Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Wind Director

🎯 Role Definition

This role requires an experienced, commercially-minded Wind Director to lead end-to-end wind project development, execution, and operations for a growing renewable energy portfolio. The ideal candidate combines deep technical knowledge of wind turbines, grid interconnection and O&M best practices with proven commercial acumen in PPAs, contracts, budgeting and investor reporting. This role will be accountable for portfolio performance, risk management, permitting, community and stakeholder engagement, and building high-performing teams to deliver projects on time and on budget while maximizing energy yield and lifetime value.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Senior Project Manager — Wind Development
Head of Wind Operations or Asset Manager
Technical Lead / Principal Engineer — Wind Projects

Advancement To:

Vice President, Wind / Renewables
Chief Operating Officer — Renewables
Head of Global Wind Development or Asset Management

Lateral Moves:

Director, Offshore Wind Development
Director, Renewable Project Commercialization
Director, Energy Trading & Optimization

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Lead the full lifecycle development and delivery of wind projects — site identification, resource assessment, interconnection planning, permitting, design, procurement, construction management, commissioning and handover to operations — ensuring projects meet schedule, budget, safety and quality targets.
Own commercial strategy for the wind portfolio including PPA negotiation and execution, merchant exposure management, revenue forecasting, and pricing strategies to maximize project return on investment and secure long-term offtake.
Manage the technical due diligence, appraisal and execution of acquisitions and divestitures including review of performance data, O&M records, contract structures, warranties, insurance, and deferred maintenance risks to support M&A decisions and valuation.
Direct capital and operational budgeting processes for the wind portfolio, set multi-year CAPEX/OPEX plans, approve large capital projects, and monitor actuals to ensure disciplined financial governance and transparent reporting to executives and investors.
Oversee vendor, EPC and OEM relationships including negotiation of turbine supply agreements, construction contracts, service agreements and warranties; enforce commercial terms, performance guarantees and adherence to SLAs.
Drive asset management and operational performance: monitor SCADA and fleet analytics, implement performance improvement plans, optimize availability and energy production, and reduce levelized cost of energy (LCOE).
Champion health, safety, and environmental (HSE) programs across development, construction and operations; ensure compliance with local and national regulations and promote a zero-harm safety culture.
Lead permitting and environmental consenting activities, coordinating with consultants, legal, regulatory bodies and stakeholders to secure land use, wildlife, cultural and environmental permits and meet mitigation requirements.
Develop and execute stakeholder engagement and community relations strategies including landowner agreements, municipal and indigenous consultations, community benefits, and public communications to secure social license and reduce project risk.
Supervise grid interconnection and transmission planning activities: manage queue positions, coordinate system impact studies, negotiate interconnection agreements, and mitigate curtailment and congestion risk through technical and commercial solutions.
Implement digitalization and analytics programs that leverage SCADA, meteorological data, predictive maintenance, and machine learning to improve forecasting accuracy, reduce downtime and lower operating costs.
Manage a cross-functional team of developers, engineers, project managers, commercial analysts and operations staff; recruit, mentor and develop talent and establish clear KPIs, performance reviews and succession plans.
Lead risk management and contingency planning across the portfolio, maintain a risk register, stress test scenarios (e.g., market, weather, regulatory) and design hedging, insurance and contractual mitigants.
Coordinate construction management and quality assurance/control: approve construction methodologies, oversee commissioning protocols, manage punch lists, and validate completion criteria to ensure handover readiness.
Oversee warranty and claims management processes: track OEM/contractor warranty obligations, escalate performance shortfalls, lead claims resolution and capture lessons learned to improve contract terms and future procurement.
Ensure regulatory compliance and reporting: file required filings with energy regulators, maintain environmental monitoring programs, and deliver compliance documentation to lenders, insurers and permitting authorities.
Set and track KPIs for availability, capacity factor, forced outage rate, mean time to repair, and O&M cost per MWh to continuously improve operational performance and inform board-level reporting.
Collaborate with finance teams to support project financing, tax equity structures, grant applications, and debt facilities by providing technical and commercial documentation required by lenders and investors.
Lead innovation programs to test and deploy next-generation turbine technologies, repowering strategies, energy storage integration and hybridization to extend asset life and enhance revenue streams.
Define and implement lifecycle maintenance strategies including preventive, predictive and corrective maintenance plans, spare parts optimization and Budget vs Actual monitoring.
Coordinate with energy traders and market operations to optimize dispatch, manage imbalance exposure, curtailment strategies and participate in ancillary services markets where applicable.
Drive sustainability and ESG initiatives across the wind portfolio, including carbon accounting, biodiversity action plans, local economic development and transparent stakeholder reporting.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis to enable commercial decisions and continuous improvement.
Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap by defining data needs for asset performance and market optimization.
Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements for monitoring, forecasting and asset management tools.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team to prioritize product features that improve asset visibility and decision-making.
Represent the company externally at industry conferences, regulatory hearings and with trade associations to influence policy and share best practices.
Prepare and present executive-level updates, board materials and investor briefings highlighting portfolio health, major milestones and risk posture.
Support business development teams by providing technical input to bids, RFPs and consortium formation for new wind development opportunities.
Oversee vendor performance metrics and periodic contract reviews, ensuring delivery meets specified KPIs and contractual obligations.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Proven expertise in wind project development and execution, including site selection, resource assessment, micrositing and energy yield modeling (Wake modeling, WAsP, WindFarmer or OpenWind).
Strong knowledge of wind turbine technology, drivetrain and rotor dynamics, turbine selection criteria and O&M best practices.
Experience with grid interconnection processes, transmission planning, system impact studies and interconnection agreement negotiation.
Commercial skills in PPA structuring, offtake negotiation, merchant exposure management and revenue forecasting models.
Contract negotiation and management skills for EPC, O&M, turbine supply, and service agreements with a focus on warranties, liquidated damages and performance guarantees.
Financial acumen: budgeting, CAPEX/OPEX planning, LCOE optimization, project finance, balance-sheet vs project finance structures, and investor reporting.
Familiarity with SCADA systems, condition monitoring, predictive maintenance tools, and data analytics platforms for asset optimization.
Regulatory and permitting expertise covering environmental assessments, wildlife studies, land rights, local zoning and compliance reporting.
Risk management and insurance knowledge including claims management, performance guarantees, and mitigation of resource and construction risks.
Experience with digital tools and analytics (Python/R, SQL, Tableau/Power BI) for performance reporting, forecasting and decision support.
Understanding of offshore wind specifics (if applicable): marine civil works, foundation design, metocean studies, and offshore installation logistics.
Knowledge of health, safety and environmental (HSE) standards and the ability to implement site-level safety systems and protocols.
Experience with repowering, hybrid projects and energy storage integration strategies that enhance grid services and asset value.

Soft Skills

Strategic leadership with the ability to translate vision into executable project plans and measurable outcomes.
Strong stakeholder engagement and public-facing communication skills for effective community relations and regulatory interaction.
Excellent negotiation and influencing skills to secure contracting terms, land agreements, and commercial deals.
Problem-solving mindset and decisiveness under uncertainty; ability to prioritize and pivot when market or regulatory conditions change.
Team building, coaching and talent development skills to foster a high-performance, collaborative culture.
Effective written and verbal communication with experience producing executive summaries, board presentations and technical reports.
Change management and continuous improvement orientation to drive operational excellence and adoption of new technologies.
Cross-cultural sensitivity and ability to work with diverse stakeholder groups including indigenous communities and multi-jurisdictional regulators.
Project management discipline with experience running multiple concurrent large-scale projects and meeting critical milestones.
Attention to detail and rigorous documentation practices for compliance, contracting and technical accuracy.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (Electrical, Mechanical, Civil), Renewable Energy, Environmental Science, or a related technical discipline.

Preferred Education:

Master’s degree in Engineering, Renewable Energy, Business Administration (MBA) or Finance.
Professional certifications such as PE (Professional Engineer), PMP, or certificates in Renewable Energy Management, HSE or Project Finance are advantageous.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Wind / Renewable Energy Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Civil / Structural Engineering
Environmental Science / Ecology
Business Administration / Finance
Project Management

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 10–20+ years of progressive experience in wind energy, renewable project development, construction, operations or asset management.

Preferred:

12+ years of relevant experience with at least 5 years in a senior leadership role managing multi-site portfolios or large-scale development programs.
Demonstrated track record delivering utility-scale wind projects from early development through commercial operation or leading complex operational turnarounds.
Experience interfacing with lenders, investors and executing project finance or tax-equity structures.
Past success negotiating PPAs, EPC contracts, turbine supply agreements and long-term O&M arrangements.
Direct experience with regulatory processes, permitting regimes and community engagement in the regions where the business operates.
Proven ability to lead cross-functional teams, manage external consultants, and deliver against schedule and financial targets.