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Renewable Energy Jobs

Renewables First is currently recruiting staff to fill a number of renewable engineering roles. Click on the links below to jump to the relevant job specification:

If you are interested, log an enquiry using the website enquiry form and select ‘job applicant’ under ‘organisation type’. Please indicate clearly which role you are applying for. Once reviewed a reply by email will be sent requesting a detailed CV from applicants that meet the overall specification for the role(s).

We are always on the look out for talented staff. If you would be interested in working for us but don't have the experience for the roles below, feel free to get in touch anyway. We are growing quickly and will be after junior engineers later this year.

Hydropower Senior Engineer

Based in Stroud, Gloucestershire. You would report to the Hydro Team Leader and manage a number of hydropower projects ranging from 10 kW to 500 kW power output. Renewables First doesn’t just talk about renewable energy, we actually do it. This means we need people with real practical knowledge built on strong and broad foundations of technical understanding.

Renewables First is one of the leading providers of turnkey hydropower projects in the UK, working for a range of clients from blue-chip multinationals and utility companies to landowners and historic watermill owners. We do everything from feasibility-stage, design and consenting and project management and installation. The business is growing fast and aims to be the UK’s leading provider technical and project management services for the small hydropower industry (i.e. up to 1 MW system power output), and similarly for the wind industry. Key to growing the business and maintaining the quality standards our customers expect is recruiting experienced and enthusiastic staff.

Key responsibilities for this role would include:

Manage design and installation-phase hydro projects (note approx. 75% of your work would be designing and providing the technical input into the install phase).
Construct project plans to meet the scope and budget of the service ordered by the client.
Define all project stages and tasks to fulfil the project scope.
Define the resource requirements (human and physical).
Schedule and manage those resources throughout the project.
Construct project budgets.
Manage project invoicing, ensuring invoices are issued on-time and include what they should.
Review completed projects to identify the good points, and the bad, and make sure the whole company learns from good and bad in a constructive way.
In addition, senior engineers are expected to use their hydro knowledge to oversee feasibility studies carried out by junior hydropower engineers, and may be required to provide input into the sales process to add technical weight as and when required.

Essential requirements for the role are experience of designing and building hydropower systems in the 10 kW – 300 kW power output range for at least three years, or less if you can show similar experience from a comparable technical industry. If your experience is concentrated at one end of the power output range we would still be very interested in hearing from you. Your previous roles may have been more office or site based, though should have included enough of both for you to have developed a good understanding of all of the essential functions required to deliver a successful hydropower project. You would be able to demonstrate a good understanding of project management, both from the planning and administration to the managing of the people. As you will know, hydropower is complicated and requires a broad range of skills. To this end you would have a good working knowledge of mechanical, electrical and civil engineering, along with the environmental and regulatory issues that surround hydropower. AutoCAD knowledge would also be needed. A commitment to the principles of working safely and developing junior staff would also be essential.

You would be expected to have a relevant engineering degree, though this isn’t essential if you can demonstrate equivalent skills have been developed through other means. A working knowledge of Microsoft Project would be useful. A cool head in challenging situations is always an asset, along with the ability to oversee several projects at different stages, and know where to focus attention. Meticulousness and attention to detail lead to successful projects, so this will need to be demonstrated. The applicant must have a driving license.

Renewables First is a small company that earns money by providing professional services. This means that the all staff need to be aware of the focus on fee-earning work and not getting distracted. Some people struggle with this, some people thrive on it. Clearly we want to recruit people in the latter category. As a company all staff are encouraged to read the monthly accounts and be aware of and be involved in the business planning process. This close connection with the company’s financial performance feeds into the Employee Incentive Scheme, which is structured to provide a 25% bonus on top of base salaries, depending on company profitability.

Salary for the Hydropower Senior Engineer role would be in the range of £31.25k to £37.5k (including non-guaranteed Staff Incentive Scheme bonus; £25k to £30k without).

Note that Renewables First uses psychometric tests as part of its recruitment process.

Windpower Senior Engineer

Based in Stroud, Gloucestershire. You would be working on and project managing wind power projects ranging from single Enercon E33 (330 kW) projects up to multiple larger turbine projects. Renewables First doesn’t just talk about renewable energy, we actually do it. This means we need people with real practical knowledge built on strong and broad foundations of technical understanding.

Renewables First is a provider of turnkey wind power projects in the UK, working for a range of clients from blue-chip multinationals and utility companies to local authorities and private landowners. We do everything from feasibility-stage, planning consents, system design and project management. The installation is normally undertaken by the turbine supplier, though we still prepare the site ready for final turbine installation and are present onsite during the installation and commissioning process. The business is growing fast and aims to be one of the UK’s leading providers of technical and project management services for the wind power industry, specifically targeting the sub-wind farm market of individual or small clusters of large wind turbines with power outputs ranging from 330 kW to 5 MW. Key to growing the business and maintaining the quality standards our customers expect is recruiting experienced and enthusiastic staff.

Key responsibilities for this role would include:

Manage and work on feasibility, project development and installation-phase wind projects. Typically 75% of your time would be doing the actual project work, and 25% managing projects – hence it is very ‘hands on’.
Constructing and building project plans, and then managing those projects from start to finish, on budget and on time.
Using WindPRO software to construct models of wind projects, and then produce all of the visualisation, noise and energy data to support planning applications as well as financial analysis and site optimisation.
Noise surveys (both sub-contracting and doing).
Wind monitoring; we have our own equipment and install and operate the masts and process the data to BS-EN-61400-12-1:2006 standards.
Be involved in the sales process whenever key technical input is required.
Use your wind knowledge to oversee feasibility studies carried out by less senior wind engineers.
Review completed projects to identify the good points, and the bad, and make sure the whole company learns from good and bad in a constructive way.

Essential requirements for the role are a good working knowledge and experience of wind projects. Ideally this would be experience with similar sized wind turbines, but comparable experience from small wind or wind farm projects may be considered. As you will know, the planning and design of wind projects revolves around wind modelling software. We use WindPRO, so experience with this software would be useful, though experience with one of the other leading packages would be almost as useful. A good working knowledge of grid connection issues, site access for cranes and delivery vehicles, along with wind monitoring and all of the general issues that surround wind projects would also be essential. You would be expected to have a relevant engineering degree, though this isn’t essential if you can demonstrate that equivalent skills have been developed through other means. A cool head in challenging situations is always an asset, along with the ability to oversee several projects at different stages, all at the same time and know where to focus attention. Meticulousness and attention to detail lead to successful projects, so this will need to be demonstrated.

You would be able to demonstrate a good understanding of project management, both from the planning and administration to the managing of the people. As you will know, wind power is complicated and requires a broad range of skills. To this end you would have a good working knowledge of mechanical and electrical engineering, along with the planning and wind resource assessments. A commitment to the principles of working safely and developing junior staff would also be essential. Our senior engineers are responsible for delivering the whole project, and not just one specialist part of it, so applicants should want to be responsible for all aspects of the project.

Renewables First is a small company that earns money by providing professional services. This means that the all staff need to be aware of the focus on fee-earning work and not getting distracted. Some people struggle with this, some people thrive on it. Clearly we want to recruit people in the latter category. As a company all staff are encouraged to read the monthly accounts and be aware of and be involved in the business planning process. This close connection with the company’s financial performance feeds into the Staff Incentive Scheme, which is structured to provide a 25% bonus on top of base salaries, subject to company profitability.

The applicant must have a driving license.

Salary for the Wind Senior Engineer role would be in the range of £30k to £37.5k (including non-guaranteed Staff Incentive Scheme bonus; £24k to £30k without).

Note that Renewables First uses psychometric tests as part of its recruitment process.