Director, Talent Acquisition

Job Description

BW ESS is a global energy storage owner-operator, moving with speed to develop, deliver and operate market-leading projects.

The business is active in the UK, Australia, Italy, Germany, Spain, and Sweden. It has more than 540MWh operating Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), with ~11GWh under construction and a development pipeline of several gigawatts.

Part of BW Group, BW ESS builds on decades of global infrastructure experience, takes a long-term view of projects and partnerships, and focuses on unlocking value throughout the energy storage asset lifecycle.

To find out more, visit: https://bw-ess.com/

About the Role

We are looking for a hands-on, proactive and collaborative Director of Talent Acquisition to lead recruitment across BW ESS's European markets, covering a broad range of functions and levels.

This role goes beyond managing vacancies. You will partner closely with business leaders, hiring managers and the People team to anticipate talent needs, shape effective hiring strategies and deliver high-quality talent. You will also bring market insight, challenge requirements where appropriate and help build consistent, scalable hiring practices as BW ESS grows.

This is a full-time, on-site role based in London, UK, reporting to the Chief People & Culture Officer.

Key Responsibilities

Recruitment & Talent Attraction

• Own end-to-end recruitment across multiple European markets, from intake and sourcing through assessment, offer and handover to onboarding.
• Develop targeted sourcing strategies and talent pipelines for current, recurring and strategically important roles.
• Conduct structured candidate assessments and provide clear, evidence-based recommendations to support hiring decisions.
• Ensure a high-quality, efficient experience for candidates and hiring managers throughout the recruitment process.

Stakeholder Partnership & Organisational Effectiveness

• Partner with business leaders, hiring managers and the People team to understand current and future talent needs and translate them into effective hiring plans.
• Act as a trusted advisor on role profiles, talent availability, market conditions, compensation trends and hiring strategy.
• Constructively challenge role requirements, scope, reporting lines, job titles and organisational design where appropriate, supporting a clear and scalable organisational structure.
• Coach hiring managers on effective interviewing and candidate assessment and promote internal mobility where appropriate.

Talent Intelligence & European Markets

• Build strong knowledge of European talent markets and provide relevant insights to support workforce and hiring decisions.
• Ensure recruitment approaches reflect local market conditions while maintaining consistent standards across BW ESS.
• Develop sustainable pipelines for business-critical and hard-to-fill talent.

Recruitment Operations & Continuous Improvement

• Use recruitment data and metrics to monitor performance, quality and effectiveness and identify opportunities for improvement.
• Continuously improve recruitment processes, tools and ways of working, including effective use of Greenhouse and LinkedIn Recruiter.
• Promote fair, consistent and objective recruitment practices across the organisation.

Employer Brand

• Partner with Marketing & Communications to strengthen BW ESS's employer brand and improve candidate attraction and engagement.
• Represent BW ESS in relevant professional and industry networks where appropriate.

Essential Skills & Experience

• 10+ years of Talent Acquisition experience, ideally within an international or multi-country European environment.
• Proven experience managing end-to-end recruitment across a broad range of functions, levels and business-critical roles.
• Strong direct sourcing, interviewing and candidate assessment capabilities.
• Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills, with the confidence to advise and constructively challenge senior leaders and hiring managers.
• Strong commercial judgement, ownership and delivery focus, with the ability to manage multiple priorities across countries.
• Good understanding of European talent markets and international recruitment.
• Experience using recruitment data and metrics to inform decisions and improve hiring outcomes.
• Excellent communication skills and professional fluency in English.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office.

Desirable Skills & Experience

• Experience recruiting within renewable energy, infrastructure or a similarly fast-paced growth environment.
• Experience or strong interest in applying AI solutions to Talent Acquisition.
• Experience with Greenhouse ATS and LinkedIn Recruiter.
• Additional European language skills.

How We Work

BW ESS culture and way of working is based on few clear foundations:

• Talent density over team size,
• Flexible people over fixed structures,
• Context over control,
• Results over processes,
• Transparent and clear feedback.

We move fast because our culture makes it possible - freedom empowers people to act quickly and thoughtfully, while responsibility ensures those actions remain accountable and aligned with shared goals. Together, they create a culture where speed is balanced by discipline, and efficiency thrives on trust.

We welcome applications from candidates of all backgrounds and experiences, and we are committed to an inclusive hiring process that supports equal opportunity.