Power and renewables executive search

Retained search across power and renewables, from utility scale solar, wind and storage through transmission, distribution and thermal generation. Vice president to C‑suite.

Key roles we place ↓

Overview

What we do in power and renewables

Metric Geo places senior and executive leaders across power and renewables, covering utility scale solar, wind and battery storage, transmission and distribution, and thermal generation. The work spans developers, EPC contractors, owners and the service businesses around them. Searches are retained and run from vice president through C-suite.

Power hiring moves faster than the rest of infrastructure and it punishes hesitation. A development pipeline can change in a quarter, and the leaders who can take a project from the interconnection queue to commercial operation are the ones every developer wants. When one becomes available they are usually gone within weeks.

Roles

The roles we place in power and renewables

VP Development Origination, land, permitting and interconnection through notice to proceed.
VP Construction EPC delivery across a portfolio of projects.
Head of Interconnection Queue strategy, studies and utility negotiation.
Project Director Single project accountability from notice to proceed to commercial operation.
Director of Asset Management Operating portfolio performance, availability and revenue.
VP Engineering Design, technology selection and engineering leadership.
Head of Origination Offtake, power purchase agreements and commercial structuring.
VP Transmission & Distribution Line, substation and grid infrastructure delivery.
Chief Operating Officer Operational leadership across a development or contracting business.

+ many others

Within this sector

What power and renewables covers

Solar & Storage

Utility scale solar and battery development, construction and operation.

Wind

Onshore and offshore wind leadership across development and delivery.

Transmission & Distribution

Lines, substations and the grid work that connects generation.

Thermal & Conventional

Gas, combined cycle and conventional generation leadership.

Market

Hiring in power and renewables right now

Demand for power has outrun the ability to connect it, and that has moved the center of gravity in hiring. Development talent used to be measured on land and permitting. It is now measured on who can get through an interconnection queue, and that skill sits with a very small number of people.

Construction leadership is the second constraint. The number of project directors who have actually delivered a large utility scale project to commercial operation has not grown at the rate the pipeline has, so the same names circulate between developers and EPCs.

Policy uncertainty has made some companies slow to hire, which is usually a mistake here. Pipelines that pause still need people in place when they restart, and the developers who kept hiring through the quiet periods are the ones with teams now.

Common questions

Power hiring questions

The questions clients ask most often before briefing a power search.

How long does a power leadership search take?

We work to seven days to a shortlist on most briefs. How long the search takes after that depends on the role and on notice periods, so we set out a realistic timeline with you at the start.

Do you work retained or contingent?

Retained. Our power consultants have spent years building relationships in this market, so most shortlists start from people we already know, and talent mapping, backed by our marketing reach, covers the rest of the market so nobody credible gets missed. Retained is what lets us give that kind of time to one brief.

Do you place below vice president?

Our focus is vice president and above, but we do take on director and senior manager searches where the role is critical, such as a project director on a single large build, or a head of interconnection. What matters is whether it is a hire you cannot afford to get wrong.

Can you find people who have taken a project all the way to commercial operation?

Yes, and it is worth being specific about, because a lot of resumes in this market describe projects the person joined late or left early. We ask for the stage someone arrived and the stage they left on every project, and we check it. It is the most common thing that falls apart at reference stage.