Technical Director / Development Lead

Instrat; Polska; Hybrid; PLN 190,000 - 270,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation support

Contractual role

Competitive package

Autonomy in decisions

Purpose-driven work

Job summary

Fundacja Instrat seeks a senior engineering leader to drive the technical development of a first-of-a-kind, near-zero-emission green steel plant in northern Poland. You will guide metallurgy choices, FEED scope and EPC contracting from pre-feasibility to FID and financial close.

You will own technical interfaces, build cost and schedule baselines, and assemble a high-performance engineering team for construction. Fluent English required; Polish is a plus.

Qualifications

• Engineering degree in metallurgy or related field; master’s and professional status are a plus.
• 10+ years in major capital projects with director-level accountability across feasibility to construction.
• Experience on owner-side delivery and multi-package EPC/EPCM management.

Responsibilities

• Define technical configuration for a first-of-a-kind green steel project.
• Lead technology selection, FEED scope, and EPC/EPCM contracting strategy.
• Build cost and schedule baselines for investor due diligence and lender review.
• Organize and mentor a multinational engineering team through delivery.

Skills

Metallurgy expertise

Major project delivery

Owner-side delivery

Contractual acumen

Finance readiness

People leadership

Safety leadership

English fluent

Education

Engineering degree in metallurgy/materials/mechanical/chemical

Job description

Fundacja Instrat is developing New Green Steel Plant – aproject tobuild afirst-of-a-kind, near-zero-emission flat-steel mill innorthern Poland based onhydrogen direct reduction and electric arc furnace technology (H2-DRI-EAF), with on-site electrolysis and Baltic renewable.

Weare looking for asenior engineering leader with deep metallurgical expertise totake the technical development of this project from its current pre-feasibility stage through FEED and EPC contracting toaFinal Investment Decision (FID) and financial close.

This is aproject-delivery role, not aplant-operations role. You will bethe owner’s senior technical authority during the development phase: defining the technical configuration, selecting technology and contractors, building the cost and schedule basis that investors and lenders can underwrite, and assembling the engineering team that will carry the project into construction.

Scope of responsibilities

Metallurgy & process technology

• Technology selection.Lead the evaluation and selection of core metallurgical process technology – DRI, electric arc furnace and downstream, and hydrogen electrolysis – running the RFP process and technical vendor assessment.
• Engineering definition.Oversee the Owner’s Engineer and the FEED, ensuring an integrated design across DRI, EAF, casting and rolling, electrolysis, balance of plant, water and grid connection.
• Systems integration.Own the technical interfaces of afirst-of-a-kind system that couples acontinuous process plant with variable renewable power and on-site hydrogen production.Contracting & commercial
• EPC/EPCM strategy.Structure and negotiate EPC/EPCM contracts (including FIDIC-based frameworks), owner’s-engineer and technology-licence agreements, and manage interface risk between licensor, engineer and contractors across multiple work packages.

Project controls

• – Cost & schedule.Own the CAPEX estimate toalevel of accuracy sufficient tosupport FID and lender technical due diligence, and the project master schedule and critical path – including dependencies ongrid connection, port and logistics readiness.
• – Risk management.Lead technical risk and opportunity management across the development programme.Permitting, HSE & stakeholders–Permitting & safety.Drive environmental permitting and authority interfaces under Polish and EUregimes, and embed health-and-safety leadership into engineering, procurement and construction from the outset.
• Investor & lender interface.Provide the technical basis for FID and financial close; support engagement with lenders, export credit agencies, equity investors and independent engineers, and lead technical due diligence.

People & organisation

• Team building.Build and lead the multidisciplinary engineering and project team, growing it from alean pre-FID nucleus into aconstruction-ready organisation, and recruit, mentor and develop amulticultural team.

Requirements

• Engineering education.Degree inmetallurgical, materials, mechanical, chemical orprocess engineering (orequivalent); aMaster’s and chartered/professional-engineer status are an advantage.
• Major-project delivery.10+ years inmajor capital projects inheavy orprocess industry, with director-level accountability taken through the full lifecycle (feasibility -> FEED -> EPC award -> construction -> commissioning).
• Owner-side & contractual acumen.Demonstrated owner-side delivery, multi-package EPC/EPCM management and strong contractual (e.g. FIDIC) command.
• Finance-readiness.Experience working with project-finance lenders and independent engineers through technical due diligence and FID.
• People leadership.Track record of building and leading multidisciplinary teams – scaling from asmall pre-FID group toalarge construction organisation.
• Development-phase mindset.High tolerance for ambiguity, entrepreneurial and hands-on, comfortable inalean pre-FID organisation, with the gravitas tohold an independent technical position infront of aboard, shareholders and investors.
• Safety & communication.Genuine safety leadership and excellent stakeholder communication (board, government, community). Fluent English is required; Polish is an advantage.Experience weespecially valueThe pool of people with direct H2-DRI-EAF delivery experience is very small worldwide. Wetherefore welcome candidates from adjacent heavy-process industries whose experience transfers directly.
• Ideal:hands-on metallurgical experience inhydrogen-based orgas-based DRI, integrated steelmaking, EAF orrolling-mill operations.
• Strongly transferable:greenfield megaproject leadership inpetrochemicals, refining, ammonia/fertilizers, methanol, LNG, large-scale hydrogen/electrolysis, cement, orlarge power/nuclear/offshore – sectors that share high-hazard process integration, EPC execution, safety, project controls and commissioning.
• Aplus:prior experience integrating renewable power orhydrogen with acontinuous industrial process.You donot need tomeet every requirement.If you have led the delivery of complex industrial capital projects and are motivated tobuild something genuinely new for Poland’s energy transition, weencourage you toapply.

What weoffer

• Adefining project.The chance tolead the technical development of the first large-scale green steel plant inCentral and Eastern Europe, from ablank sheet toinvestment decision.
• Contract.Afixed-term development engagement toFID/financial close (employment contract orB2B, tobeagreed), with the prospect of continuing into the operating company.
• Compensation.Acompetitive package commensurate with asenior leadership role, complemented byan FID/financial-close completion bonus and along-term incentive.
• Relocation.[remote orrelocation toPoland] Relocation and mobility support for the project location innorthern Poland.
• Autonomy with backing.Real ownership of technical decisions, with the support of Instrat’s analytical, financing and strategy teams and access tothe project’s public-institution and industry network.
• Purpose.Work with amission – strengthening Poland’s industrial autonomy and cutting industrial CO2 emissions atscale.

Who weare

Fundacja Instrat is aprogressive think-tank that supports public debate and policy with open data and research, working towards afair, green and digital economy. Our research programmes span energy and climate policy, sustainable finance, the digital economy, and labour and inequality. Weare ateam of more than 20 experts driven byasense of public-interest mission. ANew Green Steel Plantis our flagship industrial-decarbonisation initiative.