Head of Engineering - BESS

About the job

Join Our Journey Towards Fossil-Free Living as Head of Engineering – Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS)

Our Battery Engineering Circle focuses on developing, building, and operating Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), both in co-located projects with Solar and stand-alone batteries. We are a self-organized, dynamic team dedicated to pushing the boundaries of technology and innovation in renewable energy storage.

As the Head of Engineering - BESS, you will be leading the team that develops the design, integration, and safety standards for our battery energy storage solutions. You’ll provide technical solutions across the entire project portfolio, ensuring excellence in every stage of the engineering lifecycle.

What You Will Do

In this leading role, you will drive the engineering and design of our battery energy storage projects, ensuring technical excellence and contributing to innovation in tools and methodologies.

Key responsibilities of the Engineering – BESS team include:

• Engineering Design and Feasibility: Develop and oversee technical work packages, ensuring optimal system design is delivered from both technical and commercial perspectives in all projects.
• Tool and Methodology Development: Create and refine processes, methodologies, and tools to improve project outcomes and engineering practices.
• Supplier Management: Collaborate with procurement teams to manage supplier relationships, assess technical feasibility, and negotiate key agreements.
• Stakeholder Collaboration: Work with cross-functional teams to align technical objectives with broader project goals, ensuring effective communication and integration.
• Continuous Improvement: Conduct root cause analyses for operational assets and implement lessons learned to drive ongoing improvements.

As Head of Engineering – BESS you are responsible for:

• Leadership & Team Development: Guide and inspire a growing team of engineers, fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, and excellence. Your strategic vision will ensure our projects align with Vattenfall's mission of a fossil-free future.
• Project Oversight: With a keen eye for detail and a forward-thinking approach, oversee the technical aspects of our co-located and stand-alone battery projects, ensuring they meet our ambitious sustainability and efficiency goals.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Serve as a key point of contact for internal and external stakeholders, negotiating contracts, managing expectations, and building lasting partnerships.
• Technical & Strategic Planning: Utilize your technical expertise and strategic insight to plan and execute project milestones, manage budgets, and drive continuous improvement across all operations.

Your profile

What We're Looking For:

• A leader with a passion for renewable energy and a drive to make a difference.
• Proven experience in engineering management, preferably within the renewable energy sector.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Fluency in German and English is a must; Dutch and/or Swedish language proficiency is a plus.

Education

• A Master’s degree in engineering (preferred) or a Bachelor’s degree with equivalent experience in disciplines such as electrical, mechanical, or civil engineering.
• A minimum of 5-7 years of professional experience in engineering roles, ideally in renewable energy, energy storage, or adjacent industries.
• Project management qualifications such as IPMA, PMP, or similar are beneficial but not mandatory.
• Systems engineering qualifications such as INCOSE are also advantageous but not a requirement.

Who You Are

You are a collaborative and dynamic individual who thrives in an innovative, fast-paced, and sometimes ambiguous environment. Bringing a passion for sustainability, you are committed to achieving technical excellence while embracing the opportunity to grow into future leadership roles. You value teamwork and have excellent interpersonal and communication skills, allowing you to work effectively with diverse groups and stakeholders.

Adaptable and resilient, you excel in dynamic and uncertain settings, navigating complexity with confidence and composure. Your problem-solving skills enable you to approach challenges strategically and deliver practical solutions that drive success. Empowered and self-organized, you take ownership of your work and enjoy contributing autonomously within a supportive team environment.

Additional information

Our offer

Good remuneration, a challenging and international work environment, and the possibility to work with some of the best in the field. You will be working in interdisciplinary teams and you can always count on support from committed colleagues. We offer attractive employment conditions and opportunities for personal and professional development.

• Dynamic Workplace: A diverse environment characterized by team spirit and flexibility.
• Professional Growth: Opportunities for career advancement in a growing sector.
• Inclusive Culture: A supportive and inclusive workplace that values diversity and encourages collaboration.
• Attractive employment conditions: A comprehensive remuneration, flexible working hours and locations, two brand new offices in Hamburg and Berlin, employee health and sport support.

More Information
We welcome your application in English no later than, May 11, 2025. For more information about the recruitment process you are welcome to contact our recruiter Sandra Domschke via email: sandra1.domschke@vattenfall.de

At Vattenfall we are convinced that diversity contributes to build a more profitable and attractive company and we strive to be good role model regarding diversity. Vattenfall works actively for all employees to have the same opportunities and rights regardless of gender, ethnicity, age, transgender identity or expression, religion or other belief, disability or sexual orientation.

The security of Vattenfall and its employees is essential. For that reason, a pre-employment screening will be part of your recruitment process. The screening is based on the role you will fulfill within Vattenfall. The screening will be performed by a third party, Validata.

We look forward to receiving your application!

About the company

Vattenfall is a European energy company with approximately 20 000 employees. For more than 100 years we have electrified industries, supplied energy to people’s homes and modernized our way of living through innovation and cooperation. We now want to make fossil-free living possible within one generation. To be able to reach this ambitious goal we are looking for talented individuals who, in addition to their passion for their own role, also have strong team spirit and want to contribute to supporting a meaningful corporate mission.

"I have been lucky to have had really good managers who have given me opportunities to progress and encouraged me to take part in development programmes."

Magdalena Dasht, Vice President within nuclear