Supply Chain and Procurement Lead

The Company

Buchan Offshore Wind is the developer of a major floating offshore wind farm 75 km to the northeast of Fraserburgh on the Aberdeenshire coast. With an anticipated capacity of close to 1GW and a connection date of 2033, the project would feature up to 70 turbines and has the potential to generate the equivalent of the annual power needs of some 1.4 million British homes. 

The project’s selection of BW Ideol’s patented Damping Pool® floating substructure has the potential to both accelerate delivery and generate significant levels of employment in Scotland, with BW Ideol actively working to establish a manufacturing centre at the former oil and gas fabrication yard at Port of Ardersier. 

The joint venture has three equal partners, with highly relevant and complementary capability and expertise: BayWa r.e., a global renewable energy business with UK offices in Glasgow and Edinburgh; BW Ideol, a proven floating technology leader and international floating wind project co-developer; and Elicio, an experienced Belgian offshore wind developer, owner and operator. 

The Role

The Supply Chain and Procurement Lead is a critical role driving the development and delivery of the Buchan Offshore Wind project, reporting directly to the Commercial Director. 

The successful candidate will be responsible for the developing and delivering of the supply chain and procurement strategy for the Buchan Offshore Wind project.

More information on the scope of the project can be found in the onshore scoping report and offshore scoping report on the Buchan Offshore Wind website. 

The project is currently finalising design to support the consenting process and is progressing to concept design phase stage and is beginning to accelerate the engineering design activities. The Supply Chain and Procurement Lead will develop and implement the supply chain and procurement strategy, working with an integrated engineering, planning and project team to identify a deliverable and derisked procurement and supply chain solution for this critical infrastructure project.

The individual will be responsible for developing the supply chain strategy and roadmap for the coming decade, influencing the direction of this pioneering project, taking the project from concept to reality.   

Key Responsibilities

Buchan Offshore Wind has an agile and experienced development team which will grow as the project progresses through development and construction. The Supply Chain and Procurement Lead is a strategic role that will join to lead the formative stages of the project development with an intent to lead supply chain and procurement aspects of the project through to Financial Investment Decision (FID).  

The scope of the role will include the key offshore and onshore project infrastructure and balance of plant, including direct and indirect supply chain aspects such as the manufacture/ fabrication of BW Ideol floating foundations, port upgrades and wider supply chain and manufacturing investments beyond directly commissioned scope. The scope will be both global, with a focus on strategic relationships, and local, enabling the project to deliver against UK and Scottish local content ambitions. 

In this role, the candidate will lead a number of critical aspects of the project, including:

• Working alongside an integrated commercial, consenting, technical and project management team, the Supply Chain and Procurement lead will provide critical input into a refresh of the overall project development strategy. Specifically, they will develop and iterate the supply chain procurement and strategy with a focus on both a) the development and pre-FID; and b) the construction/ operation phases of the project. For all phases they will work alongside the project management, commercial team and technical teams, identifying success criteria, packaging strategies, contracting routes, and risk allocation, refining the strategy as the project progresses from concept to delivery,

• Ensuring that the procurement and supply chain strategy maximises the opportunities associated with the project ownership model, where a key strategic supplier (BW Ideol) is part of the shareholder group. Ensuring that any conflicts are identified, managed and the strategy and process delivers on the significant strategic benefits of the partnership,

• The individual will develop a supply chain engagement strategy that identifies and prioritises supply chain relationships. A full supplier register should identify priority relationships including tier one/ strategic contractors, wind turbine OEMs, in areas where there are capacity or capability bottlenecks, and where there is potential to maximise Scottish and UK content associated with local capacity building or inward investment. The individual will identify and build strategic relationships between the project, its shareholders and those prioritised key supply chain stakeholders,

• Ensuring that the project is delivering against, and maximising the opportunity associated with UK and Scottish Government sustainable procurement initiatives, incentives and regulations. This includes but is not limited to CfD Sustainable Industry Rewards, the Industrial Growth Fund, the Strategic Investment Model and the Supply Chain Development Statements, among others,   

• Identification of long lead, critical path and/ or strategic procurement opportunities, where the project may need to work with government and supply chain to invest ahead of need to de-risk delivery. The individual will support the Commercial Director in identifying innovative approaches to de-risking any funding provided at risk and pre-FID. 

• Supporting the Project Management team in development, procurement processes and delivery against the programme. Ensuring the supply chain and procurement activities are delivered against the programme milestones, that programme risks are identified, key programme interfaces are managed, and that critical path activities are derisked, 

• Collaborating with the technical team to ensure that the supply chain capabilities and capacity are integrated into the engineering design, to ensure that the engineering design is de-risked and deliverable in the context of the commercial and technical constraints of the supply chain,

• Supporting the commercial team in building the commercial model, supporting refining of cost assumptions and development of the cost book through early engagement with supply chain,

• Be a visible and vocal part of the project leadership group, working alongside the project director, commercial director, head of consenting and wider project leadership to ensure that collaboration and integration is a core part of the team culture. They will be responsible for driving forward project and organisational initiatives that enable the project to deliver against its core objectives, 

• Collaborating with the Project Partners as part of the project governance processes, supporting reporting to and engagement with the shareholders and directors at board meetings and as part of the project delivery. Interfacing with the Technical Working group, ensuring that the experience of the partners can be leveraged and their strategic input is enabled,    

•  Be an externally facing advocate for Buchan Offshore Wind, supporting the influence strategy of the project, ensuring that the project is recognised by the appropriate key decision makers and stakeholders as critical to delivering Scottish and UK Governments Net Zero and Just Transition objectives.  

Candidate Requirements

The role is anticipated to be fulfilled by an experienced Supply Chain and Procurement who has demonstrable experience in the development of major offshore wind and other infrastructure projects.   

While experience of floating offshore wind and/or offshore wind projects is desirable, it is considered that experience on offshore or onshore energy projects such as O&G or energy transmission major infrastructure projects would provide relevant and transferable skills.   

This is a pioneering project, both in terms of the technology solutions and the partnership model, and we are seeking a candidate who has a proven track record in bringing innovative solutions that deliver on the project objectives based on a credible understanding of delivery risk. 

Essential skills for the role include:

• Degree in relevant Commercial, Procurement, Business or Engineering discipline.
• Approx. 10 years + experience of the development of energy and/or major infrastructure projects with a focus on early development stages up to FID and strategy development.
• Track record of input to designing, delivery and execution of contracting strategies in a range of models such as EPC/ multi-contracting, construction management etc.
• Agile and adaptable, with experience in working in major project environments in collaborative organisations and in joint venture partnerships,  
• Extensive network in the Global and UK offshore energy supply chains,
• Strong communicator, able to work effectively with a range of people across engineering and non-engineering disciplines and an open and collaborative team member.
• Strong people management skills with a proven track record in creating and maintaining high functioning technical teams.
• Experience in reporting at board level and with senior external and internal stakeholders,
• Knowledge and experience of the UK and global offshore wind sectors
• A robust understanding of UK and offshore HSE regulations

Desirable skills include:  

• Experience in fixed/ floating offshore and/or offshore transmission development.
• Delivery of procurement processes for projects in the final phases prior to FID
• Experience in fabrication and manufacture of serial production of concrete structures
• Experience with ScotWind processes such as Supply Chain Development Statements and the Strategic Investment Model