Pullman, Washington-based Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories Inc. has announced it’s initiating an accelerated hiring program through which the company plans to bring on 400 new employees companywide.

About 240 jobs will be based at facilities near the Washington State University campus, in Pullman and nearby Idaho towns of Moscow and Lewiston, says SEL senior media manager Kate Wilhite.

Another 24 will be hired at facilities near Purdue University, in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the rest will join teams at SEL offices throughout the U.S.

Company founder and CEO Edmund O. Schweitzer earned college degrees at both WSU and Purdue.

Job openings are in the areas of hardware, software, firmware, and power engineering.

“Our accelerated hiring also creates more internships across the country and abroad,” Schweitzer says in a press release.

The announcement comes as an undisclosed number of job opportunities were already being advertised at SEL’s Spokane Valley facility.

Wilhite says SEL has 6,500 employees worldwide. Of those, 2,500 are based in the Pullman area and 120 are based in Spokane Valley.

Employee-owned SEL designs and manufactures digital products and systems that protect power grids around the world.