Case Study: Building critical talent for the Energy Transition

How a capability-led talent strategy helped address two distinct talent challenges across renewable portfolio management and B2B energy sales

The energy transition is changing more than the way energy is generated. It is changing the capabilities energy companies need to compete, manage risk and grow. Supporting Vattenfall in Hamburg, we addressed two fundamentally different talent challenges: strengthening complex B2B energy sales and identifying highly specialised quantitative expertise for renewable portfolio management.

The mandates differed significantly. The underlying challenge was the same: accessing critical capabilities in a fragmented and increasingly competitive talent market.

On this page:

The Challenge

The Solution

The Impact

Key Takeaways

• Critical talent is increasingly defined by capability combinations, not job titles.

• The most relevant candidates are often located outside the obvious target market.

• Digital qualification can improve relevance before the formal assessment process begins.

• Direct search, industry networks and market intelligence create access beyond active applicants.

• AI can accelerate market mapping and capability clustering, while human judgement determines relevance.

• Every critical search can generate intelligence that improves future talent decisions.

At a glance:

---

First 48h of the Search	5 suitable Sales Manager	Within a few weeks
To the first relevant profiles Three qualified B2B Sales Manager profiles identified and introduced within the first 48 hours.	Five qualified candidates progressed into the interview process within the first days of the search.	To a critical capability match A highly specialised renewables portfolio professional was identified for a role requiring a rare combination of quantitative, portfolio and energy-market expertise.

---

Client Introduction

Vattenfall is one of Europe's leading energy companies, operating across electricity generation, distribution, trading and customer solutions. As the energy transition continues to reshape both energy infrastructure and commercial markets, the capabilities required across the organisation are changing rapidly.

The growth of renewable generation is increasing the complexity of portfolio management, market forecasting and risk assessment. At the same time, businesses are facing growing demand for more sophisticated and commercially relevant energy solutions.

Against this backdrop, Vattenfall engaged Friis+Børgesen to support two strategically distinct talent mandates in Germany.

The first focused on strengthening commercial capability within B2B energy sales. The second centred on a highly specialised role at the intersection of renewable portfolio analytics, quantitative modelling and energy-market decision-making.

The mandates were different in nature.

Both, however, reflected a broader challenge facing the energy sector: how to access critical capabilities in a talent market where the strongest profiles are often specialised, fragmented and not actively looking for a new role.

The Challenge

Two positions. Two different talent markets. One common problem.

The Sales Manager role required approximately five years of relevant experience in B2B energy sales. Candidates needed experience with complex energy solutions, major sales accounts and large-scale energy consumption profiles.

The Renewable Portfolio Manager role presented an even more specialised challenge.

The successful candidate needed to combine several scarce capabilities within one profile:

• Renewable portfolio analytics and value creation

• Quantitative modelling and portfolio valuation

• Capture-rate analysis across wind and solar assets

• Portfolio risk assessment and scenario analysis

• Understanding of hedging and portfolio steering

• Energy-market and power-market expertise

• Continuous development of pricing and analytical methodologies

The role also required a strong quantitative academic background and relevant professional experience in portfolio analytics, quantitative analysis, energy trading, forecasting or risk management.

The two searches therefore represented different forms of talent scarcity.

The Sales mandate required the rapid identification of commercially proven talent with relevant sector depth. The Renewables mandate required the identification of a rare combination of analytical, technical and commercial capabilities within a single individual.

The central question therefore became:

How do you identify critical talent when the required capability sits across multiple disciplines, markets and professional backgrounds?

The Insight

Traditional recruitment often begins with a position.

A title is defined. A job description is published. Applications are reviewed. Search activity follows.

For highly specialised roles, this approach can be too narrow.

The strongest candidates may work under different titles. They may sit in adjacent organisations. Their capabilities may have been developed in energy trading, utilities, portfolio management, risk functions, quantitative analytics or related commercial environments.

The search therefore began with a different question:

What capabilities must exist in the individual for the organisation to succeed?

This shifted the assignment from position-led recruitment towards a capability-led talent strategy.

The Challenge

To structure the two searches, we combined executive search, talent intelligence, direct acquisition, digital qualification and AI-supported market analysis into one integrated model.

The process was designed as a continuous flywheel.

Each mandate generated additional intelligence about the market. That intelligence then improved the next search.

The objective was not simply to fill an open role.

It was to create a more precise and repeatable way of accessing critical talent.

The Solution

Four workstreams were activated:

1. Capability definition

The two mandates were first translated into clear capability profiles.

For the Sales Manager search, the focus was on the intersection of commercial performance and sector expertise.

For the Renewable Portfolio Manager search, the focus was on the intersection of quantitative expertise, energy-market knowledge, portfolio analytics and commercial decision-making.

This distinction was important.

The objective was not to find candidates who looked similar on paper.

It was to identify candidates capable of performing in the specific environment.

2. Talent ecosystem mapping

Relevant talent pools were mapped beyond the immediate target companies.

The search considered talent across:

• Energy and utility companies

• Renewable energy businesses

• Energy trading organisations

• Power-market functions

• Portfolio and risk management

• Quantitative and analytical teams

• Adjacent commercial energy environments

This widened the addressable market while maintaining a clear definition of the capabilities required.

3. Digital qualification and talent marketing

Digital job profiles were used as an active part of the search strategy.

Rather than relying solely on conventional job advertisements, the opportunity was structured around relevant experience clusters and targeted qualification criteria.

Candidates could be differentiated based on factors such as:

• Relevant energy-market experience

• Quantitative or commercial depth

• Experience with large customers or specialised portfolios

• Exposure to risk, pricing or portfolio decisions

• Years of relevant experience

• Specific technical or functional expertise

This helped sharpen the profile before deeper assessment.

The objective was not to generate more applications.

It was to generate a more relevant market response.

4. Direct access through networks, search and AI-supported intelligence

The final workstream focused on direct market access.

LinkedIn was used as a mapping and sourcing environment. Established industry networks provided access to relevant professionals and referrals. Direct search enabled targeted engagement with passive candidates.

AI-supported tools were used to accelerate information processing, expand adjacent search hypotheses and support capability clustering across fragmented talent data.

Commercial Growth Capability

B2B Energy Sales

Core capabilities

• Complex B2B energy solutions

• Large commercial customers

• Relevant energy-market knowledge

• RLM and major-account experience

• Proven sales performance

Primary challenge

Identifying commercially successful talent with sufficient energy-sector depth and credibility.

The mandates were fundamentally different. The search logic was the same: define the critical capability, map the relevant ecosystem and create direct access to the right talent.

The Impact

From search activity to capability outcomes. The b2b-Sales search progressed rapidly.

Five qualified Sales Manager candidates entered the interview process within a few days.

This created immediate access to a focused group of relevant candidates and enabled the organisation to move quickly.

Client perspective

“Mr. Gliem's long-standing experience and expertise in the energy and electricity market enabled us to move quickly and fill these two critical positions within a short period of time. Beyond the talent strategy advisory and the executive recruitment itself, the engagement also provided valuable insights and practical ideas for building a more sustainable approach to talent acquisition.” Manager, People & Culture Vattenfall

The renewables mandate required a deeper search across a much narrower specialist market.

Within a few weeks, a highly specialised executive profile was identified and successfully placed.

The engagement also produced insights beyond the individual appointments.

These included:

• Greater visibility into specialist talent availability

• Identification of adjacent talent pools

• A clearer understanding of capability scarcity

• Insights into candidate expectations

• Ideas for a more sustainable talent acquisition approach

• A stronger foundation for future critical searches

What this case demonstrates

Critical talent acquisition is increasingly broader than Executive Search alone.

It sits at the intersection of leadership judgement, market intelligence, digital acquisition, direct access and a precise understanding of the capabilities required for future performance.

For Vattenfall, the immediate outcome was the successful progression and placement of two critical talent mandates.

The broader outcome was a more structured view of how specialised talent can be identified across a fragmented market.

Conclusion

The energy transition requires new technologies, new commercial models and new organisational capabilities.

Building those capabilities depends on the ability to identify talent beyond conventional job titles and traditional recruitment channels.

The strongest talent strategies begin by understanding the capability the organisation needs next—and then building the intelligence and access required to find it.