Aberdeen. Some travel to other GBE Hub locations around the UK will be required depending on business activities.

About Great British Energy

Great British Energy will be a publicly owned, operationally independent energy company, designed to drive clean energy
deployment, boost energy independence, create jobs and ensure UK taxpayers, billpayers and communities reap the benefits of clean, secure, homegrown energy. Setting up Great British Energy is one of governments first steps for change and we will do this in a way that means it will have both an early impact and long-term success.

Great British Energys mission will be to responsibly accelerate the energy transition - enable and accelerate clean energy deployment, boost energy independence, create jobs and ensure UK taxpayers, billpayers and communities reap the benefits of clean, secure,home-grown energy. Through its five functions (Project development, Project investment and ownership, Local Power Plan, Supply chains and working with Great British Nuclear), Great British Energy will speed
up the deployment of mature and new technologies, as well as local energy projects, to support the governments aim of decarbonising our electricity system by 2030 whilst also ensuring we can meet future demand as we further decarbonise the economy.

To this end and as an example of what it can achieve, we have already agreed a major partnership between Great British Energy and The Crown Estate to accelerate deployment and support UK supply chains.Great British Energy will work collaboratively with industry, local authorities and communities, and other public sector organisations such as the National Wealth Fund, to spread skilled jobs and investment across the country. Great British Energy will be backed by a capitalisation of £8.3 billion of new money over this Parliament.

In recognition of Scotlands leading role in the UKs clean energy revolution, Great British Energy will be headquartered and run from Aberdeen.

More details can be found in the Great British Energy founding statement.  

About the Role

Local power generation is an essential part of the energy mix, ensuring communities own and benefit from clean power projects, and reducing pressures on the transmission grid. Great British Energy will provide support to deliver the Local Power Plan, putting local authorities and communities at the heart of restructuring
our energy economy. The plan will give them a stake in the transition to net zero as owners and important stakeholders in local clean power projects.

Through partnering with and providing funding and support to Local and Combined Authorities and Community Energy Groups, the Local Power Plan, delivered by Great British Energy Local, will roll out small and medium-scale renewable energy projects, using established technologies, to develop up to 8 GW of cheaper,
cleaner power. This will include shared ownership projects in partnership with private developers. This will support a more decentralised and resilient energy system, with more local generation and ownership.

The Local Power Plan will help crowd in investment while ensuring benefits flow directly back into local communities. This increased investment will create thousands of skilled, clean energy jobs across the country and change communities for the better.

To support local and combined authorities, and community energy groups in accessing funding, the Local Power Plan will also provide commercial, technical and project-planning assistance, increasing their capability and capacity to build a pipeline of successful projects in their local areas. The Local Power Plan will ensure
there is coherence with other existing public sector advisory functions, funding and finance organisations operating in the local energy space, such as the UK Infrastructure Bank.

The Director of Great British Energy Local will be a pivotal member of the Great British Energy leadership team. Responsible for shaping and delivering the organisation's local delivery function to enable delivery of Great British Energys mission. The successful candidate will have experience of and be credible with the
community energy sector, Local Authorities and Mayoral Combined Authorities. The role also requires someone who understands grants, debt and equity in this space. Equally important is an understanding of what it takes to make projects works on the ground, including developing a successful business case, community and supply chain engagement.

Roles in what will become Great British Energy will initially be undertaken in shadow form within the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. They will then be transferred to Great British Energy when the Great British Energy Bill becomes law and the company has the necessary procedures and systems in place
to employ people directly.

Key Responsibilities 

As Director of Great British Energy Local your main responsibilities will include:

• Work with the CEO and DESNZ Deputy Director, Local Power Plan, DESNZ Chief Digital and Information Officer and their teams to establish and lead a customer focused, digital first and high performing local delivery function.
• As part of the Great British Energy leadership team, shape the development of the companys strategy, culture, values and operating model.
• Build and embed the Great British Energy Local operating model, including creating teams, building capability and developing structures and systems, to provide high quality customer services that are operationally excellent in conjunction with the DESNZ Local Power Plan and Digital teams. This function is likely to include regional hubs to operate close to customers and build good local knowledge.
• Develop a pipeline of credible local power projects in partnership with community energy groups, local authorities and mayoral combined authorities that align with strategic spatial energy plans and local area energy plans which Great British Energy and others could invest in to deliver sustainable decentralised energy generation and community benefits.
• Work with DESNZ to develop a suite of financial instruments (e.g. grants, repayable grants, debt and equity) that can be flexibly and promptly deployed into local projects to unlock barriers to accelerated delivery and drive community ownership.
• Work with DESNZ and other partners to develop a customer focused and efficient, technically expert capability offering for project owners that supports them with addresses barriers to project initiation, development, construction and sustainable operations. Build strong partnerships with other organisations who provide support to local actors for local power projects to provide a coherent and joined up public offering.
• Work with the Director for Policy and External Affairs to design and implement a stakeholder engagement and trusting partnership approach to working with key actors in local power projects in particular community energy groups, local authorities, mayoral combined authorities and the devolved administrations.
• Set up and lead a high performing, digital first and expert operations team for the local function, creating a culture that values efficient delivery which meets customers expectations using well designed processes, systems and procedures.

Skills, experience and qualifications (Essential) -It is important through your CV and Statement of Suitability
that you give evidence and examples of proven experience of each of the following

Essential Criteria

• A proven track record of successful senior leadership of a complex local delivery operation, ideally within the energy sector or a related industry. The ability to contribute effectively as part of a senior executive leadership team that provides organisational leadership, direction and strategic focus.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills with evidenced ability to display the requisite gravitas, credibility and commercial intelligence to proactively and constructively engage both internally and externally, across government departments, devolved administrations, local government, community groups and co-investors.
• Strong understanding of UK government policy processes, with good political acumen, and parliamentary engagement.
• Strong understanding of financial instruments including public sector standards governing distribution of government grants as well as debt and equity, and ability and commercial nous to work with project finance experts to deploy the right financial intervention for long term project success.
• Highly skilled in operational excellence, building, leading and motivating teams to provide a digital first, customer focused offering, creating a culture that values efficient delivery that meets customers expectations using well designed processes, systems and procedures, with decisions underpinned by data and customer insight.
• Passionate about the Company and its policy objectives to deliver clean energy, drive economic growth, create UK jobs and supply chains and provide value for the UK taxpayer. Whilst demonstrating a passion for creating societal impact and value.

We encourage applications from a  diverse (including gender diverse) background. If you have any questions about your suitability or would like further information about the role. Please contact [email protected].

Alongside your salary of £76,000, Department for Energy Security & Net Zero contributes £22,017 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero offers a competitive mix of benefits including:

• A culture of flexible working, such as job sharing, homeworking and compressed hours.
• Automatic enrolment into the Civil Service Pension Scheme, with an employer contribution of 28.97%.
• A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by 1 day per year up to a maximum of 30.
• An extensive range of learning & professional development opportunities, which all staff are actively encouraged to pursue.
• Access to a range of retail, travel and lifestyle employee discounts.

The Department operates a discretionary hybrid working policy, which provides for a combination of working hours from your place of work and from your home in the UK. The current expectation for staff is to attend the office or non-home based location for 40-60% of the time over the accounting period. Senior Civil Servant (SCS) staff are expected to aim for closer to 60% of the time at an office or non-home based location over the accounting period.

This role has a minimum assignment duration of 3 years. An assignment duration is the period of time a Senior Civil Servant is expected to remain in the same post to enable them to deliver on the agreed key business outcomes. The assignment duration also supports your career through building your depth of expertise.

As part of accepting this role you will be agreeing to the expected assignment duration set out above. This will not result in a contractual change to your terms and conditions. Please note this is an expectation only, it is not something which is written into your terms and conditions or indeed which the employing organisation or you are bound by. It will depend on your personal circumstances at a particular time and business needs, for example, would not preclude any absence like family friendly leave. It is nonetheless an important expectation, which is why we ask you to confirm you agree to the assignment duration set out above.

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

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Job contact :

• Name : SCS Recruitment Team
• Email : [email protected]

Recruitment team

• Email : [email protected]