Deputy Operation Director

ACWA Operations:

At Acwa Operations, we make essential services dependable and efficient for the millions of people who rely on them every day. Formerly NOMAC (The First National Operations & Maintenance Company), we are the operations and maintenance arm of Acwa, focused on keeping power generation and water desalination assets running safely, reliably and cost-effectively across their full lifecycle. Since 2005, we have partnered with clients across the Middle East, Africa and Asia to support complex infrastructure that powers communities and sustains economies. As part of Acwa, we bring deep technical knowledge, strong operational systems and a culture built on performance and accountability. Our work covers everything from commissioning and asset management to preventive and corrective maintenance, technical support and continuous performance improvement. We know that reliability and cost discipline aren’t just technical goals, they determine whether people have light at night, water in their homes and industry can operate without interruption. By maximising asset availability, enhancing resilience and upholding the highest safety and quality standards, Acwa Operations contributes directly to Acwa’s mission to deliver sustainable, affordable energy and water solutions that advance people’s lives and strengthen communities worldwide.

NEOM Green Hydrogen Project:

Saudi Arabia's NEOM Green Hydrogen Project is the world’s largest utility scale, commercially based hydrogen facility powered entirely by renewable energy. An equal joint venture between NEOM, Air Products and ACWA Power, the project is based on proven, world-class technologies that will include the innovative integration of a combined capacity of around four gigawatts of renewable power from onshore solar, wind and storage. When commissioned in 2027, it will produce 600 tonnes per day of clean hydrogen by electrolysis using thyssenkrupp technology; production of nitrogen by air separation using Air Products technology; and production of up to 1.2 million tonnes per year of green ammonia. When complete, the project will mitigate the impact of 5 million metric tonnes of carbon emissions per year.

REPORTS TO:

Operations Director

JOB PURPOSE:

We are seeking an experienced Operations Director to lead the operations and performance of a major renewable energy portfolio comprising:

• 1700 MW Wind
• 2200 MW Solar PV
• 600 MWh Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS)
• 380 kV Transmission Infrastructure

The role is responsible for ensuring safe, reliable, and commercially optimized operations across generation, storage, and transmission assets while delivering high availability, grid compliance, operational excellence, and financial performance. The position also plays a critical role in managing relationships with key stakeholders including off-takers, investors, OEMs, EPC contractors, local authorities, and project partners.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES:

• Lead operations and maintenance of wind, solar, BESS, and transmission assets.
• Maximize fleet availability, reliability, and energy yield.
• Ensure compliance with grid codes, HSE standards, and regulatory requirements.
• Manage operational budgets, OPEX optimization, and contractor/OEM performance.
• Oversee dispatch coordination, outage management, and performance monitoring.
• Lead reliability, predictive maintenance, and asset integrity programs.
• Coordinate with off-taker, regulators, EPCs, OEMs and other key stakeholders.
• Manage stakeholder engagement to support operational continuity, regulatory compliance, and strategic business objectives.
• Drive operational excellence, digitalization, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Develop and lead multidisciplinary operational teams and control room functions.
• Mentor and develop leadership capabilities across operations and maintenance teams, ensuring strong succession planning and workforce capability development.
• Foster cross-functional coordination between operations, engineering, HSE, commercial, and grid interface teams to ensure aligned operational execution
• Support commercial objectives, PPA obligations, and energy forecasting.

Asset Performance & Reliability:

• Monitor and optimize plant performance using SCADA, EMS, and analytics platforms.
• Lead reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) and predictive maintenance programs.
• Minimize forced outages and improve fleet-wide operational efficiency.
• Drive root cause analysis (RCA) for major failures and recurring issues.
• Oversee performance benchmarking against industry standards and contractual guarantees.

Health, Safety, Security & Environment (HSSE:

• Champion a strong safety culture across all sites and operational activities.
• Ensure compliance with HSE regulations, permit-to-work systems, and environmental requirements.
• Lead incident investigations and corrective action implementation.
• Maintain emergency response and business continuity plans.

Commercial & Financial Management:

• Manage operational budgets, OPEX optimization, and contractor performance.
• Support PPA compliance and generation forecasting obligations.
• Optimize operational revenue through performance improvements and availability enhancement.
• Review and manage LTSA/O&M agreements with OEMs and service providers.

Team Leadership:

• Lead and develop operations, maintenance, engineering, and control room teams.
• Build high-performance operational culture focused on accountability and continuous improvement.
• Develop succession planning and technical competency programs.

Leadership Competencies:

• Strategic leadership
• Crisis management
• Decision-making under pressure
• Stakeholder management
• Commercial acumen
• Negotiation and contractor management
• Operational excellence mindset
• High-performance team leadership

COMMUNICATION & WORKING RELATIONSHIPS:

Internal:

• Needs to work closely with the other plant managers, maintenance and operations team, including mangers, supervisors and technicians, corporate office.

External:

• Work with off-taker, authorities, OEMS, LTSA suppliers.

REQUIRED WORK EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical, Mechanical, or Power Engineering.
• Master’s degree or MBA preferred in addition to above.
• 15+ years in power generation and transmission operations.
• 8+ years in senior leadership roles within renewable energy.
• Proven experience managing utility-scale power plants, preferably renewable assets but not mandatory
• Practical experience and know-how of electrical engineering.
• Knowledge of downtime analysis and practical knowledge of problem-solving tools.
• Preparing and maintaining Annual and long term budgets.
• Detailed understanding of preventative/predictive maintenance theory.
• Knowledge of the operations of power generation plants.
• Strong planning, organizing, and integration skills.