Head of Department Solar & Battery Storage, Service Area Renewables Northern Europe

DNV GL; Arnhem; Hybrid; EUR 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid Working

Profit Sharing

International Collaboration

Job summary

DNV GL in Arnhem, Netherlands, seeks Head of Department Solar & Battery Storage to lead performance, growth and strategic development of our Renewables Solar & Battery Storage consulting in Northern Europe. The department comprises 36 employees across Benelux, DACH, Nordics and Poland.

You will set direction, empower leaders, translate strategy into priorities, and drive value for developers, investors and utilities while advancing AI-enabled advisory services.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience in a relevant field.
• Experience leading teams, preferably multiple leadership levels in an international context.
• Proven ability to shape value propositions, grow advisory services and manage a sales pipeline.
• Practical understanding of how AI and digital tools enhance consulting value.

Responsibilities

• Strategic leadership, sales and business growth: define and execute the department strategy and drive growth.
• Department performance: own financials, profitability and delivery quality.
• Leadership of leaders: coach and develop line managers across locations.
• Service and market development: shape portfolio, identify opportunities and deliver measurable results.
• Consulting and customer value: ensure actionable client value through a consulting mindset.
• AI and digital leadership: promote responsible adoption of AI and digital tools.
• Execution and continuous improvement: translate decisions into action and improve processes.
• Strategic collaboration: partner across DNV to mobilize expertise and opportunities.

Skills

Leadership experience

Consulting sales experience

AI & digital mindset

English language

Business development

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Job description

We are seeking a Head of Department Solar & Battery Storage, Service Area Renewables Northern Europe to lead the performance, growth and strategic development of our Solar & Battery Storage consulting business in Northern Europe. The department comprises three sections and one team, with a total of 36 employees. The ambition is to significantly grow the team in the years to come.

• Business: Energy Systems
• Position type: Full Time
• Contract type: Permanent Employee
• All locations: Hamburg, Germany; Dresden, Germany; Groningen, Netherlands; Arnhem, Netherlands; Anvers, Belgium; Warszawa, Poland; Gdynia, Poland; Espoo, Finland; Solna, Sweden.

About the role

Are you an inclusive and commercially minded leader who enjoys turning market opportunities into successful consulting services? We are looking for someone who combines strong leadership with a proactive, hands-on approach to business development, service innovation and the practical use of AI and digital tools.

To achieve our strategic ambitions and remain future-ready, Energy Systems needs leaders who can build strong teams, develop relevant services and convert strategy into measurable results. Our Renewables Service Area is central to DNV's ambition to enable a safe, efficient and accelerated energy transition. We support customers across the full project lifecycle, from early development through operations, helping them make decisions grounded in evidence, insight and trust. Our advisory services include feasibility studies, energy production assessments, due diligence, owner’s engineering, measurements and operational support for wind, solar and battery storage projects.

The Solar & Battery Storage department is one of three units in Renewables. It delivers technical, analytical and commercial advisory services to developers, owners, investors, utilities and other stakeholders, supporting the development, financing, construction, operation and optimization of solar and battery storage projects throughout their lifecycles. The department serves customers across Northern Europe and is organized across four geographical areas: Benelux, DACH, the Nordics and Poland.

The role reports to the Service Area Manager, Renewables Northern Europe.

As Head of Department, you will set a clear direction, empower leaders and teams, and translate strategy into measurable priorities and action. You will be accountable for sustainable growth, profitability, operational performance and a strong, inclusive culture. A central part of the role is to anticipate evolving customer needs, challenge established approaches and turn promising ideas into scalable consulting services.

Working closely with Service Area Leadership, Key Account Managers, Market Area Managers and Segment Leads, you will strengthen customer relationships, identify new market opportunities and reinforce DNV’s position as a trusted advisor in the energy transition.

Key responsibilities:

• Strategic leadership, sales and business growth: Define and execute the department strategy in alignment with the objectives of Renewables Northern Europe and Energy Systems. Translate strategic priorities into clear plans, build and manage a strong sales pipeline, and drive sustainable growth, profitability, order intake and market positioning across Northern Europe. Support strategic bids and key customer engagements to convert opportunities into profitable business.
• Department performance: Own the department’s financial and operational performance, including revenue, profitability, utilization, quality and delivery. Monitor performance, address issues early and implement effective actions to achieve agreed targets.
• Leadership of leaders: Lead, coach and develop the Line Managers within the department. Set clear expectations, enable sound decision-making and build an inclusive leadership culture based on trust, accountability, collaboration and continuous learning.
• Service and market development: Anticipate changing customer needs, market developments and emerging technologies. Constructively challenge the existing portfolio and ways of working, and turn promising ideas into differentiated, scalable consulting services and measurable business results.
• Consulting and customer value: Strengthen a consulting-oriented mindset across the department. Ensure that teams understand customer challenges, combine relevant expertise and deliver clear, actionable value.
• AI and digital leadership: Drive the responsible and practical adoption of AI, data and digital tools across consulting, sales and delivery. Encourage experimentation, identify scalable use cases and ensure that technology improves customer value, quality and efficiency.
• Execution and continuous improvement: Create momentum by translating decisions into action, removing barriers and following through on commitments. Foster proactive problem-solving and continuously improve quality, processes and delivery speed.
• Strategic collaboration: Partner with Key Account Managers, Market Area Managers, Segment Leads and colleagues across DNV to deepen customer relationships, create new business opportunities and mobilize the right expertise across organizational boundaries.

Location:
Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Sweden or Finland. The role is expected to combine regular office presence with flexibility, in line with local arrangements and business needs.

What we offer

• Meaningful leadership scope: Lead a multidisciplinary department of 36 employees across Northern Europe and directly influence its direction, culture and performance.
• Opportunity to shape the business: Develop consulting services in a growing market and turn emerging customer needs, AI and digital capabilities into practical business opportunities.
• International collaboration: Work across countries, disciplines and market areas, with access to DNV’s broad technical and commercial expertise.
• Purpose and trust: Contribute to the energy transition in an organization that values technical integrity, independent advice and long-term customer relationships.

About you

Qualifications and experience:

• Education: A bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience in a relevant field. We welcome applicants from consulting, business, economics, technology, digital, energy or related backgrounds; an engineering degree is not required.
• Leadership experience: Several years of experience leading teams, preferably with experience leading other leaders, and evidence of building an inclusive, engaged and high-performing culture in a complex, international environment.
• Consulting, sales and commercial experience: Demonstrated ability to understand customer challenges, shape compelling value propositions, develop advisory or professional services, build and manage a sales pipeline, convert opportunities into sales and contribute to profitable growth.
• AI and digital mindset: Practical understanding of how AI, data and digital tools can enhance consulting services, customer value and internal ways of working. Deep technical AI expertise is not required.
• Language skills: Professional fluency in English. Additional Northern European languages are an advantage.

Personal qualities:

• Inclusive, empowering and credible leadership style
• Strong consulting, commercial and customer-oriented mindset
• Proactive and hands‑on approach, with the ability to convert ideas into action
• Curious and critical thinker who constructively challenges existing services and ways of working
• Ability to lead and develop leaders across locations and disciplines
• Confidence to make decisions and take accountability for results
• Strong communication, collaboration and stakeholder‑management skills
• Commitment to building diverse, engaged and high‑performing teams

Benefits

Some benefits may vary depending on location, business area, and employment terms.

Profit Share

You’ll be part of our global profit share scheme that means we all share in our success as a business. If we profit, so do you. This will be part of our Total Compensation approach each year and depends on our year-end results.

Insurance

Taking care of you with travel, life, and accident insurance.

Pension Schemes

We care about your long-term financial security and prioritize pension and retirement benefits to reflect our caring values.

Professional Development

We believe in the 70/20/10 learning model, where 70% of your learning comes from performing your everyday tasks and working on different projects, new areas and initiatives to gain new skills. 20% from working with others and mentoring and the rest from formal education.

Hybrid Working

Adapting to the changing world of work around the world.

Purpose-led organization

You become part of a world-leading company where we know and live our purpose; to safeguard life, property, and the environment, with the opportunity to tackle global change through your work.

Supportive and caring culture

We offer opportunities to connect through social and professional networks. Our largest community CONNECT, organizes after-work events and informal meetings throughout the year.

Attractive rewards

We focus on work/life balance and offer employees flexible working hours and workplace, annual vacation allowance, competitive pension, insurance, and a global profit share scheme.

Security and compliance with statutory requirements in the countries in which we operate is essential for DNV. Background checks will be conducted on all final candidates as part of the offer process, in accordance with applicable country-specific laws and practices.