Flexibility Commercial Analyst

Reference Number - 78309

This Flexibility Commercial Analyst will report to the Head of Flexibility Markets and will work within the DSO Directorate based in our London office. You will be a permanent employee.

You will attract a salary of £40,000.00 and a bonus of 7.5%. This role can also offer blended working after probationary period (6 months) - 3 days in the office and 2 remote

Close Date: 02/02/2024

We also provide the following additional benefits

• Annual Leave
• Personal Pension Plan - Personal contribution rates of 4% or 5% (UK Power Networks will make a corresponding contribution of 8% or 10%)
• Tenancy Loan Deposit scheme
• Tax efficient benefits: cycle to work scheme
• Season ticket loan
• Occupational Health support
• Switched On - scheme providing discount on hundreds of retailers products.
• Discounted access to sports and social clubs
• Employee Assistance Programme.

Context

Smart electricity networks are the foundations to enable low carbon technology like electric vehicles (EVs), heat pumps and renewables generation. Working within UK Power Networks' Distribution System Operator, you'll collaborate with some of the country's most accomplished low carbon engineers and specialists at the heart of this once in a generation transition to help create the flexible, low carbon energy system of the future.

This is a time of unprecedented change for the electricity industry as we move from the old world of large, carbon intensive coal and gas-fired power plants to a much more complex, interconnected world of renewable energy, battery storage and electric vehicles. Energy is one of the most important issues in the country right now, and you will receive an incredible insight into the work that goes in to ensuring sufficient grid capacity to enable the Net Zero transition across London, the East and South East of England, at in a workplace consistently voted one of the UK's best big companies to work for.

Flexibility Markets

As more people opt for low-carbon, electric vehicles and heat pumps, demand on the electricity network is set to double. The Flexibility Markets team works with customers who can change their generation or consumption patterns to keep network costs down and speed up new connections.

We work with multiple flexibility providers, from start-ups to large energy companies - encompassing flexibility from electric vehicles, batteries, generators and demand response. We are widely viewed as a global leader in this space and have ambitious plans to increase our use of flexibility and the impact it delivers on the Net Zero transition. We have committed to saving more than £400m in this way over the next five years.

Job Purpose

You will be an important part of the Flexibility Markets Team within the DSO, taking our pioneering work on local flexibility and scaling up our delivery to enable Net Zero and deliver benefits to the network and its customers.

Principal Accountabilities

• Manage daily relationships with flexibility providers, from start-ups to large energy suppliers, including through:
• Ensure that their issues are dealt with and use of their feedback to shape UK Power Networks' flexibility processes and products,
• Improve the end-to-end customer journey to deliver great customer satisfaction.
• Use data driven insights to remove pain points and improve the experience for flexibility providers and UK Power Networks, including through:
• Develop new procurement processes to deliver flexibility tenders in shorter timescales,
• Run analyses to identify gaps in service delivery to inform our flexibility procurement strategy,
• Introduce quality controls to reduce the risk of errors and ensuring the team has a single source of truth for all flexibility data,
• Use tools like Excel or Python to automate repeated processes,
• Forecast and report progress against team targets to drive outstanding performance
• Grow the flexible capacity that is available to UK Power Networks to deliver over £400m of benefits, including through:
• Help flexibility providers to understand the standard contract and onboarding process, and chasing progress against this
• Use and refining tools to assess opportunities for flexibility providers and UK Power Network;
• Work with flexibility providers to monitor delivery against agreed milestones and problem-solve creatively;
• Working with internal UK Power Networks teams, including Procurement to ensure we maintain momentum through the customer journey

Nature and Scope

Given UK Power Networks' pioneering ambition and use of local flexibility, you will work at the forefront of local flexibility, alongside some of the most innovative companies in the energy transition. This is a critical role in scaling up the impact of flexibility in London, the East and South East of England - enabling Net Zero at lowest cost.

You'll join the Flexibility Markets team - currently seven experienced professionals with a range of skills in customer engagement, energy markets, data analytics and project management. We ask that you be a confident and effective communicator; able to work across different teams within UK Power Networks and who can represent UK Power Networks externally. You will work with data to track and improve the efficiency and customer experience associated with how UK Power Networks buys flexibility.

You will have individual responsibility for projects while also contributing to shared targets and programs.

About you

Skills and behaviours

• You have a 'can do' attitude and love going the extra mile for customers
• You are curious, self-motivated and want to build a career in the energy transition
• You are analytical and committed to continuous improvement
• You are highly organised and able to perform under pressure and to deadlines
• You are a great communicator, able to work with complex concepts to make them simple and tangible

Experience

• 2+ years' working experience (essential)
• Experience with analysis tools, such as Power BI (essential)
• Commercial experience within the energy transition (desirable)
• Experience managing projects to successful delivery (desirable)
• Familiarity with cost-benefit analysis (desirable)
• Experience with British energy markets, eg pricing and relationships between wholesale, ancillary services and local flexibility markets (desirable)
• Experience with low carbon technologies (solar, wind, storage, electric vehicles and heat pumps) (desirable)

Health & Safety Responsibilities

Managers and supervisors carry both legal and company responsibilities for ensuring the health and safety of their employees, those under their control and those who might be affected by the work undertaken, i.e. public, visitors and employees of other organisations. This includes briefing individuals working for them and ensuring there is the necessary understanding, competence and application of requirements to work safely and without harming the environment.

Employees will ensure they understand the health and safety risks involved in their work activities and their responsibility to apply the controls needed to manage those risks to acceptable levels. Similarly where work activities can have an adverse impact upon the environment, and where there are legal requirements, employees will understand those impacts and the controls they must ensure are applied.

If in doubt ask!

We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, colour, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity or expression, or veteran status. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.