Which profiles can lead an industrial decarbonisation plan?
An industrial decarbonisation manager must master the emission-source processes, the regulatory frameworks (EU ETS, energy savings certificates, CSRD, taxonomy) and the technical solutions: efficiency and heat recovery, electrification with heat pumps, on-site renewables, carbon capture. This hybrid profile, technical and regulatory, is rare. It is found in the technical departments and CSR teams of large industrial groups, in engineering firms and in energy and environment consulting firms. Volta Executive goes after it through direct search, never through advertising: shortlist within 10 days, hire within 3 weeks.
How do you hire a decarbonisation project director?
These roles are almost always new creations, with no predecessor and no inherited job description. Scoping therefore matters as much as the search: exact scope, CAPEX budget, reporting line, seat on the executive committee. The candidate must have led an industrial project end to end, from study to start-up, and know how to defend an investment case before a general management. On a €200m energy transition programme, Volta Executive filled three C-suite management roles, an operations director and two plant directors, in 6, 6 and 4 weeks, with no advertisement published.
Heat pumps or renewables: which profiles to decarbonise a site?
The two levers complement each other and do not call for the same engineers. Electrifying heat with a high-temperature heat pump, coupled with waste heat recovery, calls for a thermal engineer who has already integrated a heat pump into a process and can size temperatures and capacities. On-site renewables, self-consumption solar, solar heat or geothermal, and renewable power purchase agreements (PPAs) call for a project and energy purchasing profile able to put the financing together and negotiate over fifteen years. Volta Executive hires both, through direct search.
Where do you find low-carbon process engineers?
In the process industries that have already begun their transition: chemicals, materials, food and beverage, paper, steel, cement, glass. Also at engineering firms and thermal equipment suppliers. These engineers are in post on multi-year projects and do not browse job listings. They move for a wider scope, a more ambitious project or a seat on the executive committee, rarely for salary alone.
What is the difference between a CSR manager and an industrial decarbonisation manager?
The CSR manager owns the non-financial strategy, the reporting and the relationship with stakeholders. The industrial decarbonisation manager owns tonnes of CO₂ avoided and an investment budget. They think in abatement cost, energy integration and works schedules. The two functions talk to each other, but the candidates are not interchangeable: an excellent CSR profile will not know how to choose between a high-temperature heat pump and flue gas recovery.
How do you hire for a carbon capture (CCUS) project?
It is one of the narrowest talent pools on the market. Few French projects have reached commissioning, so few candidates have the full experience. Profiles come from the energy majors, chemicals, industrial gas companies and engineering firms. You have to be willing to widen to adjacent processes, hire on technical potential rather than the exact line on the CV, and plan very far ahead of the project launch.
How do you hire an energy savings certificate expert engineer?
The market for energy savings certificate experts is concentrated around delegated parties, energy efficiency design offices and the energy services of large groups. Profiles who master standardised operation sheets, bespoke operation structuring and the relationship with ADEME are rare. Volta Executive supported AlphaCEE in hiring a senior energy savings certificate engineer in Lyon.
