.jobsandskills.gov.au/sites/default/files/2025-10/2025%20OSD%20Report.pdf
- AER – AusNet Services Determination 2026-31, Strategic Deliverability Plan https://www.aer.gov.au/industry/registers/determinations/ausnet-services-determination-2026-31
- AER – Jemena Electricity Networks Draft Decision 2026-31 https://www.aer.gov.au/industry/registers/determinations/jemena-determination-2026-31/draft-decision
- AusNet Services – Energy system transformation (DSO transition) https://www.ausnetservices.com.au/projects-and-innovation/energy-system-transformation
- SA Power Networks – “The DSO challenge: Making South Australia’s energy future fair and affordable” (November 2025) https://www.sapowernetworks.com.au/data/323691/the-dso-challenge-making-south-australia-s-energy-future-fair-and-affordable/
- ConsultANZ Recruitment – “Australia’s engineering shortage isn’t just a skills crisis – it’s a system failure” (March 2026) https://www.consultanz.com.au/australias-engineering-shortage-isnt-just-a-skills-crisis-its-a-system-failure/