Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Wind Turbine Program Director

🎯 Role Definition

The Wind Turbine Program Director is a senior leader responsible for end-to-end delivery and performance of wind turbine programs—spanning development, procurement, installation, commissioning, operations & maintenance (O&M), repowering, and decommissioning. This role combines strategic program management, technical turbine expertise, commercial and contract oversight, stakeholder engagement, and HSE leadership to ensure assets meet availability, reliability, budget, schedule, and environmental objectives. The Program Director leads cross-functional teams including engineering, project management, supply chain, safety, finance, and external partners (OEMs, EPCs, utilities, regulators).

Key SEO/LLM keywords: wind turbine program director, wind farm program management, turbine O&M, offshore wind director, onshore wind program, asset management, turbine performance optimization, wind portfolio leadership.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Senior Project Manager (Wind / Renewable Energy)
Head of O&M or Regional O&M Manager
Technical Lead / Principal Wind Engineer

Advancement To:

VP / Head of Wind Programs or Renewable Projects
Chief Operating Officer (renewables asset owner or developer)
Director of Global Asset Management

Lateral Moves:

Director of Offshore Wind Projects
Head of Turbine Procurement & Contracts
Director of Health, Safety & Environment for Wind Operations

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Own and drive the full program lifecycle for multi-site wind turbine portfolios, including concept, engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, operations, repowering and decommissioning—ensuring programs meet schedule, cost, quality, and safety targets.
Develop and execute the program strategy and roadmap aligned to corporate objectives for wind energy growth, capacity factor improvement, and lifecycle cost optimization across onshore and offshore turbines.
Lead capital and operational budgeting processes including multi-year forecasting, tracking program P&L, variance analysis, and delivering financial targets (CAPEX, OPEX, ROI) for wind turbine projects and assets.
Manage high-value contracts and commercial arrangements with OEMs, EPCs, balance-of-plant contractors, logistics providers and service vendors—directing contract negotiations, performance clauses, change orders, and warranty management.
Serve as the primary executive-level interface with internal stakeholders (executive leadership, finance, legal, permitting, environmental, grid operators) and external stakeholders (utilities, landowners, regulators, local governments, lenders, insurers).
Provide technical leadership on turbine technology selection, performance modeling (AEP, availability), condition monitoring strategies, SCADA analytics, and root-cause analysis to maximize revenue and minimize unscheduled downtime.
Oversee site construction and commissioning to ensure turbine installation meets specification, manufacturer recommendations, regulatory compliance, and handover readiness for operation.
Implement and continually improve reliability-centered maintenance strategies (predictive, preventive, corrective), spares strategy, and O&M contracts to increase fleet availability and reduce total cost of ownership.
Lead health, safety, environment and quality (HSEQ) governance across programs—establishing program-level HSE objectives, incident reduction plans, environmental compliance, and emergency response readiness for all turbine sites.
Drive supply chain and logistics planning for long-lead turbine components, blades, towers, gearboxes, and electrical equipment—mitigating risks through supplier diversification, vendor performance management and inventory optimization.
Establish clear program KPIs and performance dashboards (availability, forced outage rate, mean time to repair, AEP realization, OPEX per MW) and report program health to the executive leadership and board-level stakeholders.
Manage and mentor multi-disciplinary program teams (project managers, engineers, commercial managers, safety professionals), setting priorities, performance objectives, recruitment, and career development.
Lead risk identification, quantification and mitigation across technical, commercial, permitting, environmental and schedule dimensions—preparing contingency plans and escalation pathways.
Oversee permitting and regulatory compliance activities, securing necessary approvals, grid connections and environmental permits, and maintaining constructive relationships with permitting authorities and community stakeholders.
Direct lifecycle extension and repowering assessments—evaluating technical feasibility, economic modeling, grid impact, and contractor strategies to extend asset life or replace turbines to improve performance.
Coordinate grid connection and electrical design integration for turbine arrays and substation interfaces—ensuring compliance with interconnection standards, reactive power management, and SCADA integration.
Manage warranty and claims processes with OEMs, leveraging technical data and inspection reports to resolve performance issues and ensure timely rectification under warranty terms.
Oversee quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) processes during manufacturing acceptance testing, pre-shipment inspections, site erection and commissioning activities to ensure conformance to specifications.
Lead cost-control initiatives and value-engineering workshops with procurement and engineering teams to reduce total installed cost without compromising reliability or safety.
Shape and own the stakeholder communications plan—regularly communicating program milestones, operational performance, community engagement activities, and risk status to internal and external audiences.
Drive sustainability initiatives related to project siting, blade recycling, lifecycle carbon accounting and circular economy approaches for wind assets.
Coordinate claims, insurance notifications and resolution processes for weather events, major component failures, or construction incidents, working closely with insurers and legal counsel.
Direct the integration of digital tools—asset management systems, digital twin modeling, SCADA analytics and condition monitoring platforms—to enable data-driven decision-making and predictive maintenance.
Champion continuous improvement, lessons-learned capture and cross-program knowledge transfer to institutionalize best practices and reduce recurring failures across wind programs.
Provide subject-matter expertise during M&A activities, including technical due diligence, asset valuation, and transition planning for acquired wind portfolios.

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.
Facilitate cross-functional workshops for root-cause analysis and reliability improvement.
Represent the program at industry forums, conferences and regulatory stakeholder meetings.
Support business development efforts by providing technical input for proposals and bid evaluations.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Program and project management for large capital wind programs (MS Project, Primavera P6, or equivalent).
Deep technical knowledge of wind turbine systems (blades, nacelle, gearbox, generator, pitch, yaw, control systems, electrical systems).
Experience with turbine OEMs, EPC contractors, and O&M service models (fixed price, availability contracts, performance-based agreements).
Financial acumen: budgeting, forecasting, P&L management, cost control, and commercial evaluation of CAPEX/OPEX.
Contract negotiation and commercial management including NEC, FIDIC or owner-supplier contracts and warranty claims handling.
Familiarity with offshore and onshore logistics, heavy-lift operations, port and harbor coordination, and marine coordination (if offshore programs included).
Knowledge of SCADA systems, condition monitoring platforms, asset management systems (e.g., Maximo), and data analytics for turbine performance optimization.
Risk management and mitigation frameworks (risk registers, quantitative risk assessment, contingency planning).
Strong understanding of HSE regulations, environmental permitting, and safety management systems for wind construction and operations.
Proven ability to develop reliability-centered maintenance programs and spare parts strategies based on remaining useful life and failure modes.
Experience with grid connection processes, interconnection agreements, and electrical balance-of-plant design considerations.
Familiarity with lifecycle assessment, repowering studies, and decommissioning plans for wind assets.
Proficient in stakeholder engagement, community relations, and permitting processes.
Ability to lead technical due diligence for acquisitions or divestitures of wind assets.

Soft Skills

Executive leadership and team-building skills with experience leading multi-disciplinary, geographically dispersed teams.
Excellent communicator—able to present complex technical and commercial information to executives, boards, regulators and community stakeholders.
Strategic thinker with strong problem-solving capability and a track record of delivering large, complex programs.
Negotiation and influencing skills, able to secure favorable terms with OEMs, contractors and partners.
Strong stakeholder management and political acumen for working across internal functions and external agencies.
Decision-making under uncertainty with the ability to prioritize actions and allocate resources effectively.
Coaching and talent development mindset to build high-performing program teams.
Resilience and adaptability in a dynamic project delivery and operational environment.
Data-driven mindset with attention to metrics, KPIs and continuous improvement.
Collaborative leader who fosters safety-first culture and cross-functional alignment.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Renewable Energy, or related technical field.

Preferred Education:

Master’s degree (MSc, MEng, MBA) in Engineering Management, Renewable Energy, Project Management, Business Administration or equivalent.
PMP, Prince2, or PgMP certification; or industry certifications in asset management, HSE, or reliability engineering.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Mechanical, Electrical or Civil Engineering
Renewable Energy / Wind Energy Technology
Project Management / Engineering Management
Business Administration / Finance (for commercial oversight)

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 10–20+ years in energy or wind industry, with at least 5–8 years in senior program/project leadership roles.

Preferred:

Demonstrated track-record managing multi-site wind turbine programs (onshore/offshore) with >$50M program budgets.
Experience interfacing with turbine OEMs, EPCs, insurers, lenders and regulatory bodies.
Proven leadership of cross-functional teams in construction, commissioning and long-term operations.
Prior experience with repowering, major component retrofit programs or large-scale reliability improvement initiatives.
International project experience and familiarity with offshore wind logistics is a strong plus.