Project Delivery Lead – District Heating Team

Codema group; Dublin; Hybrid; EUR 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

4-day working week

Equal opportunities employer

Job summary

Codema is seeking a Project Delivery Lead to guide the District Heating Team through feasibility, procurement and delivery. You will manage a portfolio of schemes, develop business models and engage with local authorities and public bodies to drive climate-friendly heat networks.

The role requires senior leadership, strong stakeholder relations and a track record of delivering complex infrastructure projects within a changing regulatory environment.

Qualifications

• Minimum 5 years’ experience managing a project delivery team in infrastructure
• Degree qualification relevant to the delivery of infrastructure projects (NFQ Level 7 or 8)
• Strong leadership and prioritisation across a portfolio
• Experience developing business models, commercial structures and contracts for public/private energy or infrastructure projects
• Experience with public procurement and major infrastructure routes including competitive dialogue or development partner models
• Strong verbal and written communication for diverse stakeholders
• Experience building and maintaining relationships with local authorities and public bodies
• Ability to operate in unsettled policy/regulatory environment and adapt to changes
• Meticulous attention to detail and delivery on time and within budget
• Well networked and informed on district heating developments
• Passionate about addressing climate change and sustainable energy

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor and develop the District Heating team and allocate resources across a portfolio of projects
• Grow the team’s technical capability and plan its resourcing and income with the CEO and senior management
• Serve as the primary point of contact for local authorities, public bodies and stakeholders on district heating
• Represent Codema on project boards and provide professional and technical support to schemes
• Lead schemes from inception through procurement and construction and into operation
• Support funding applications and manage grants with deadlines through 2030
• Develop business models, contracts and tariff propositions for DH projects
• Engage policymakers and prepare the organisation for new obligations under relevant heat legislation
• Contribute to wider objectives of the company as required

Skills

Team leadership

Stakeholder management

Project delivery

Strategic thinking

Communication

English fluency

Education

NFQ Level 7/8 degree

Tools

Microsoft Word

Excel

PowerPoint

Job description

Project Delivery Lead - District Heating Team

Codema is recruiting a Project Delivery Lead to lead our District Heating team and drive Dublin’s district heating projects from feasibility through procurement and into delivery.

The District Heating Team is an established team of four, spanning technical modelling and feasibility, scheme operation and implementation support, business case and commercial developmentand EU project development. The Team Lead reports to the CEO and works alongside the leads of Codema’s other cells.

The role is line management and technical leadership of that team: setting direction, allocating people across a portfolio of projects, deciding which opportunities to pursue and which to let pass, developing individual team members and being accountable for the quality of the team’s work.

Key responsibilities

Manage a Team of Staff

• Lead, mentor and develop the team, and allocate people across a portfolio of projects
• Grow the team’s technical capability and plan its resourcing and income with the CEO, COO and finance team

Main Contact Point for All DH Work at the Company

• Serve as the primary point of contact for the four Dublin Local Authorities, other local authorities, public bodies, state agencies and private stakeholders on district heating
• Represent Codema on project boards, steering groups and national forums, and update the CEO, senior management team and Board
• Provide professional and technical support to the Heatworks District Heating Company and the Tallaght scheme
• Build and maintain the relationships that make schemes possible — with anchor customers, heat suppliers, utilities, developers and funders

District Heating (DH) Project Development

• Lead schemes from inception through procurement and construction and into operation
• Oversee feasibility studies and recommend on the evidence which projects should progress and which should not
• Assure the technical quality of the Cell’s analysis, and the programme, budget and contractual compliance of scheme delivery
• Coordinate district heating with local area plans, Decarbonising Zones and other infrastructure programmes

Funding Applications

• Work with Codema’s Project Management and Development team on funding applications — SEAI District Heating Pre-Construction Fund, Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund, Climate Action Fund, EIB ELENA
• Work to a funding landscape with hard deadlines, including construction grant windows closing at end-2030
• Pursue new opportunities and lead competitive tenders for external advisory work

Commercialisation of DH Projects

• Appraise delivery and ownership models — local authority SPV, development partner and golden share, traditional design-bid-build — and advise partners on the trade‑offs in risk, cost, control and timeline
• Support partners through procurement, including competitive dialogue, and manage technical, commercial and legal advisors
• Develop business models, services agreements and tariff and heat supply propositions

Liaise with Policy Makers

• Engage the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment, the SEAI District Heating Centre of Excellence, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities and other key stakeholders to shape the framework as it develops
• Prepare Codema and its member authorities for the obligations arriving under the Heat Bill
• Advocate for supportive policy and funding, drawing on Codema’s project evidence

Other relevant tasks as may be required to contribute to the wider objectives of the company

The ideal candidate: Key attributes

• A strong leader who will manage, support and develop an established team, and drive district heating projects in a market that is still forming
• A self‑motivated, target‑driven and well‑organised person with the ability to work autonomously
• Has strong attention to detail, maintaining high standards for delivery, quality and accuracy
• A persuasive communicator with strong negotiation skills
• A strong networker with a talent for building and maintaining strong stakeholder relationships
• Has a broad understanding of technical, financial and legal aspects of infrastructure projects while maintaining a ‘big picture’ view of the team’s projects and work streams

Skills and experience

• Minimum 5 years’ experience managing a project delivery team in the infrastructure sector and/or relevant experience in a similar role
• A degree qualification relevant to the delivery of infrastructure projects (minimum NFQ Level 7 or 8)
• Strong leadership skills, with the ability to guide an existing team, manage competing priorities across a portfolio and support individual development
• Demonstrable experience of developing business models, commercial structures and contracts for public, private or joint venture energy or infrastructure projects
• Experience of public procurement and an understanding of the routes used for major infrastructure, including where competitive dialogue or a development partner model is appropriate
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, able to explain complex technical and commercial material to elected members, senior officials, funders and the public
• Experience of building and maintaining relationships with key stakeholders, including local authorities and public bodies
• Comfort operating in an unsettled policy and regulatory environment, with the judgement to progress projects ahead of full clarity and to adapt when the framework changes
• Meticulous attention to detail, and drive to deliver on time and within budget
• Well networked and actively keeping abreast of developments in district heating
• Passionate about addressing climate change and advancing sustainable energy solutions
• Fluency in English, and proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint, essential

Additional skills that would be a distinct advantage

• Solid understanding of heat networks, heat pumps, thermal storage and waste and ambient heat recovery, sufficient to lead and challenge technical work and to make investment recommendations from technical reports
• Direct experience of managing all aspects of district heating infrastructure projects — technical, financial, legal and commercial
• Experience of a district heating scheme in construction or operation, in any market
• Working knowledge of the Irish infrastructure guidelines and financial rules for public, private and joint venture infrastructure projects
• Experience with grant funding applications and the management of grant‑funded programmes, for example SEAI funds, the Climate Action Fund, EIB ELENA or EU programmes
• Experience working with, or within, the Irish public sector, including Part 8 planning, wayleaves and local authority governance
• Familiarity with the emerging Irish heat regulatory framework, or with heat network regulation in another jurisdiction
• Experience of energy or heat network modelling tools
• Business management or project management qualifications

Codema is an Equal Opportunities Employer.

Why work with Codema?

Learn more about what it’s like to work at Codema and the many benefits we offer, including a 4-day working week andfacilitating a positive and growth-focused working environment for our valued team.