Principal Engineer

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Job Description

The Principal Engineer is responsible for the technical aspects of projects within the Power and Energy sectors, mainly Renewable Energy (RE), contributing to all phases of the investment cycle primarily involved in project preparation and to a lesser extent project implementation and its monitoring. In addition, the Principal Engineer will assist in assessing project opportunities, risks and addressing transition impact from an engineering point of view as well as supporting and promoting the integration of sustainable power and energy solutions across other municipal sectors and with other banking teams. The role also includes elements of policy dialogue, client management and business development.

The Sustainable Infrastructure Project Policy & Preparation (SI3P) team is composed of technical, financial and policy specialists; it is tasked with enabling EBRD’s Sustainable Infrastructure Group (SIG) to develop future-ready policies and prepare high-quality projects for clients in line with the Bank’s transition mandate.

The Principal Engineer will be a member of the Project Preparation & Implementation (PP&I) Unit, which is part of the Sustainable Infrastructure Policy and Project Preparation (SI3P) team and is responsible for providing technical due diligence and project scoping with some in-delivery oversight. A key objective of the role is the identification of technical risks principally associated with RE projects, understand the wider energy resilience (energy transmission, distribution, storage and balancing) implications and also – as required – support in the development of ‘cross-over’ project opportunities which include the integration of renewable energy in transport and municipal investments as well as participating in the EBRD’s Green Cities initiative largely through support to Green City Action Plans (GCAPs) which are an integral part of this initiative.

Accountabilities & Responsibilities:

The Principal Engineer will provide technical support to the Energy Europe and Energy Eurasia MEA banking teams to originate and develop their pipeline of projects in the Power and Energy sector typically covering electricity generation (conventional and renewable), energy storage solutions, and gas distribution sectors. Currently, EBRD’s Power & Energy portfolio comprises over 200 projects across various sub-sectors: conventional generation, large and small hydropower plants, renewables, transmission & distribution of electricity, energy storage and distribution of natural gas.
The Principal Engineer will assist and work with other sector specialists and banking teams in other sectors (e.g. transport, water, solid waste, thermal energy) to promote, identify and develop “synergistic” project opportunities that have the potential to add value; this could include advising the latest innovations including digital solutions that enhance both projects and client capabilities.
The Principal Engineer will work in developing private and public sector projects. For each project, the Principal Engineer will report to the Operation Leader (OL) supporting project preparation, appraisal and monitoring (as appropriate).
The Principal Engineer will assist in the selection and appointment of external technical consultants, check and challenge their assignments technically including the quality and completeness of final appraisals that they prepare.
The Principal Engineer will liaise with teams from the Climate Strategy and Delivery (CSD), Environment & Sustainability (ESD) and Policy Strategy and Delivery (PSD) departments to positively influence EBRD’s policies and strategy.
As part of project approval process, the Principal Engineer will participate in the drafting of technical sections of internal memos and attend clarification meetings with Bank departments such as OCE, Credit, ESD, Procurement, Insurance and Legal or at Bank Committees and Board.
The Principal Engineer may meet with local Authorities, Sponsors and investors management to help facilitate the OL during the project life cycle and particularly during pre-signing of investments.
Carry out or supervise technical due diligence in order to appraise technical and commercial viability of projects in preparation.

Screen initial project proposals on its viability from technical point of view and to help inform OL and Team Director on whether Bank resources should be committed to develop specific projects.
Help prepare project related documentation including writing Terms of Reference for external consultant hiring process, internal Bank approval documentation etc. providing relevant technical input as necessary.
Maintain benchmarks of different technologies to ensure Team has state-of-the-art sector expertise.
Seek opportunities across sectors and across teams where a more integrated or novel approach could realise better projects.
Where necessary, carry out or supervise project monitoring in order to support loan disbursement process.
Support the Teams and Portfolio Managers with understanding of any technical issues during the lifetime of the loan agreement.
Contribute to development of related policies, Country and Bank Strategies and to the EBRD’s Green
Cities initiative.
Support the Teams in Head Quarter and Regional Offices with relevant sector related marketing activities to identify and scope new operations in the sector.
Provide on the job support/coaching to team colleagues in technical aspects of project screening, scoping, due diligence and monitoring to increase sector related skills and understandings.
Advise and assist Team procurement specialist on technical aspects of the projects to facilitate project implementation; advise PSD on rationale and transition impact aspects; interact with CSD in energy efficiency aspects of the projects and engage with ESD on environmental and social dimensions.

Knowledge, Skills, Experience & Qualifications:

Degree qualification in relevant engineering discipline; additional relevant finance, economics or business degree would be beneficial.
Proven track record and extensive experience in the field of Power Engineering with a relevant technical consultancy firm with experience of advising IFIs in relation to power projects, or organisation of similar expertise, plus an infrastructure utility company or corporate/project finance group or an IFI.
Experience of carrying out technical due diligence and monitoring of projects in the electricity generation (conventional and renewable), battery storage, both stand alone and hybrid solution with Wind Farms (WF) and Photovoltaic (PV) plants, and gas distribution sectors.
Experience with energy storage technologies would be considered particularly beneficial.
Experience in working in cross-cultural teams.
Sound understanding of banking/business principles.
Strong analytical and technical skills with the ability to interpret technical information and able to analyse and assess project viability.
Ability to communicate effectively and confidence in handling senior stakeholders.
Very good verbal and written communication skills in English.
Good report writing skills.

Language skills: