Senior Site Manager – Solar PV & BESS

Green Umbrella Recruitment; Zeerust; On-site; ZAR 1,200,000 - 1,800,000; Full time

Job summary

Green Umbrella Recruitment is seeking an experienced Senior Site Manager for a 500+ MW utility-scale Solar PV and 500+ MWh BESS project in Botswana. The role requires leading the on-site execution, coordinating EPC/OE/LTA interfaces and managing design conformance against the programme.

The candidate will relocate for the duration of construction, testing and handover, overseeing safety, quality, and progress across civil, electrical andBoP works, with responsibility for reporting to project

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering required.
• 8+ years of construction and site-management experience on utility-scale Solar PV projects (300 MW+).
• Experience with BESS construction and electrical integration.
• Willingness to relocate to Botswana for duration of project.
• Fluency in English and strong communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Act as the project's principal on-site representative for safe, on-time, on-budget execution.
• Coordinate EPC Contractor, Owner's Engineer and Lenders' Technical Advisor on technical approvals and interfaces.
• Reconcile IFC design with on-site conditions and manage red-lines, RFIs and field changes.
• Monitor progress against the approved construction program and issue daily/weekly reports.
• Oversee commissioning, FAT/SAT testing and energization to PAC.

Skills

Site management

Electrical background

Leadership

Coordination with EPC/OE/LTA

Construction progress tracking

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering

NEBOSH/IOSH or equivalent HSE certification

Tools

FAT

SAT

Job description

• Work Experience At least 8 years of construction and site-management experience, including senior responsibility on utility-scale Solar PV projects of 300 MW or larger.
• Job Opening Status Open
• Industry Energy and Utilities
• Degree Bachelor's
• Job Role Senior Site Manager – Solar PV & BESS
• State/Province Eastern Cape
• Country South Africa

Job Description

Job Location - Botswana
Job Summary:

The Project Company is constructing a 500+ MW utility-scaleSolar PV plant with an integrated 500+ MWh Battery Energy Storage System (BESS)in Botswana, to be connected to the national grid. We are seeking anexperienced Senior Site Manager with a strong electrical background to act asthe Project Company's principal representative on site, holding overallresponsibility for site execution on this large utility-scale Solar PV and BESSproject. The successful candidate will be the main person on site, coordinatingthe EPC Contractor, the Owner's Engineer (OE) and the Lenders' TechnicalAdvisor (LTA), reconciling the approved design with actual conditions and worksexecuted on site, taking technical decisions within delegated authority,verifying progress against the approved construction programme, and issuingdaily and weekly site reports to project leadership. The role is permanent andsite-based, requiring relocation to Botswana for the duration of construction,testing, commissioning and handover.

Key Responsibilities:

• Act as the ProjectCompany's principal representative on site, holding overall responsibility forthe successful execution of utility-scale Solar PV and BESS constructionactivities, ensuring the project is carried out safely, on schedule, withinbudget and in complete accordance with contractual, technical and qualityrequirements.
• Lead and manage all siteoperations, providing clear direction to site engineers, discipline leads,supervisors and contractors while maintaining effective coordination acrosscivil, electrical, mechanical and commissioning activities.
• Act as the primarytechnical interface on site between the EPC Contractor, the Owner's Engineer(OE) and the Lenders' TechnicalAdvisor (LTA), coordinating technicalapprovals, inspections, design conformance reviews and contractual sign-offs, and resolvingtechnical, construction and interface issues affecting project delivery.
• Reconcile the approveddesign (IFC drawings, technical specifications) with actual site conditions andworks as executed, identifying discrepancies at an early stage, initiatingred-line markups and as-built records, and coordinating resolution with thedesign team, the OE and the EPC Contractor.
• Take technical decisions onsite within delegated authority to keep construction progressing, escalating tothe Project Director / Senior Project Manager only matters that fall outsidethat authority or carry material cost, schedule or contractual impact.
• Monitor EPC Contractorcompliance with the EPC Contract, approved IFC drawings, technicalspecifications, method statements and project procedures, resolving technicalissues before they impact construction progress.
• Manage the interface withcompany and relevant regulatory bodies on gridconnection, outage planning, protection settings and energization sequencing.
• Monitor the installationand integration of significant project systems such as PV arrays, trackerystems, inverter stations, MV/HV equipment, substations, BESS facilities andassociated Balance of Plant (BoP) infrastructure, ensuring all approvedengineering requirements and construction standards are fulfilled.
• Oversee construction,testing and energization of the project substation and switchyard, includingHV/MV power transformers, switchgear, protection and control panels, earthingsystems and the transmission line tie-in to the BPC network.
• Lead the assessment andimplementation of engineering changes, Requests for Information (RFIs) andfield modifications, ensuring approved technical solutions are incorporatedwithout compromising safety, quality or project milestones.
• Manage cross-functionalconstruction interfaces between civil, structural, electrical, mechanical,protection, transmission and commissioning teams,
• Ensuring constructionactivities are properly sequenced and completed without delaying adjacentworks.
• Maintain full control ofconstruction quality by ensuring inspections, testing activities, materialapprovals and contractor deliverables comply with project specifications,approved quality plans and contractual requirements.
• Establish and maintain asolid safety culture throughout the project, ensuring EPC Contractorconformance to company safety standards, electrical safety regulations, liftingoperations, permit-to-work processes and HSE requirements.
• Monitor and verify the EPCContractor's progress against the approved baseline construction programme(S-curve, look-ahead schedules and critical path), independently assessprogress claims against physical works on the ground, identify slippage at anearly stage and recommend recovery measures to the Project Director.
• Monitor EPC Contractorperformance, productivity and resource utilization, ensuring manpower,equipment and subcontractor activities remain adequate to achieve plannedconstruction targets and contractual commitments.
• Monitor construction costsagainst the approved project budget, tracking cost-to-complete, varianceanalysis and forecast-at-completion, and escalating budget exposure or costoverrun risk to the Project Director in a timely manner.
• Review and verify EPCContractor interim payment applications (IPCs) against physical progress,approved valuations and milestone achievement, ensuring payment certificationis accurate, supported by verifiable site records and processed withincontractual timeframes.
• Oversee site logisticsplanning, including import/customs clearance, inland transport and delivery ofmajor equipment (power transformers, inverter skids, BESS containers, trackercomponents and cabling), laydown area management, and coordination of abnormaland heavy-lift loads to site.
• Issue daily site reportscovering progress, HSE performance, weather, manpower and equipment on site,and key issues, and prepare consolidated weekly progress reports for theProject Director / Senior Project Manager, the OE, the LTA and otherstakeholders as required.
• Lead site coordination andprogress meetings, reviewing construction status, engineering interfaces,procurement updates, commissioning readiness and project risks, while ensuringtimely implementation of agreed actions.
• Direct the testing andcommissioning programme across all systems, including Factory AcceptanceTesting (FAT), Site Acceptance Testing (SAT), cold and hot commissioning,protection and relay testing, system integration testing, and the ReliabilityRun leading to Provisional Acceptance Certificate (PAC).
• Ensure constructionreadiness for testing, commissioning and energization by verifying systemcompletion, inspection records, punch list closure, engineering approvals andhandover documentation before releasing systems to the commissioning team.
• Manage project close-outoperations, ensuring punch list items, outstanding work, non-conformities,as-built documentation and turnover packages are completed for a successful,organized handover.

Requirements

Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree inElectrical Engineering or a related discipline.
• At least 8 years ofconstruction and site-management experience, including senior responsibility onutility-scale Solar PV projects of 300 MW or larger.
• Practical experience withBESS construction, electrical integration, system interfaces and preparationfor commissioning.
• Ability to act as the mainperson on site and lead large, multidisciplinary teams across several workfronts, taking timely technical decisions under pressure.
• Strong experiencecoordinating EPC Contractors, Owner's Engineer (OE) and Lenders' TechnicalAdvisor (LTA) teams, specialist subcontractors, suppliers and clientrepresentatives.
• Excellent understanding ofutility-scale PV electrical works, MV/HV systems, substations, transformers,cable systems, earthing and plant control interfaces.
• Direct experience withsubstation construction, HV equipment installation, protection and controltesting, and energization/tie-in to the transmission network.
• Proven experience directingtesting and commissioning programmes on utility-scale power projects, includingFAT/SAT, cold and hot commissioning, and Reliability Run/PAC processes.
• Experience reconcilingapproved design and IFC drawings against as-built site conditions, and managingred-line markups, RFIs and field engineering changes.
• Experience monitoringconstruction progress against an approved baseline programme, independentlyverifying contractor progress claims, and reporting schedule status, risksandrecovery measures to senior management.
• Working knowledge of theapplicable grid code and company interconnectionrequirements.
• Experience preparing dailyand weekly site progress reports for project leadership, lenders'representatives and other stakeholders.
• Experience monitoringproject budgets and cost-to-complete, and verifying EPC Contractor interimpayment applications (IPCs) against physical progress.
• Experience managing sitelogistics for large power infrastructure projects, including import/customsclearance and delivery of abnormal and heavy-lift loads, particularly relevantto landlocked project locations.
• Clear understanding of siteHSE controls, inspection processes, non-conformance management and constructioncompletion requirements; international HSE certification (NEBOSH/IOSH orequivalent).
• Excellent communicationskills; fluency in English.
• Willingness to relocate toBotswana and maintain a permanent site presence for the duration of theproject.