Head of Retrofit - Centre for Sustainable Energy : Job Details

Job Title: Head of Retrofit

Location: Bristol, BS1 3LH

Salary: £48,726 to £58,365 per annum

Job Type: Permanent, Full-time

Closing date: Friday 12th September 2025

The Role:

We are looking for someone to lead our home energy retrofit services, instilling a culture of high performance and outstanding results. You will have retrofit experience which will help to build our paid-for whole-house retrofit services, secure funding through publicly funded programmes and identify wider funding opportunities.

Working with the Director of Household Energy Services (HES) and as a member of the HES Leadership Team, you will deliver a clear vision and strategic direction for the retrofit team. You will also participate as a member of the wider Senior Management Team (SMT).

Specific responsibilities:

An applicant appointed to the role will be expected to:

• Oversee key aspects of retrofit delivery in the HES portfolio, including resource utilisation and workload planning, project monitoring and evaluation
• Ensure retrofit staff in the HES team remain utilised by other departments and are sufficiently supported to deliver their work and reach their potential
• Ensure that organisational planning systems are up to date and provide an accurate report to the Director of HES and the SMT
• To work with retrofit project managers to help maintain effective financial controls of our retrofit projects, and provide the Directors of HES and Development with up-to-date projections of spend and expenditure
• To take responsibility for the quality of outputs of the HES team's retrofit work, including timely reporting to project partners and funders
• To oversee line management and professional development of all retrofit staff
• To work with the Director of HES to identify and create new opportunities for CSE to deliver our strategic objectives in relation to retrofit
• To provide strategic direction to all large retrofit projects and contribute to the delivery of specific projects as relevant, and to enable the provision of retrofit expertise to other projects across CSE
• To provide input to the organisation's business plan with respect to retrofit opportunities and services for the year ahead, forecasting staffing needs and helping to establish the 3-year budget for the team
• To share with other Heads of Team collective responsibility for the day-to-day operation of the organisation, representing the HES team's retrofit work as a member of the SMT

To see a more detailed list of responsibilities please see the supporting documents attached. These documents are also available to download from our website

Essential attributes for this role include:

• Minimum Maths/English GCSE or equivalent
• Knowledge of a range of energy efficiency and low carbon technologies
• Knowledge of the policy framework and funding landscape for retrofit programmes
• Extensive experience of delivering retrofit project services or programmes
• Experience of working with installers of energy efficiency measures and low carbon technologies
• Experience of developing new projects and services that offer energy efficiency measures and low carbon technologies to householders or businesses
• Line management experience
• Excellent reporting and analytical skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, experience of writing effective technical or non-technical summaries of complex issues

Please note, the above is an overview of the skills required for this role. To see the full list of essential and desirable skills please see the attached job description.

Pay and conditions:

• The role is full-time (37.5 hours per week) however, we are prepared to be flexible and will accept offers from those who would prefer part time work of 30 hours
• The salary will be £48,726 to £58,365
• You will be entitled to 25 days paid holiday (plus statutory holidays)

CSE offer a range of benefits including, subsidised bike purchase and Tech Scheme, Life Assurance, Health Cash plan, retail discounts and discounted breakdown cover and many more.

We will pay fees and expenses on relevant training courses.

How to apply:

To apply, please click apply and check your emails and complete the application form sent to you. You can also download this from our CSE website.

Your application should demonstrate your suitability for the role against the criteria outlined in the person specification and job description.

To be considered for this role an application form must be sent to the email address provided.

The closing date for applications is 5pm on Friday 12th September 2025.

If you have not heard from us by Monday 15 September, please assume that your application has been unsuccessful.

Interviews will take place in-person at our offices in Bristol on Wednesday 17 September 2025, though subject to change.

If invited to interview, we will ask you to provide evidence of eligibility to work in the UK.

Candidates with the relevant experience or job titles of: Sustainable Housing Manager, Chief Energy Efficiency Officer, Manager of Residential Retrofit Programs, Head of Green Housing may also be considered for this role.