Renewable Energy and Cleantech Executive Recruitment

Exec Capital provides senior executive search for UK renewable energy and cleantech firms across the full sub-sector range — onshore and offshore wind, solar, battery storage and grid services, hydrogen and low-carbon gas, electric vehicle infrastructure, energy efficiency and demand-side technology, carbon capture and removal, and broader cleantech. The sub-sector has grown substantially as a UK senior search segment over the past decade and continues to evolve as the energy transition matures, project economics shift, and the capital structure landscape develops. Senior hiring in renewable energy and cleantech is shaped by a genuinely international candidate market, equity-heavy compensation structures, project-finance dynamics that warrant specific senior leadership credentials, and (for project developers and IPPs specifically) regulatory and planning dimensions that require substantive operating familiarity.

Our practice covers UK senior appointments across CEO, COO, Chief Development Officer, Chief Investment Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Commercial Officer, Chief Technology Officer and broader senior leadership at renewable energy developers, independent power producers, cleantech startups and scale-ups, infrastructure-funded renewables platforms, and PE-backed cleantech firms. Every search is run by our specialist team, with Adrian Lawrence FCA overseeing each mandate. For broader UK energy and utilities senior hiring — networks, retail supply, gas, water and the regulated utilities — see our energy and utilities executive recruitment service page. This page is about the businesses building the new system: generation, storage, flexibility, hydrogen, EV charging and the technology companies behind them.

Why renewables and cleantech senior hiring is different

Renewable energy and cleantech senior hiring is one of the most dynamic segments in UK senior search and one of the most internationally competitive. Strong UK senior candidates have global options at any time, with US, European and Asian renewables platforms competing actively for the same pool. The pattern that recurs is UK firms offering compensation envelopes calibrated against domestic pay data rather than the international cleantech market — and losing preferred candidates at offer stage. The fix is calibrating offers to the actual market the firm is recruiting from, with the equity structure given the same rigour as the headline package.

At Exec Capital we run renewable energy and cleantech senior searches with the international compensation context worked through at the brief, sub-sector specifics calibrated to the firm’s specific situation, and the equity-heavy economic structure addressed substantively rather than at the offer stage. Our specialist team runs each search day to day, with Adrian Lawrence FCA overseeing each mandate and taking part in the brief, the shortlist review and the offer.

Three further things set the sector apart from general executive search:

• The business changes shape as projects mature. A developer that is all origination, land, planning and grid applications needs a different leadership team from the same company two years later, when it is managing construction contracts and lenders, and different again once it is operating assets and selling power. Many senior hires are made precisely because the company has moved from one phase to the next.
• Capital is the constraint as often as talent. Developers, IPPs and cleantech scale-ups are financed through a mix of venture capital, infrastructure funds, private equity, project finance debt and, increasingly, public money. Senior leaders are judged on whether they can raise and deploy that capital, and investors are closely involved in senior hiring decisions.
• Policy sets the commercial weather. Auction rounds, grid connection rules, planning reform and network charging all move faster here than in most sectors. Leaders need to read policy as commercial information, and the best candidates can show they have made money (or avoided losing it) because they understood a rule change early.

The candidate pool also crosses sector lines. Good renewables leaders come from oil and gas, utilities, engineering and construction, infrastructure investment, automotive, software and banking, as well as from inside renewables. Part of a search is judging which of those backgrounds will transfer to your business and which will not, and that judgement is specific to the company’s stage and sub-sector.

Sub-sectors we cover

Onshore and offshore wind. Wind project developers, IPPs operating wind portfolios, wind technology and OEM-adjacent firms. UK has substantial offshore wind capacity with continued growth in scope. Offshore wind leadership hiring tends to centre on large-project delivery, supply chain and port logistics, consenting and stakeholder management, and joint-venture governance; onshore wind hiring is shaped by planning, community engagement and the return of onshore projects to the national auction rounds.

Solar. Utility-scale solar developers, distributed solar firms, solar technology and component manufacturers. Solar businesses tend to run larger numbers of smaller projects, so senior hires are often about process, pipeline discipline and the ability to take many sites through planning and grid at once, as well as commercial skill in selling to corporate offtakers and installers.

Battery storage and grid services. Battery energy storage system (BESS) developers and operators, grid services providers, and the substantial co-located storage market alongside generation projects. Storage leaders need a mix of trading and optimisation knowledge, grid connection experience and asset management, and the commercial model can differ sharply from one business to the next.

Hydrogen and low-carbon gas. Green hydrogen project development, hydrogen technology firms, and low-carbon gas infrastructure. The sub-sector continues to develop as policy and project economics mature. Senior hiring here often combines technology risk with project risk, and boards look for leaders who can manage long development timelines, government funding processes and industrial offtake negotiations.

Electric vehicle infrastructure. EV charging network operators, charging hardware and software firms, and adjacent EV ecosystem businesses. These businesses sit between infrastructure and consumer services, so they hire leaders who can manage site roll-out, property and landlord relationships, uptime and customer experience, often while raising capital to fund growth.

Energy efficiency and demand-side technology. Smart buildings, industrial energy efficiency, demand response and flexibility services, energy management software. Here the leadership profile is closer to B2B technology and services, with strong commercial, product and channel skills alongside an understanding of how flexibility is paid for.

Carbon capture and removal. Carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) firms, direct air capture, and broader carbon removal technologies. Leaders in this area typically combine heavy engineering or process experience with the patience to work through long policy, funding and consenting processes.

Broader cleantech. Circular economy firms, sustainable materials, water tech, and other clean-technology businesses. These companies usually look like technology or manufacturing scale-ups that happen to sell into decarbonisation, and we recruit for them on that basis.

Where a business is mainly a regulated network, retail energy supplier, water company or conventional generator, the right home for the search is our energy and utilities practice instead. Many businesses sit across both, and our team agrees with you at the brief which candidate pools to draw on.

The UK market backdrop for renewables leadership

Senior hiring in renewables tracks policy closely, so it is worth setting out the points that are shaping briefs at the moment. We summarise them here because candidates and boards raise them in almost every search; we are recruiters, not policy advisers, and each point links to the primary source.

Clean Power 2030 and the scale of build-out

In December 2024 the government published the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan, setting out its pathway to a clean power system by the end of the decade. Whatever view a business takes of the target itself, the plan has increased the volume of development, construction and grid activity across wind, solar and storage, and that has increased demand for experienced development, delivery and commercial leaders. It has also made it more important that leaders can explain how their projects fit national priorities, because that alignment now affects grid connection outcomes.

Contracts for Difference Allocation Round 7

Allocation Round 7 of the Contracts for Difference scheme was the largest round so far. The offshore wind results were announced in January 2026, and the government’s February 2026 announcement confirmed that the round secured 14.7 GW across 201 projects, including 8.4 GW of offshore wind across 12 projects, 4.9 GW of solar across 157 projects and 1.3 GW of onshore wind across 28 projects. For hiring, the practical effect is that a large number of projects are moving from development into financing and construction at the same time, competing for the same project directors, construction leaders and finance teams.

Grid connections reform

Grid access has become one of the most important commercial issues for developers. The reform of the connections process, approved by Ofgem in April 2025 and run by NESO, replaced a queue that had been largely first come, first served with a gated approach: projects that meet readiness and strategic alignment criteria (Gate 2) can secure a confirmed connection date and queue position, while others receive Gate 1 offers without a confirmed date. Developers have had to reassess their pipelines as a result, and many have changed their leadership needs — more emphasis on grid strategy and project readiness, and less on accumulating speculative connection positions.

NESO and Great British Energy

The National Energy System Operator (NESO) took over the system operator role on 1 October 2024 as a publicly owned body, with wider responsibilities for planning the energy system. The Great British Energy Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 15 May 2025, putting Great British Energy on a statutory footing as a publicly owned company investing in clean energy. Both have created senior roles of their own and changed the set of counterparties that private developers and investors deal with, which in turn shapes the experience boards ask for in senior hires.

Senior roles we recruit

Chief Executive Officer. Renewable energy and cleantech CEOs typically have substantive prior sub-sector operating experience plus the standard CEO dimensions. For project developers and IPPs specifically, prior project finance and capital-raising experience is often central. Our CEO recruitment service covers the wider brief; for renewables, the critical questions are which stage of the asset life cycle the CEO has led through, and whether they have raised capital from the kind of investor the business now needs.

Managing Director. Many renewables businesses are UK subsidiaries of European or international groups, or platforms owned by infrastructure funds, and the senior UK role is a Managing Director or Country Manager rather than a CEO. These roles combine local leadership with reporting into a group or investor, and the search needs to test how candidates have handled that dual accountability.

Chief Operating Officer / Operations Director. Senior operating leadership accountable for asset operations, construction delivery, and (for IPPs) portfolio optimisation. Our operations director recruitment service covers this level, and the operations director job description sets out the core responsibilities.

Chief Development Officer. The senior leader accountable for project pipeline development — origination, planning, permitting, financing close. Particularly central in pure-play developer firms. Since connections reform, the strongest development leaders are the ones who can show disciplined pipeline management rather than simply a large number of sites.

Chief Investment Officer. Particularly central in infrastructure-funded renewables platforms and cleantech investment firms. Senior investment leadership across asset acquisitions, project investments, and portfolio strategy. See our Chief Investment Officer recruitment page.

Chief Financial Officer. Renewable energy and cleantech CFOs typically require substantive project finance experience, capital structure expertise, and (for listed and pre-IPO firms) capital markets fluency. Cross-portfolio with our sister firm FD Capital. Our CFO recruitment service covers permanent CFO searches.

Chief Commercial Officer. Power purchase agreement (PPA) origination, customer commercial relationships, and (for cleantech firms) sales and business development leadership. For businesses that need the commercial lead at director level, see our commercial director recruitment service.

Chief Technology Officer. Particularly central in cleantech firms with substantial technology IP, and in technology-led storage and hydrogen businesses. See our CTO hiring guide. Where the need is engineering leadership on assets rather than technology IP, a technical director is usually the better fit — see our technical director recruitment page.

Chief Sustainability Officer and Sustainability Director. Renewables businesses are not exempt from sustainability scrutiny: investors and lenders ask about supply chain emissions, biodiversity, community benefit and reporting. Larger developers and cleantech groups appoint a Chief Sustainability Officer; growing businesses more often hire a sustainability director first.

Non-Executive Directors and Chairs. Independent NEDs with substantive sector experience, including chairs at listed and PE-backed renewable energy firms. Our NED recruitment practice covers board appointments, including chairs for investor-backed platforms preparing for a sale or listing.

Which leader does a renewables or cleantech business need?

The most common mistake we see is hiring a title rather than a capability. The table below is how our team frames the first conversation: start from the problem the business has to solve in the next two to three years, then decide which leader owns it.

Most businesses need more than one of these over time. A useful approach is to decide which role is critical now, which can be covered on an interim or fractional basis for a period, and which can wait. That sequencing often matters more to the outcome than any single appointment.

How we work

We run renewable energy and cleantech senior searches on a retained basis, with engagement running through to the candidate’s first day in role and the equity terms finalised. The brief phase covers sub-sector specifics, international compensation context, and equity structuring before formal mandate begins. Our specialist team runs each search, with Adrian Lawrence FCA overseeing each mandate.

The process follows six stages. We agree the timetable with you at briefing, because it depends on the role, the candidate market and how quickly your board and investors can meet candidates.

What we assess in renewables and cleantech candidates

Renewables CVs can be hard to read from the outside. Project capacity figures, portfolio values and funding rounds are often shared across large teams, and the same project can appear on several people’s CVs. Our assessment focuses on what the candidate personally owned:

• Projects and stages. Which projects they led, at which stage, and what happened next — including projects that were stopped, and why.
• Capital raised and deployed. Their actual role in equity raises, project financings, refinancings and asset sales, and their relationships with the investors and lenders involved.
• Teams built. The size and quality of the teams they have hired and led, and whether those people followed them or stayed on after they left.
• Commercial results. Offtake agreements, auction bids and customer contracts they negotiated, and how those have performed since.
• Fit with the next phase. Whether their experience matches the phase your business is entering, not the one it is leaving. A strong developer is not automatically a strong operator, and a corporate utility leader may struggle in a lean, investor-backed company.

We take structured references, including from investors and board members where the candidate agrees, and we share our written assessment with you before you meet anyone.

Permanent, interim or fractional?

Not every senior need in renewables calls for a permanent hire. Development-stage companies often need senior finance or commercial input for a few days a week; a portfolio reaching financial close may need a full-time interim leader for a defined period; a scaling platform needs permanent leadership it can build around. The table compares the options.

For finance leadership in particular, a fractional or interim CFO is often the right first step for a developer or cleantech start-up, with a permanent CFO hired once the business reaches financial close or a larger funding round. Our fractional CFO service covers that route.

What a new renewables leader typically delivers in the first 90 days

Boards and investors should agree early priorities with a new senior hire before they start. The detail depends on the role, but the first 90 days in a renewables or cleantech business usually cover:

• A pipeline and portfolio review. An honest view of which projects are financeable, which have realistic grid connection prospects, and which should be sold, paused or dropped.
• Capital plan. A clear view of funding needs over the next two to three years and the sources the business will use — equity, project debt, public funding or partnerships.
• Investor and lender relationships. Meetings with the main shareholders, lenders and joint-venture partners to understand their expectations and rebuild confidence where needed.
• Team assessment. A view on whether the senior team has the capabilities the next phase needs, and a plan for gaps, which may include interim or fractional cover.
• Policy and market exposure. Clarity on how auction rounds, connections reform, network charging and offtake prices affect the business plan.
• Governance and reporting. Board reporting, risk registers and controls appropriate to the stage of the business, particularly if a sale, refinancing or listing is planned.

Writing these priorities into the brief helps the search too: candidates engage more seriously when they can see what success looks like, and it gives the board a fair basis for judging the appointment later.

Compensation and Package Structure

We do not publish pay figures for renewables roles on this page because they vary widely by business type and stage and change quickly. Our executive salary guide sets out sourced pay data for senior roles. What we can describe is how packages in the sector are typically structured:

• Base salary and bonus. Bonus measures often reflect project milestones — planning consents, grid offers, financial close, commercial operation — alongside financial targets.
• Equity. Sweet equity, EMI options, growth shares and RSUs, depending on ownership. In investor-backed platforms, the equity terms often decide whether the strongest candidates engage. See our guide to sweet equity for PE management teams.
• Development fees and project-linked incentives. Some developers reward senior staff when projects reach defined milestones or are sold.
• Carried interest. In infrastructure and investment platforms, senior investment leaders may participate in carry.
• Buy-outs. Candidates from large utilities or international groups often hold unvested awards, and the cost of replacing them needs to be planned for at the brief.

Because the candidate market is international, the comparison candidates make is often with US or European packages rather than UK domestic ones. We work through that context with you at the start of the search so the offer is realistic.

Engagement and fees

We agree terms with each client at the brief. The structure is straightforward:

• Retained search for permanent C-suite and board roles, where a fee is paid in stages through the search. This is how we run most senior renewables appointments, because the work involves direct approaches to candidates who are not on the market. Our retained vs contingent executive search guide explains the difference.
• Contingent arrangements for some director-level roles, where a fee is paid only on placement.
• Day-rate basis for interim and fractional appointments: the client pays an agreed day rate for the days worked, covering the executive and our fee.
• What is included: the brief, market mapping, direct search, candidate assessment, referencing, offer management and contact through onboarding. We also advise on package and equity structure as part of the search.

Who we place

We work with businesses across the renewables and cleantech market, typically:

• Independent developers of wind, solar and storage projects, from founder-led companies to established platforms.
• Independent power producers and asset owners managing operating portfolios.
• Infrastructure-fund and private equity-backed renewables platforms, through our private equity executive search work.
• Venture-backed cleantech companies at seed to growth stage, including hydrogen, carbon removal, flexibility and energy software businesses, alongside our scale-up executive recruitment practice.
• EV charging operators and hardware and software businesses.
• UK subsidiaries of European and international renewables groups hiring a Managing Director or senior UK team.
• Engineering, services and supply chain businesses that serve the renewables sector, where we also recruit engineering directors.

Each search is confidential. We do not publish client names, and we do not approach candidates from a client’s own business for other roles.

Why Exec Capital for renewable energy and cleantech

International compensation context at the brief. Strong renewable energy and cleantech candidates evaluate UK opportunities against international alternatives. We calibrate compensation envelopes against the actual market.

Equity-heavy economic structures. Sweet equity, EMI options, growth shares, RSUs — the renewable energy and cleantech compensation toolkit is varied, and the structuring shapes which candidates engage seriously. We work this through during the search.

Senior oversight on every mandate. Our specialist team runs each senior renewable energy and cleantech search, with Adrian Lawrence FCA overseeing each mandate. As a Chartered Accountant and former listed-company Finance Director, Adrian brings a practitioner’s view of finance, capital structure and investor expectations to the brief and the shortlist.

One search across permanent, interim and fractional. Because we place leaders on all three bases, we can advise on the right format for the stage of the business rather than defaulting to a permanent hire.

A finance-literate view of candidates. In a sector where leaders are judged on raising and deploying capital, we test candidates’ claims about financings, valuations and project economics in detail rather than taking them at face value.

Frequently asked questions

What is renewable energy executive recruitment?

It is executive search for senior leaders in businesses that develop, build, own or operate renewable energy assets, or that make the technology behind them. It covers CEOs, MDs, CFOs, COOs, development, commercial, technical and sustainability leaders, and non-executive directors.

How is cleantech executive search different from general executive search?

The candidate pool is international and crosses sectors, packages lean heavily on equity, and policy changes affect the business plan quickly. A cleantech search needs to judge whether candidates from oil and gas, utilities, technology or infrastructure will transfer to your business, and to set the package against the international market.

Do you recruit renewables CEOs and managing directors?

Yes. We recruit CEOs for developers, IPPs and cleantech companies, and Managing Directors or Country Managers for UK businesses owned by international groups or infrastructure funds. We assess candidates on the stage of business they have led, not just their title.

Can we hire an interim or fractional executive instead?

Often, yes. Interim leaders suit financial closes, construction programmes and sudden departures; fractional leaders suit early-stage developers and start-ups that need senior input for a few days a week. Our team can advise which format fits.

How long does a renewables executive search take?

It depends on the role, the candidate market and how quickly your board and investors can meet candidates. Notice periods for senior people can also be long. We agree the timetable with you at briefing and keep to it as closely as the process allows.

How much does it cost?

Permanent searches are normally retained, with the fee paid in stages. Interim and fractional appointments are charged on a day-rate basis. We agree terms at the brief, and there is no charge for an initial conversation.

Do you recruit candidates from oil and gas into renewables?

Yes, where the experience transfers. Offshore engineering, large-project delivery, health and safety and commercial contracting skills often transfer well to offshore wind, hydrogen and CCUS. We test carefully whether a candidate’s experience fits the scale and culture of the business.

What is the difference between this page and your energy and utilities practice?

This practice covers renewables, storage, hydrogen, EV infrastructure and cleantech businesses. Our energy and utilities practice covers networks, retail supply, water and the wider regulated utilities. Where a business sits across both, we draw on both networks.

Do you recruit sustainability leaders for renewables businesses?

Yes. Investors and lenders increasingly expect renewables businesses to report on supply chain, biodiversity and community impact. We recruit Chief Sustainability Officers and sustainability directors for developers, IPPs and cleantech groups.

Do you work with private equity and infrastructure investors?

Yes. Many of our renewables searches are for investor-backed platforms and portfolio companies, including CEO and CFO appointments ahead of a sale, refinancing or listing, and independent chair and NED appointments.

Looking for a renewables role? If you are a senior leader in renewables or cleantech looking for your next permanent, interim or fractional role, please register with us and see our current opportunities.

Further reading

For broader UK energy and utilities senior hiring, see our energy and utilities executive recruitment service page, and our renewable energy executive hiring guide for a longer guide to hiring in the sector.

For role-specific senior hiring guides, see our CEO hiring guide, COO hiring guide, CFO hiring guide, CIO hiring guide, and the rest in our Knowledge Centre. For our substantive guide to UK senior compensation including the equity structures relevant to renewables and cleantech, see our Executive Compensation guide and Equity and Incentives guide.

For UK renewable energy and cleantech industry context, see RenewableUK, Solar Energy UK, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, and the Climate Change Committee.