Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Wind Farm Program Assistant

🎯 Role Definition

The Wind Farm Program Assistant is a cross-functional support role focused on delivering administrative, technical coordination, and operational oversight for wind energy projects. Acting as a bridge between project managers, field crews, vendors, regulators and community stakeholders, the Program Assistant drives program documentation, schedule tracking, permit compliance, data capture (SCADA/GIS), and routine reporting to ensure project milestones are met and operational risks are mitigated.

Key focus areas: project controls, health & safety coordination, environmental compliance, logistics, vendor and contract administration, data reporting and continuous process improvement for onshore wind farm projects.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Wind Turbine Technician / Field Service Technician seeking transition to coordination roles
Administrative Assistant or Executive Assistant with exposure to technical projects
Junior Project Coordinator or Project Administrator from construction or energy sectors

Advancement To:

Program Coordinator / Project Coordinator — Wind Projects
Project Manager, Construction or O&M
Asset Manager / Operations Manager for wind portfolios

Lateral Moves:

Environmental Compliance Specialist (renewables)
Community and Stakeholder Relations Coordinator
Health, Safety & Environment (HSE) Officer

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Coordinate day-to-day program activities across construction, commissioning and operations teams for multiple wind farm sites, ensuring all tasks are scheduled, assigned and tracked to meet project milestones and contractual deadlines.
Maintain and update detailed project schedules (MS Project, Primavera or equivalent), identify critical path items, escalate schedule risks to project managers, and prepare weekly and monthly schedule variance reports for stakeholders.
Prepare, consolidate and distribute comprehensive program status reports, KPI dashboards and executive summaries that combine cost, schedule, quality, HSE and progress metrics for senior leadership and external investors.
Act as the central point for document control: organize engineering drawings, permits, contracts, change orders, inspection reports and O&M manuals; ensure version control, secure storage and audit-ready documentation.
Support procurement and vendor management by coordinating RFQs/RFPs, collecting vendor paperwork, tracking delivery schedules, verifying invoices against contract terms and maintaining vendor performance logs.
Track budgets and expenditures at the program and site level, reconcile purchase orders and invoices with the finance team, monitor forecast vs actuals and flag budget overruns with recommended corrective actions.
Coordinate logistics for heavy lifts, turbine deliveries and site access, including liaising with transportation providers, port authorities, local agencies and environmental monitors to ensure safe and compliant movement of components.
Support regulatory permit management and compliance tracking by maintaining a permit register, monitoring permit conditions, scheduling required inspections and coordinating submittal of compliance reports to authorities.
Assist with environmental and community monitoring programs by coordinating baseline and ongoing surveys, documenting mitigation measures, and preparing environmental compliance reports required by regulators and lenders.
Facilitate communications between on-site crews, engineers, and remote stakeholders by organizing daily stand-ups, producing meeting minutes, and ensuring actionable items are followed through to closure.
Manage and maintain SCADA and asset data intake protocols by coordinating with control room, turbine OEMs and data analysts to ensure reliable telemetry, alarm handling and data-driven performance monitoring.
Support HSE programs by maintaining incident logs, tracking corrective actions, coordinating toolbox talks, helping facilitate site safety meetings and ensuring that certifications and training records are up-to-date for field crews.
Assist with commissioning and acceptance testing coordination — schedule functional tests, record test results, manage punch lists, coordinate OEM support and prepare final commissioning documentation for asset handover.
Maintain and update GIS and site mapping resources, support geospatial asset tracking (access roads, turbines, electrical infrastructure), and provide mapping outputs for planning, permitting and operations use.
Execute quality assurance and inspection tracking by organizing third-party inspection schedules, maintaining NCR (non-conformance report) registers and coordinating timely closure of quality issues with engineering.
Lead routine administrative tasks including travel coordination, meeting logistics, expense reporting, and onboarding support for temporary field staff and contractors.
Support development and administration of project controls tools, templates and processes (cost change control, risk registers, lessons learned) to standardize program reporting across the portfolio.
Coordinate contractor onboarding, ensuring pre-qualification documents, insurance certificates, HSE plans and site-specific training are completed and on file before mobilization.
Assist with stakeholder engagement and communications by preparing community notices, compiling responses to inquiries, coordinating open houses and maintaining stakeholder contact lists and engagement logs.
Manage data collection and basic analysis efforts: consolidate production data, prepare performance variance reports, support loss analysis and feed insights to the operations team for troubleshooting.
Coordinate workforce scheduling and resource allocation across multiple workfronts to optimize labor utilization, minimize downtime and respond quickly to emergent field issues.
Support contract administration by tracking key contractual milestones, managing small change order processes, and preparing documentation required for claims or progress payment submissions.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.
Assist with the development and maintenance of standard operating procedures (SOPs) and checklists for construction, commissioning and routine operations tasks.
Provide backup support for the Program Manager in coordinating cross-functional project reviews, risk workshops and post-construction close-out activities.
Help coordinate training programs and competency matrices for field personnel, ensuring continuous learning for turbine OEM systems, electrical safety and environmental awareness.
Support the preparation of lender, investor and insurance reporting packets, compiling required evidence of compliance, performance and risk mitigation activities.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Project coordination and program controls: experience maintaining program schedules (MS Project, Primavera), tracking milestones, and producing schedule variance reports.
Document control systems: experience with engineering drawing repositories, SharePoint, Aconex or similar and strong version control discipline.
Basic financial acumen: budget tracking, PO reconciliation, invoice validation and familiarity with cost forecasting processes.
Regulatory & permit management: knowledge of local and federal permitting processes for wind development and ability to maintain permit condition registers.
SCADA and turbine data familiarity: basic understanding of turbine telemetry, alarm management and performance monitoring concepts.
GIS and mapping tools: experience using ArcGIS, QGIS or Google Earth for asset mapping and spatial data coordination.
Health & Safety coordination: familiarity with HSE documentation, incident reporting, permit-to-work systems and site safety procedures.
Procurement and contract administration: understanding of RFQ/RFP processes, vendor pre-qualification and basic contract change control.
Microsoft Office suite (advanced Excel for reporting and PivotTables, PowerPoint for stakeholder presentations, Outlook/Teams for communication).
Experience with CMMS/Asset Management systems (e.g., Maximo, SAP PM) or willingness to learn.
Basic data analysis skills: ability to extract, clean and present data for actionable insights using tools such as Excel, Power BI or Tableau.
Logistics coordination: planning oversized transport, crane scheduling and coordinating site access controls.

Soft Skills

Strong written and verbal communication targeted at technical and non-technical audiences.
High attention to detail and strong organizational skills to manage complex document sets and concurrent tasks.
Problem-solving mindset with the ability to escalate appropriately and propose practical mitigations.
Stakeholder management and diplomacy when coordinating across contractors, regulators and community members.
Time management and prioritization with the ability to work under tight deadlines in dynamic field environments.
Team player orientation with collaborative approach to cross-functional teamwork.
Adaptability to changing project needs and field conditions, including occasional travel and site visits.
Proactive attitude and continuous improvement mindset to streamline processes and improve reporting efficiency.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Associate degree or technical diploma in Engineering Technology, Environmental Science, Business Administration or related field; OR equivalent combination of education and relevant work experience.

Preferred Education:

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical/Electrical/Civil Engineering, Renewable Energy, Environmental Management, Project Management, or Business.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Renewable Energy / Wind Energy Technology
Engineering Technology (Mechanical, Electrical, Civil)
Environmental Science or Environmental Engineering
Business Administration, Project Management, Construction Management
GIS / Geospatial Science

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

1–5 years of relevant experience in wind energy projects, construction, utilities, or large-scale infrastructure programs.

Preferred:

3+ years supporting wind farm construction, commissioning or operations with experience in project controls, HSE coordination, permit compliance and vendor management.
Experience working with turbine OEMs, SCADA systems, and construction contractors is highly desirable.
Prior exposure to lender/compliance reporting, environmental monitoring programs and community engagement for infrastructure projects is a plus.