Overview
Ready to make decisions that matter? Be the Director of Network Design’s strategic right hand, owning the operating rhythm, aligning priorities, managing risk and driving cross‑functional delivery to hit critical network milestones. We’re looking for a passionate Principal Advisor to join our Network Design Team. The role provides senior strategic and operational leadership, establishing clarity and alignment across organisational initiatives, priorities, and communications. Reporting to the Director of Network Design, the Principal Advisor acts to shape decision-making, mobilise cross-functional collaboration, and ensure effective executive operations. The role anticipates and mitigates risk, drives the delivery of strategic outcomes, and aligns senior leader inputs to maintain consistent focus on Network Design priorities, milestones, and delivery commitments.
This role can be based out of our Warwick office, and we’d hope to see you at least two days per week with some regional travel but you’re welcome to be in the office more often if that would work best for you. We’re happy to discuss any additional flexibility in working patterns or requirements that you feel could help to make this job work for you.
Why This Role Exists
The Network Design team is operating at pace, with extensive priorities and frequent new opportunities and challenges across engineering, governance and external forums. This role runs day to day business activities — coordinating the leadership team’s actions and outputs to enhance external director presence (industry, NESO/Ofgem, senior exec engagement) while maintaining grip on delivery, risk and quality.
What You'll Do
* Set direction on priorities across Network Design in conjunction with its director, aligned with National Grid Electricity Transmission Strategic Priorities.
* Create and embed an operating framework (cadence, prioritisation, trackers and decision logs) that enables slick day to day control of Network Design activities and delivery.
* Provide technical challenge and synthesis across network design activities, ensuring decisions are evidence based, operable and aligned with National Grid Electricity Transmission strategy and regulatory obligations.
* Shape the strategic development of transmission network designs, aligning design teams around clear priorities and direction to ensure consistency with National Grid ET strategy and regulatory requirements.
* Triage, prioritise and route incoming demand (internal/external asks). Anticipate and manage technical, delivery and operability risks, ensuring clear ownership and proportionate escalation.
* Build and maintain “one source of truth” for priorities, governance, decisions, actions and key artefacts — reducing rework and improving organisational memory.
* Translate technical and strategic complexity into decision-ready outputs: briefings, recommendations, options, risks, dependencies and clear next steps for senior forums.
* Drive delivery grip across key milestones by tracking progress, surfacing slippage early, and coordinating unblock/support actions across teams.
* Run an integrated risk, issue and dependency view across the directorate, with clear ownership and mitigations — escalating early and proportionately.
* Enable external presence by planning and preparing the Director’s external engagements (briefs, messages, follow-ups), ensuring consistency and timely closure of actions.
* Improve the way the function works: identify friction, simplify processes, and embed lightweight controls that increase pace and quality without adding bureaucracy.
What You'll Have
* Degree level (or equivalent) in electrical engineering or related discipline.
* Membership of a relevant professional body (e.g. IET).
* Full UK driving license.
* Proven experience leading technical teams, preferably in power systems engineering.
* Strong stakeholder engagement skills, with experience working across regulatory bodies and industry groups.
* Ability to communicate complex technical concepts to non-technical audiences.
* Demonstrated ability to define and drive strategic outcomes through technical leadership.
* Knowledge of transmission network design principles and standards.
* Familiarity with industry codes including SQSS, Grid Code, and STC.
* Understanding of performance metrics.
* Deep understanding of organisational governance, business planning, and performance management.
* Familiarity with project management methodologies and tools.
* Understanding of financial reporting
* Experience with resource allocation for technical projects.
* Understanding of procurement processes, financial authority delegations, and cost control mechanisms.
Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women and people of colour are less likely to apply for jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At National Grid, we are committed to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace for everyone. So, if you’re excited about this role but your experience or qualifications don’t match the job description exactly, we encourage you to apply anyway. You might just be the right person for our growing business in this role or another one.
What You'll Get
A competitive salary dependant on experience. As well as your base salary, you will receive a bonus based on personal and company performance with on target being 20% (with a maximum of 40%) and a competitive contributory pension scheme where we will double match your contribution to a maximum company contribution of 12%, Private Medical Insurance, a company electric vehicle or cash alternative, plus many more flexible benefits.
Further Information
The closing date for this vacancy is Midnight 10 April 26, with interviews due to take place w/c 20 April 26 onwards. We encourage candidates to submit their applications as early as possible and not to wait until the published closing date. National Grid’s recruitment periods can and may vary. We reserve the right to remove this advert or close it to further applications at any point during the recruitment process.
About Us
Every day we deliver safe and secure energy to homes, communities, and businesses. We are there when people need us the most. We connect people to the energy they need for the lives they live. The pace of change in society and our industry is accelerating, and our expertise and track record puts us in an unparalleled position to shape the sustainable future of our industry. This requires us to deliver on our promises and always look for new opportunities to grow, both ourselves and our business. At National Grid, we work towards the highest standards in everything we do, including how we support, value and develop our people. Our aim is to encourage and support employees to thrive and be the best they can be. We celebrate the difference people can bring into our organisation, and welcome and encourage applicants with diverse experiences and backgrounds, and offer flexible and tailored support, at home and in the office. Our goal is to drive, develop and operate our business in a way that results in a more inclusive culture. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, the innovation from diverse teams & perspectives and business need. We are committed to building a workforce so we can represent the communities we serve and have a working environment in which each individual feels valued, respected, fairly treated, and able to reach their full potential.
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