Job Description

Overview

Our client is a renewable energy company that develops, owns and runs wind and solar power plants in South Africa.

You are the company's top technical authority. You set the engineering standards, you own the technical risk and you build an in-house technical team, so the business relies less on outside consultants. Your work covers the whole life of a plant: new projects in development, plants under construction and commissioning, and the plants already running.

You report to the Chief Executive Officer and advise the executive committee on technical decisions. You work closely with the growth, construction and commissioning, and operations and maintenance teams. Engineering, asset management, procurement and the IT team all report into you. The process includes a psychometric assessment and a medical. This is a permanent role.

What You'll Do

Technical strategy and the technical team

• Set the company's technical strategy and make sure it supports the business plan.
• Build and lead a technical centre of expertise covering engineering, asset management, procurement and digital.
• Grow the in-house technical skills of the business so it depends less on outside consultants.

Engineering standards and technical risk

• Write the engineering policies, standards, specifications and quality checks the whole company works to.
• Be the final word on engineering questions in the business.
• Find technical risks early, put controls in place and keep track of them.
• Give technical direction on new projects, design, construction and commissioning, and oversee the commissioning and performance tests.
• Give technical advice when the business buys or sells projects and companies.

Plant performance

• Run the asset management strategy so the plants are reliable, available and earn what they should.
• Plan how to keep older plants running for longer and producing more.
• Drive reliability engineering, condition monitoring and performance improvement, and use the data to make the calls.
• Make sure the plants meet what their contracts require of them.

Procurement and suppliers

• Lead the procurement strategy for technical and business needs, with the full lifetime cost of equipment in mind.
• Oversee the buying of major equipment and the long-term service agreements with manufacturers.
• Manage supplier performance across the key technologies and work around supply chain constraints.

Digital, IT and new technology

• Lead the digital work on the plants: data analysis, predictive maintenance, remote monitoring and automation, including artificial intelligence where it adds value.
• Protect the plant control and monitoring systems against cyber attack.
• Oversee the IT team and make sure the company's systems, data and cyber security are well run.
• Look for new energy technologies and new business opportunities, test them, and help the business move into the ones worth backing.

Environmental, social and governance performance

• Build environmental and sustainability requirements into how the plants are engineered and run.
• Make sure the plants comply with environmental and regulatory rules.

People, stakeholders and safety

• Build the technical team, plan for succession and develop the next technical leaders.
• Run the function's budget, resources and plans.
• Represent the company on technical matters with regulators, manufacturers, partners and industry bodies.
• Lead a safety culture across the function that aims for zero harm.

What We're Looking For

• An honours degree in engineering, or another relevant honours degree.
• A management development programme. A MBA is an advantage.
• Ten to twelve years of technical engineering experience, much of it in renewable energy or the wider energy sector, with at least eight years in senior technical leadership.
• Experience across more than one stage of a plant's life: development, engineering, construction, commissioning, operations and asset management.
• You have led a technical team that covers engineering, asset management, procurement and digital.
• You have run technical governance, engineering standards and technical risk across a business.
• Strong experience in plant performance, lifecycle management and reliability engineering.
• You have built procurement strategies and managed complex contracts with equipment manufacturers, contractors and suppliers.
• You have led digital projects such as data analytics, predictive maintenance, automation or artificial intelligence.
• You have brought new technology, research or development into an energy business.
• You are at ease with executives, regulators, manufacturers, contractors and investors.
• Registration as a PrEng required.
• A GCC (Engineering) is an advantage 

What We Offer

• A direct line to the Chief Executive Officer and a real say in every technical decision the business makes.
• The chance to build an in-house technical centre of expertise and the team behind it.
• Work across wind, solar and new energy technologies, at every stage of a plant's life.
• Location: JHB, office based, with travel to the plants.

To apply, visit www.careers.energy-africa-recruitment.com.

Should you not hear back from us within 14 days, your application has been unsuccessful.