RESP Strategic Lead - West Midlands

About the Role

In April 2025 the National Energy System Operator (NESO) has taken on the exciting new role of being the Regional Energy Strategic Planner. We will be responsible for developing 11 Regional Energy Strategic Plans (RESPs) across Great Britain. The West Midlands based team will work with other NESO teams and organisations at a local level (‘local actors’), including local government and gas and electricity networks, in developing the RESP.

Having an understanding and lived experience of the West Midlands will be key – as will having complementary energy expertise and experience to allow the West Midlands team to reflect the region’s diverse society, environment and energy planning needs. This role will be based in our Warwick office, and we continue to offer hybrid working from office and home. We are open to full time and part time applicants as this role is a job share, as well as flexible working arrangements.

• Develop, consult, and implement relevant parts of the RESP methodology to your region.
• Be the subject matter expert in understanding specific aspects of your region’s energy system planning and the interfaces with both internal NESO and external stakeholders.
• Define and lead on regional energy strategic planning work packages; work in a matrix style structure to ensure work you lead upon is coordinated with other regional and central RESP teams.
• Represent NESO’s regional energy planning function at strategic level and deputise for the regional manager.
• Engage with key regional stakeholders within local government, gas and electricity networks, other local actors and whole energy system stakeholders to understand their views and requirements to ensure that RESP delivers value.
• Design, support and run workshops and engagement activity with the Regional Board, working groups and other regional stakeholders to progress the RESP.
• Produce and deliver clear, concise, short reports and slide packs in progressing the RESP. Ensure that the key messages are relevant, clear, and pitched appropriately for the audience.
• Understand, engage and gain required and beneficial inputs from stakeholders in developing the RESP to the prescribed methodology; be able to clearly communicate and propose changes where needed to key assumptions.
• Create new ways to analyse and present problems and potential solutions, sometimes building on the work and experience of others to quickly develop sufficient understanding of unfamiliar topics.

• Experience with in the energy sector, including technical energy knowledge.
• Knowledge of energy project development life cycles and the ‘whole energy’ system – with advanced experience in at least one of the energy vectors (gas and/or electricity networks, heat decarbonisation, hydrogen, transport decarbonisation, etc).
• Experience of working with or within Local Authorities and/or energy distribution companies, ideally relevant to the region you seek to work within.
• Knowledge and ideally experience of working in and/or managing others in newly formed teams.
• Ability to translate complex and technical information into easily understandable messaging for non-technical audiences, in both reports and presentations.
• Knowledge and experience of strategic critical thinking with ability to consider strategic frameworks and concepts, and how changes to these will drive RESP design and implementation.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
• Experience of communicating with and influencing internal and external stakeholders at a range of levels.
• An understanding of data and systems used in the energy distribution networks and/or in local energy planning.
• Project management, coordination and planning skills to ensure that deadlines are met, governance is adhered to, stakeholders are effectively engaged, and high-quality process and outputs are achieved.
• An inquisitive mind with the ability to join the dots and a willingness to learn about new areas of work.
• Training and development of the team will be a key priority as we set up RESP. Successful individuals may be asked to help train other team members and have the opportunity to be trained on less familiar areas.

A competitive salary of £55,000 - £65,000 dependant on experience and capability. In addition to the base salary, NESO's core benefits include a bonus based on company performance, 26 days annual leave, a contributory pension scheme with a double match of up to 12%, and annual enrolment to the NESO Savings Plan.

• Flexible Bank Holidays & Holiday Trading
• Additional Birthday Day Off
• Cycle to Work Scheme, Retail & Gym Discounts
• Private Medical Insurance, Critical Illness Insurance & Personal Accident Insurance

Warwick office, with hybrid working arrangements.