Senior Director / Head of Energy, EMEA
UK, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Ireland •
CloudHQ
Job Type
Full-time
Description
Senior Director/Head of Energy, EMEA – CloudHQ
- Own and develop the EMEA energy strategy, aligning power planning and power capacity strategy with multi-year data centre development pipelines and business growth forecasts.
- Lead long-range power capacity planning, including grid availability assessments, utility engagement strategies, alternative generations strategies and phasing plans to support future site expansion.
- Partner with Site Acquisition, Legal, Sales/Leasing and Development teams to inform site selection, feasibility, and investment decisions from an energy perspective.
Program & Delivery Leadership:
- Provide executive oversight for energy infrastructure planning, design, and delivery across multiple concurrent hyperscale projects in EMEA.
- Balance hands-on technical engagement with portfolio-level prioritisation, risk management, and delivery governance
Technical & Standards Governance:
- Set and maintain regional infrastructure standards, design guidelines, and commissioning frameworks, ensuring alignment with global standards and local regulatory requirements.
- Serve as a senior subject matter expert for power infrastructure, including HV/MV systems, substations, generators, off-site generation, and on-site generation.
Utility, Partner & Stakeholder Management:
- Lead senior-level engagement with utilities, grid operators, regulators, and strategic vendors to secure power capacity, manage interconnections, and mitigate delivery risk.
- Build and maintain strong relationships with engineering consultants, EPCs, and OEMs to ensure technical excellence, commercial discipline, and delivery performance.
- Collaborate closely with internal stakeholders (Project Management, Operations, Finance, Legal, Site Acquisition and Development) to align infrastructure outcomes with broader business objectives.
Financial, Risk & Performance Oversight:
- Provide regional accountability for infrastructure energy budgets, schedules, and performance KPIs across the project portfolio.
- Identify and manage technical, commercial, and power delivery risks, escalating where required and implementing mitigation strategies proactively.
- Support capital planning, investment cases, and executive decision-making with clear, data-driven recommendations.
Leadership & Capability Development:
- Provide leadership, mentorship, and technical direction to regional infrastructure (and global) infrastructure considerations and matrixed project teams.
- Contribute to the development of a high-performing infrastructure function, capable of supporting rapid regional scaling.
- Potential opportunities to build and lead regional energy teams.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in business, law, energy policy, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, or related technical discipline; advanced degree preferred.
- 10+ years of experience in the energy sector, with significant exposure to EMEA markets and demonstrated progression into senior or regional leadership roles; strong preference for candidates with experience in data centre industry.
- Deep understanding of energy markets, regulatory frameworks, and commercial structures across EMEA.
- Proven experience leading multi-site, multi-year infrastructure programs in complex regulatory and utility environments.
- Strong track record of utility engagement, capacity planning, and interconnection delivery across multiple jurisdictions.
- Commercially astute, with experience influencing capital investment decisions and cost optimisation without compromising reliability.
- Demonstrated track record of leading and closing complex energy transactions.
- Technical expertise in HV/MV power systems, substations, off-site generation and/or on-site generation.
- Excellent executive-level communication and stakeholder management skills across technical and non-technical audiences.
- Fluent in English; German, French, Italian and/or Spanish highly desirable.
- Willingness to travel across the EMEA region & globally as required (travel 30-40% as standard)