Talent Shortages in Construction: Executive Search in EPC
Talent shortages have affected engineering, construction and EPC companies for years, but the challenge should be separated into two different
June 27, 2023
A maintenance decision at a power station, an investment in a distribution network or a change to a water treatment process can affect thousands of customers. We identify the leaders trusted with those decisions.
Leaders in conventional energy and utilities carry responsibility for reliable service while managing costs, developing their teams and preparing assets for changing operating conditions.
The right appointment depends on the business behind the role: its infrastructure, regulatory environment, customers and investment priorities.
Zavala Civitas supports conventional power generators, electricity transmission and distribution operators, gas utilities and water and wastewater companies. Each search is defined around the assets and decisions the role will own. With offices in Mexico, Spain, Canada and China, our international research reaches leaders across Latin America, Europe, North America and Asia.
An ageing asset does not automatically need replacing. Its condition, criticality, maintenance history and consequences of failure all matter. According to the IEA’s Modernising Grids in the Age of Electricity report, meeting expected electricity demand growth by 2035 requires global grid capacity to increase by at least 30%. Expansion alone will not be enough: utilities must also make better use of existing infrastructure, which places asset management judgement at the centre of senior leadership.
For operational and asset management appointments, we examine how candidates have prioritised maintenance, justified renewal programmes and coordinated work without compromising service continuity.
Safety responsibilities extend from routine maintenance to major outages and emergency response. Senior leaders must ensure that employees and contractors have the authority, resources and competence to manage risk, and that lessons from incidents reach other teams and sites.
We explore specific decisions: when a candidate stopped work, challenged a proposed operating plan or addressed a recurring failure in procedures, and how they followed up afterwards.
Monitoring systems, automation and analytical tools improve visibility over assets only when data is reliable and operating teams adopt them. The IEA found that 64% of surveyed network operators identified skills and organisational readiness as a major barrier to deploying digital and grid-enhancing technologies. The constraint is less the technology than the leadership needed to take it into routine use.
We look for executives who can work across engineering, operations and technology, evaluate proposed changes and move them beyond the pilot stage, whether that means improving plant efficiency, adapting maintenance to new operating patterns or improving network visibility.
A regulated network operator, a competitive power generator and a water utility work within different financial frameworks. Leaders must understand how investment is approved, how performance is measured and which commitments the business makes to customers, regulators and shareholders.
We assess their ability to explain technical needs in financial terms, compare alternatives and defend clear priorities when funding is constrained.
Critical operating knowledge is often concentrated in a small number of experienced employees. Replacing a senior leader therefore involves understanding the team they will inherit and the knowledge that must be documented before it is lost.
We examine how candidates have built successors, strengthened maintenance and engineering teams and developed people alongside delivering operational results.
Each search is defined around the assets, the regulatory framework and the service commitments behind the role.
Thermal generation, including gas-fired plants and other conventional assets, where plant technology, maintenance responsibilities, fuel arrangements and commercial exposure shape the role.
Network operators responsible for asset management, engineering, operations and customer connections, where network scale, investment needs, regulation and reliability define the mandate.
Gas transmission, distribution and utility operations, where infrastructure integrity, maintenance, emergency preparedness and coordination between technical and commercial functions are central.
Water supply, treatment, distribution and wastewater services, where process performance, network losses, service continuity, environmental obligations and capital investment drive requirements.
Leading a single generating asset requires a different background from managing investment priorities across a geographically dispersed utility network. We establish those distinctions before approaching candidates.
| Area | Relevant leadership roles |
|---|---|
| Executive leadership | CEO, Managing Director, Country Manager, Regional Director |
| Operations | COO, Operations Director, Generation Director, Power Plant Director |
| Assets and engineering | Asset Management Director, Engineering Director, Maintenance Director, Technical Director |
| Networks | Network Operations Director, Transmission Director, Distribution Director |
| Commercial and regulatory | Commercial Director, Energy Trading Director, Regulatory Affairs Director |
| Safety and transformation | HSE Director, Sustainability Director, Digital Transformation Director |
| Corporate functions | CFO, HR Director |
We begin with the assets, services and responsibilities behind the appointment. The brief clarifies the business model, regulatory setting, team structure and immediate priorities, and distinguishes what the executive can decide directly from what requires approval from corporate leadership, regulators or other stakeholders.
Our research combines target-company mapping with direct approaches to senior professionals who are not actively looking, including leaders in integrated utilities operating across Europe and Latin America. A generation role may require experience with a particular technology, while an asset management appointment may allow a broader pool, provided candidates have worked with comparable infrastructure risks and investment responsibilities.
We personally interview candidates to understand their individual contribution to the results they describe. We explore how they set maintenance priorities, handled an operational failure, secured investment approval or introduced a new working practice. For candidates moving between countries, we also examine how quickly they adapted to a new regulatory framework.
Structured assessments, references and, where appropriate, a role-specific business case provide further evidence. Specialist technical discussions can involve the client’s subject-matter experts.
Weekly progress reports give clients a clear view of market coverage, candidate feedback and constraints affecting the brief. Location, site presence, travel and emergency responsibilities are discussed early, so that candidates understand these expectations before committing to the role.
Whether you are renewing ageing assets, modernising operations, preparing for a regulatory review or planning succession for critical roles, contact Zavala Civitas for a confidential discussion about your next conventional energy or utilities appointment.
Diagnosis of Situation
An electricity distribution business needed an Asset Management Director to strengthen its maintenance and renewal planning. Its network included equipment of different ages and conditions, and investment requests from several teams lacked a consistent basis for comparison.
The business needed a more credible way to rank priorities and explain how expenditure would improve reliability. The role required an executive who could combine engineering knowledge with investment judgement and present investment cases convincingly to the regulator. Experienced asset managers in regulated networks rarely move, which narrowed the available market.
Implementation
The search began by clarifying the director’s authority, the quality of available asset information and the criteria used to approve expenditure.
Candidate mapping covered electricity network operators and comparable infrastructure businesses. Interviews examined experience in asset criticality, condition assessment, maintenance strategy and capital planning.
A business case presented competing renewal proposals, incomplete condition data and a constrained budget. Candidates explained what further evidence they needed, how they would rank the proposals and how they would manage risk while longer-term work was prepared.
Assessment also considered implementation: how the director would involve field teams, work with finance and operations, and track whether investment delivered the intended improvement.
Result
The appointed director established clearer asset priorities and a defensible maintenance and renewal plan.
Initial milestones included reviewing critical assets, improving the consistency of investment proposals and agreeing responsibilities across engineering and operations. Progress was measured through planning quality, delivery of agreed actions and relevant reliability measures. The client also gained a benchmark of how comparable networks organise asset management.
Talent shortages have affected engineering, construction and EPC companies for years, but the challenge should be separated into two different