Sector Skills Manager

8th March 2023

Role:                                       Sector Skills Manager

Reports to:                          MCS Senior Leadership Team

Salary:                                   £50,000 – £65,000 dependent upon experience

Location:                             Flexible. Option to be based at our offices at Sci-Tech Daresbury, Cheshire or home-based

Contract:                             37.5 hours per week; permanent, full-time

Closing date:                      Wednesday 22 March 2023 at 8:00am

 

Domestic energy is playing a huge part in achieving this target. However, deciding to invest in renewable energy remains a big step for many people; made more confusing by jargon and complicated financial models. MCS aims to cut through difficult language and complex processes as a way of ‘Giving people confidence in home-grown energy.’

Something ‘home-grown’ is something that matters to people personally – which they can take pride in. That’s exactly the feeling we want to create across the UK as we help more and more people embrace a home-grown energy future.

The successful candidate will help us to deliver this head on. You’ll be a problem-solver, with the skills and proven experience across skills, training and education. You’ll be able to provide leadership for the development of skills and training initiatives that advance the competency and professionalism of the sector’s workforce.

As the MCS lead for sector skills, you’ll create and develop partnerships that promote the professionalism and diversity of the sector and its appeal as a career choice. You’ll build influential relationships with key stakeholders as well as positively engage with colleagues.

In doing so, you will play a vital role in overseeing the operation of the MCS competency framework, ensuring that individual competency is understood and enforced, and manage the accreditation of training programmes that are shown to meet MCS requirements.

This is a fantastic opportunity for an ambitious candidate who can demonstrate excellent judgement and strategic thinking, with a keen eye on results and the bigger picture. MCS values team players and provides support for personal and professional development, including dedicated training where desired.

 

Main role and responsibilities

  • Working with sector partners, help define the sector’s skills and workforce strategy.
  • Manage the MCS Competency Framework, including for the accreditation of new training provision (and its delivery).
  • Custodian of MCS competency requirements, advising training organisations, certification bodies and individual employers as to the skills, knowledge and behaviours necessary for the successful design and installation of small-scale renewable energy technologies.
  • Devise and operate an MCS ‘Train the Trainer’ programme which aims to support the rollout of effective microgeneration and low carbon energy technologies skills training.
  • Liaise with MCS Standards Technical Working Groups to secure their input to skills and training related initiatives specific to each technology.
  • Lead the delivery and launch of a new Low Carbon Heating Technician apprenticeship for the installation and maintenance of Heat Pump and Solar Thermal based systems.
  • Build and maintain relationships with training providers including Further Education Colleges, Higher Education providers, Independent Training Centres and others.
  • Oversee skills development related support. As of today, projects include the set-up of a ‘green skills’ centre at Herefordshire & Ludlow College attracting SDF, LEP and MCS funding, a consortium of Colleges in London who have secured SDF funding and to the Northern Ireland Department of Economy who are looking for support for the development of a heat pump installation workforce to underpin a future government incentive.
  • Identify and promote career opportunities and progression routes within the UK small-scale renewables sector.
  • Sit on and contribute to the MCS Charitable Foundation led Green Jobs Action Group.
  • Create and seek partnerships to enable the sector’s workforce planning, placing MCS at the heart of decision-making with respect to the rollout of ‘boot camps’, T-levels, apprenticeships and upskilling courses for already experienced workers wishing to move into the sector UK wide.
  • Prepare reports & performance data in relation to the effectiveness of current skills and training initiatives in the small-scale renewables sector.
  • Act as a change agent, encouraging best practice in training delivery, learner and employer engagement across the UK.
  • Support the MCS event programme, representing MCS on skills related panels, discussions and through the delivery of presentations at industry events.
  • Contribute as part of the MCS Management Team, helping to shape the Scheme’s strategy with a specific focus on sector skills and competency.
  • Uphold and work within MCS policies and procedures.
  • Actively promote and embody MCS’s core values, mission, vision and drive to ‘give people confidence in home-grown energy’ across the organisation and with partners.

 

About MCS

MCS certifies contractors, low-carbon products, and installations used to produce electricity and heat from renewable sources, including solar panels and heat pumps.

Small-scale renewable energy – what MCS calls ‘home-grown energy’ – is increasingly affordable and gives people the opportunity to heat or power their home themselves, reducing dependence on fossil fuels.

Something that’s ‘home-grown’ is also something you can take pride in. By encouraging people to invest in renewable energy technology, we aim to make a real contribution to the global fight against climate change and help the UK meet its recent commitment to achieving zero carbon emissions by 2050 – while creating new green jobs in the process.

As an MCS employee, you will have the ability to demonstrate, understand and apply our company values. These are embedded in all roles across the business, and you should evidence these values as part of the application process:

  • Expert 
  • Inspiring 
  • Collaborative
  • Principled
  • Determined

 

Person specification

Knowledge

  • Working knowledge of the sector’s training provision, the organisations involved and stakeholders
  • Role and function of training related Awarding Organisations and Certification / Accreditation Bodies
  • Knowledge of training design, delivery and assessment
  • UK and devolved administrations education policy, frameworks and the agencies, including an understanding of the different educational pathways and models deployed by the devolved nations
  • Existing network across the sector, able to bring working relationships with key individuals at industry bodies
  

Essential
Essential

Essential
Desirable

Desirable

 
Skills

  • Excellent communication skills, including the delivery of presentations to industry stakeholders
  • Excellent relationship and collaboration skills
  • Complex problem-solving skills
  • Project management qualification e.g. Agile or Prince2 practitioner
  

Essential

Essential

Essential

Desirable
Behaviour

  • Collaborator, with a proven ability to draw together disparate organisations and individuals to secure the delivery of a common goal
  • A researcher – able to discover, document and apply best practice
  • A facilitator – able to plan, guide and manage workshops and industry meetings
  • Action-orientated , fast moving and focused
  • Willing to work flexibly and travel across the UK to attend events and meeting as required
  

Essential

Essential

Essential

Essential

Essential

 

To apply, please send a CV and covering letter of no more than two sides of A4. In your letter, please outline how you meet the person specification, together with your high level thoughts on how MCS can support the UK’s green jobs agenda. Email to careers@mcscertified.com.

Closing date for applications will be Wednesday 22 March at 8.00am

Successful applicants will be invited to interview either at our office or via video call.