Graduate Placement Assistant Technical Officer

Community Energy Scotland is recruiting for a Graduate Placement Assistant Technical Officer. We are looking to recruit an energetic, well-organised and self-motivated individual to work as part of our Technical Team delivering the technical aspects of several of CES’s projects. Training as required, personal development opportunities, and support will be provided by Community Energy Scotland.

• £28,330 per annum (pro rata of 35 hours per week full time) for a Graduate Placement
• Fixed-term appointment to 31st March 2027
• Full Time/Part Time Post (we are open to discuss part-time hours from a minimum of 28 hours to full-time at 35 hours per week)
• Some travel to other areas in Scotland is likely to be required, while keeping our carbon footprint down following Community Energy Scotland’s environmental policy

Overall Purpose

Working as part of a technical team in CES to provide practical & technical support for community energy project development across a portfolio of innovative projects and research activities on areas including renewable electricity generation, low carbon heat, sustainable transport, smart energy systems and building fabric improvements.

Main Tasks

• Tasks within the role will vary depending on current projects and the skillset of the Graduate Placement Assistant Technical Officer but may include any of the following:
• Working as a team to carry out options appraisals and analysis of the technical & financial feasibility of energy projects.
• Advising on technical systems and solutions for projects.
• Assess planning, technical, and spatial constraints in relation to renewable energy developments.
• To provide technical analysis of demand and generation profiles, and opportunities for closer integration of renewable energy sources and local loads.
• To generally give technical support to community energy groups and their activities and collaborate with community organisations to further the aim of a Just Energy Transition. This will include technical support and advice to communities on areas including reducing energy costs and increasing energy efficiency for their buildings and facilities and developing low-carbon local transport projects.
• To support communities through the process of setting up local energy clubs.
• Create viable financial models for investment in energy distribution infrastructure and new business models for energy delivery
• Delivery of framework & metrics, baselining & gap analysis and data collection for carbon audits and other work.
• Delivery of ground truthing to ensure carbon audits reflect as accurately as possible the picture of emissions across communities in Scotland.
• Energy monitoring and gathering baseline data such as data on energy demand and generation, and analysing this data using statistical methods, as well as innovative and exploratory methods. Coding computer scripts may also be used to work with live data streams such as those accessible over API to build data pipelines for project data requirements
• Customisation of these scripts to correctly format data or generate summative statistics.
• Supporting the Head of Development by providing technical inputs for bids and project proposals.
• To assist the CES (Trading) team in the delivery of innovation advice and consultancy to clients.
• To support the development of an innovation knowledge centre within CES, including a project database and toolkit for innovation options.