This role may be at an Officer or Manager level, depending on the experience and professional network that an individual brings to the role. The role is assumed in the first instance to be one of an officer.

The following skills and experience are expected of both officer and manager but to a different extent and with different expectations regarding the responsibilities taken and the level of autonomy.

Salary: Between £29,825 - £34,500 p.a. depending on experience, plus benefits package.

Contract: 6-month fixed term contract (maternity cover), with potential for an extension.

Whilst the position is envisaged to be full-time, we are open to making the role part-time for the right applicant.

Benefits:

• 25 days annual leave (pro rated to contract length)
• An interest free “new starter” loan of up to £1000 to help you prepare for taking on your new role – be it to support travel arrangements in the form of a season ticket, or to help you get your home office set up in advance
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• Option to access private health insurance as a benefit in kind
• Pension contributions will be matched up to 8%

About us

The Association for Decentralised Energy (ADE) is setting the vision of a local, efficient, low carbon energy system which enables energy users to make the choices which work for them.

Trade associations exist to facilitate learning within the industry and to create consensus which can then be taken to Government as policy is created. In creating a single, unified voice, we support the Government in efficient engagement with industry and the industry to be stronger in its engagement with Government than it would be individually. As the leading trade association for decentralised energy, the ADE represents more than 140 interested parties from across the industrial, commercial and public sectors.

As part of the ADE, ACE Research is an internationally respected research unit that consistently delivers ground-breaking policy research and evaluation. Originally part of the Association for the Conservation of Energy (ACE), ACE Research historically focused on energy efficiency. Now part of the ADE, ACE Research is broadening its scope to all decentralised energy sectors, including combined heat and power (CHP), heat networks and demand response services.

Our office in Westminster is an exciting and dynamic place to work and our staff are passionate about making a difference in the world. We engage with decision makers at the forefront of energy policy to shape the future energy market in the UK.

About the role

The ADE is recruiting for a policy and research officer or manager, with a focus on energy efficiency.

Very significant improvements in the uptake of energy efficiency will be crucial to achieving net zero and the UK’s legally binding carbon budgets.

Securing this uptake requires practitioners and policy-makers to bring together an understanding and coherent action across behavioural change, incentives for billion-pound investments, technical quality and innovation, political realities as well as local and national governance. In its complexity, it is not only a crucial part of decarbonisation but also a microcosm for the energy transition as a whole.

The role will work across the ADE’s policy work and on its ACE-Research projects across an array of decentralised energy themes, including CHP, heat networks, demand response and energy efficiency.

In your research work, you will be working on a mixture of long and short-term projects. These teams may be made up entirely of ACE Research and ADE staff, but in many cases also involve staff from other organisations both in the UK and in other European countries. Team size can vary from two to around 15 people.

In your policy work, you will be working to develop and promote improvements in the law, in regulation and in public policy that will facilitate and foster the development of decentralised energy in the UK.

You will have delegated responsibility for preparing formal position papers, briefings, reports and consultation responses and for managing consultation amongst members and stakeholders. You will be responsible for the appraisal of designated policy proposals and developments arising from governments, local authorities, regulators and other stakeholders, for conducting technical, economic and qualitative analysis, and for the preparation of recommendations.

You will work closely and support the Director of Policy and Research and the wider policy team to deliver policy projects initiated or supported by the Association and will contribute to the formulation of the Association’s wider policy and advocacy positions.

The candidate will also be expected to collaborate closely with the External Affairs and across the ADE’s teams.

Responsibilities

In the role, your key responsibilities will be –

• Maintaining and developing building energy modelling capabilities and tools
• Advocating for positive changes in policy regarding buildings energy efficiency, working closely with the ADE’s Policy Manager for energy efficiency and industrial energy
• Proactively supporting the integration of the ADE’s research capabilities in building physics and its energy efficiency policy advocacy to improve the quality of both

Further detail on these aspects is found below.

Building energy modelling capabilities and tools

A key aspect of this role is to maintain and develop ACE Research’s building energy modelling capabilities and tools. In particular, you will work on ACE Research’s ‘Dynamic Engine’ (DE) online tools which are developed and maintained in partnership with the Energy Saving Trust and the software engineers, Solstice Associates.

DE is a leading Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) based energy and improvements model for domestic properties. DE now powers a range of consumer engagement and advice tools along with supporting business solutions. Within this, you will have the following responsibilities -

• Keeping abreast of developments in UK Government’s domestic energy calculation methodology SAP;
• Translating changes to SAP into ACE Research’s excel based tools and supporting the DE software partners to implement these changes in the DE online tools;
• Work with the DE partners to develop new online tools as well developing new functionality for existing tools.

You will also have the opportunity to be involved in ACE Research’s wider research projects. Further information on the projects we deliver can be found online here.

Policy advocacy

• Advocacy of the ADE’s policy priorities in bilateral and open meetings and events
• Monitoring and communicating policy developments at national, devolved and regional level
• Drafting consultation responses and call for evidence documentation in line with specified requirements and ADE guidelines
• Developing and maintaining effective working relationships with Parliamentarians, government officials, companies who are ADE members and other stakeholders at appropriate levels of seniority
• Engaging membership in policy development; including through supporting forums, working groups and annual sector conferences

General competencies

• Project management, including maintaining quality standards and the delivery of work according to agreed schedules and budgets. Team members are responsible for managing their own time, with guidance from more senior members of the team
• Undertaking research on a range of topics, using methods including desk-based review, raw data gathering and analysis / interpretation of verbal and numerical information, and stakeholder interviews, often across UK, European and global markets
• Disseminating our work in a variety of formats (written reports, briefing notes, peer-reviewed papers and journal articles, and oral presentations to a wide range of stakeholders)
• Supporting the strategic work of the ADE; for example, through activity to address current and anticipated Government activity and to meet the ADE strategic vision, providing input to board reports and providing summary of progress in advance of management meetings and contributing to ADE strategic publications
• Supporting our relationships with companies who are members of the ADE through, for example, working with the policy team to provide effective communications to members and stakeholders and supporting the Business Development Director in retaining existing members and recruiting new members
  • At least degree-level education;
  • Good numerical skills and descriptive statistics;
  • Excellent written and oral presentation skills and ability to communicate to a wide variety of audiences; and
  • Ability to work well, and at times independently, in a small team environment.

Person specification

Essential:

Desirable:

This represents a range of skills that strengthen our team, the successful candidate is likely to offer two or more of them.

• A qualification in a relevant field (e.g. energy, building physics, engineering), or substantial work experience in the field;
• Knowledge of energy policy; 
• Aptitude for modelling with above-average computer skills, e.g. programming (such as advanced Excel or ‘R’) and/or big data analysis;
• Experience of project management; ensuring projects are completed to time and to budget, and experience of handling external contractors;
• Experience of networking and business development, including securing funding and sponsorship from a range of sources and responding to Invitations to Tender (ITT);
• Knowledge of UK and international policy organisations and forums;
• Appreciation of behavioural barriers to take-up of energy technologies;
• Educational or professional experience of specialist social science desk and fieldwork research methods, including for example stakeholder engagement methods; 
• Experience of marketing or communication of technical subjects to a non-technical audience.

How to apply:

Send your CV, including your e-mail address and daytime telephone number, plus a covering letter explaining why the role outlined above is of interest to you and how your experience and skills fit the requirements of the role, to Dina Kamourieh.

The closing date for applications is 12 noon on Wednesday 17^th August.

Shortlisted candidates will be invited for interviews during the weeks of 29^th August and 5^th September.

You will be asked to complete a short written exercise ahead of the interview and as part of the interview, you will be asked to do a short, Excel-based task. Details will be provided in due course.

Additional interviews (if applicable) would take place during the week commencing Monday 12th September.

Please note that you must have the existing right to work in UK.

We are actively seeking applications from every part of the community. The ADE is committed to creating a diverse working environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration.

Please provide contact details of two professional referees and indicate whether you are happy for us to contact them in advance of interviewing you.