Head of Customer Design

Job Description

Help us create a better future, quicker!

At ScottishPower, we're working hard to decarbonise the UK's energy system and deliver a smarter, greener electricity network for our customers and communities. Through SP Energy Networks, we keep power flowing to more than 3 million homes and businesses - and our SP Manweb teams play a vital role in enabling the transition to Net Zero across England and Wales.

We're now recruiting a Head of Customer Design to lead our customer design activities within the North Wales & Dee Valley Districts. This is a key leadership role responsible for ensuring compliant, safe, and efficient customer connection designs that support local communities and the future energy system.

What you'll be doing

As Head of Customer Design, you'll lead a multi‑discipline team delivering high quality engineering designs for customer distribution network connections. Operating within our SP Manweb business and focused on the North Wales & Dee Valley District, you'll ensure our design activities meet regulatory obligations, achieve strong customer outcomes, and align with our strategic goals.

You'll take ownership of a customer funded portfolio worth around £20m per year, with demand forecast to grow significantly in the coming years. This role will be central in driving performance, safety, innovation, and excellent customer service within a part of the network experiencing major growth and investment.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead, coach and develop a team of technical designers delivering customer connection designs within the North Wales & Dee Valley District.
• Manage compliance with SP Manweb licence conditions, including SLC 12, 15 and 15A.
• Oversee the delivery and approval of "Point of Connection" designs for the district.
• Drive continuous improvement through performance analysis, customer feedback, and innovation.
• Produce cost‑effective, constructable designs from initial customer enquiry through to handover for delivery.
• Build strong relationships with customers, local stakeholders and industry partners.
• Lead and promote a strong safety culture, embedding compliance across all design activity.
• Provide accurate reporting aligned with Iberdrola and UK regulatory requirements.
• Work collaboratively with other Heads of Customer Design to deliver wider SP Manweb strategic objectives.

What You'll Bring

• Electrical Engineering / professional qualification, or equivalent experience.
• Significant experience in distribution network design and planning (ideally up to 33kV).
• Experience within another DNO or an Independent Connections Provider (ICP) is highly desirable.
• Proven management and leadership experience, with the ability to develop, motivate and performance manage a technical team.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder skills, with the ability to be strongly customer facing and effectively manage customer expectations.
• Strong regulatory and commercial awareness, with the ability to balance customer service, engineering integrity and financial outcomes.
• Ability to address complex engineering challenges while maintaining high safety, customer and commercial standards, supported by strong planning and prioritisation skills to manage competing demands in a fast paced environment.

What's in it for you

As well as a competitive salary which is reviewed annually, you can also enjoy a number of other benefits. With our pension scheme, we'll double match your contribution up to a company contribution of 10%.

At ScottishPower, we believe it's the little things we do in life that make a big difference. From helping you look after your family's wellbeing, save for your future and take personal steps for climate action - our benefits are designed to help you do just that - so that you have everything you need to take care of your world - today and tomorrow.

That's why our benefits include:

• 36 days annual leave
• Holiday purchase - perfect your work/life balance with extra annual leave
• Share Incentive Plan and Sharesave Scheme
• Payroll giving and charity matched funding
• Technology Vouchers - save more and spread the cost of your technology purposes
• Count us in - pledge to reduce carbon emissions and help fight climate change
• Electric Vehicle Schemes - to help you transition to green/clean driving
• Cycle to Work scheme and public transport season ticket loans
• Options to purchase dental insurance, private medical insurance, health cash plan and annual health assessments
• Life Assurance (4x salary)
• Access to 'nudge' financial wellbeing support
• Plus shopping, leisure, restaurant and gym discounts, and unique employee deals on travel insurance and more

Why SP Energy Networks

SP Energy Networks is part of the Iberdrola Group, one of the world's largest integrated utility companies and a world leader in wind energy. We keep electricity flowing to homes and businesses through Central and Southern Scotland, North Wales and in the North West of England. We operate over 4000km of cables and lines that make-up the transmission network - connecting infrastructure like wind farms into the electricity system. It's a role that puts us right at the heart of Scotland's ambition to be Net Zero by 2044. And we're taking it very seriously.

With diverse opportunities across our businesses and a commitment to invest in our own internal talent, ScottishPower can offer people real career opportunities that meet personal and professional goals, in a global organisation.

Inclusion, diversity, and a social purpose are at the heart of everything we do. Together with our values, they bring us together into a stronger, more sustainable business with direct links to the communities we serve. It takes all kinds of people to build a large-scale business like ours, so whatever your background, you'll fit right in.

We are committed to providing reasonable support or adjustments in our recruiting processes for candidates with disabilities, long term conditions, mental health conditions, or who are neurodivergent or require pregnancy-related support. If you need support, please reach out to [email protected].

Mobility

Please note that any applicant who is not a citizen of the country of the vacancy will be subject to compliance with the applicable immigration requirements to legally work in that country. If/when required, the Company will support the employee with the necessary Immigration requirements.