Director - Global Head of Solar Research

Wood Mackenzie is the global leader in analytics, insights and proprietary data across the entire energy and natural resources landscape.

For over 50 years our work has guided the decisions of the world’s most influential energy producers, utilities companies, financial institutions and governments.

Now, with the world’s energy system more complex and interconnected than ever before, sector-specific views are no longer enough. That’s why we’ve redefined what’s possible with Intelligence Connected.

By fusing our unparalleled proprietary data with the sharpest analytical minds, all supercharged by Synoptic AI, we deliver a clear, interconnected view of the entire value chain. Our trusted team of 2,700 experts across 30 countries breaks siloes and connects industries, markets and regions across the globe.

This empowers our customers to identify risk sooner, spot opportunities faster and recalibrate strategy with confidence – whether planning days, weeks, months or decades ahead.

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• Inclusive – we succeed together
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• Future Focused – we accelerate change
• Curious – we turn knowledge into action

We are looking for a Global Head of Solar Research to join Wood Mackenzie’s Power & Renewables team. The Power & Renewables research team is a highly respected group of analysts producing market-leading research and analytics on the entire renewable energy value chain and power industry.

The Global Head of Solar Research is responsible for setting our research agenda, driving high quality research and thought leadership, serving as the public face of Wood Mackenzie on solar industry issues, and leading solar product initiatives and commercial success.

This position works closely with solar analysts embedded within our supply chain team and each of our regional power teams, as well as cross functionally across sales, marketing, and product teams.

About you and how you can excel in this role

Successful analysts in Wood Mackenzie’s Power & Renewables practice are thoughtful, intellectually curious, creative and comfortable presenting to public audiences and interacting with small and large groups of executives.

As our Global Head of Solar Research, you have already developed a reputation as an industry thought leader and have deep expertise on both the solar supply chain and the market dynamics and policies affecting the solar industry.  You have excellent verbal and written communication skills and can engage an audience and mentor your team members. You have an analytical mindset and an eye for detail, which has been proven in your work experience to date, therefore you are comfortable taking complex, disparate ideas and distilling them into simple, provocative concepts.

You are also effective at translating research content into compelling research products, influencing changes and initiatives within the sales, marketing, and product teams. As the company’s main point of contact for our solar research and product offerings, you are comfortable responding to requests from department leadership on product roadmaps, plans for commercial success, and strategic initiatives that will result in commercial growth for the company’s solar offerings.

Main Responsibilities

• Define and drive the solar research agenda: anticipating and identifying emerging themes that shape the energy transition, while ensuring our datasets and written research meet the highest quality standards, drive commercial success, and deliver clear, actionable answers to our customers' most pressing questions.
• Develop thought-provoking research that challenges conventional wisdom and generates new insights for industry participants, while interconnecting relevant research and data within other parts of the company
• Drive AI adoption across research teams to continuously improve accuracy, efficiency, and overall research quality and ensure that Wood Mac research always stays ahead of the curve.
• Take commercial ownership of our solar products and the solar product roadmap, ensuring our research aligns with customer needs, maintaining and building new sources of competitive advantage, and identifying and pursuing growth opportunities.
• Serve as the main point of contact for our solar products, helping to administer and communicate changes and initiatives to sales, marketing, product, and leadership teams.
• Collaborate with leadership on product strategy, resourcing, marketing priorities, and support analysis for commercial performance.
• Establish an industry presence as an influential speaker and thinker and maintain strong relationships with key stakeholders in the solar and broader power industry.
• Identify the datasets and sources of data necessary to support our underlying analysis and ensure we have proper quality control in developing those datasets.
• Support consulting engagements related to solar energy, as needed.

Qualifications

Knowledge, Experience and Skills

• Extensive experience in the power industry, with considerable focus on solar energy.  The ideal candidate will have a mix of experiences in research or consulting, as well as hands-on experience working at a renewable developer, a company in the solar industry supply chain, or a large buyer of power
• Deep understanding of global solar industry trends, challenges, and opportunities and a good network of solar industry contacts
• Experience successfully executing commercial strategies across teams such as marketing, sales, product, or others
• Strong problem-solving skills and AI-forward thinking
• A passion to make a difference in the way we power our planet and to help accelerate progress in decarbonizing our economies
• An excellent writer and public speaker
• Strong analytical and numerical skills
• An entrepreneurial mind set
• Effective at working across a highly matrixed organization

Equal Opportunities

We are an equal opportunities employer. This means we are committed to recruiting the best people regardless of their race, colour, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability or protected veteran status. You can find out more about your rights under the law at www.eeoc.gov