Supporting a global HVDC manufacturer to secure specialist engineering talent during a period of significant project growth.
Key Stats
- Multiple senior engineering searches delivered simultaneously
- Senior specialists with 10-15+ years’ experience targeted
- Candidates identified across France and wider European HVDC markets
- Successful hires across LV secondary and automation & control leadership
- Wider talent pipeline established for future recruitment in France
Introduction
Europe’s growing HVDC project pipeline is driving demand for specialist engineering skills across the transmission sector.
For one global HVDC manufacturer and EPCI provider, a period of significant project growth created an urgent need to strengthen its engineering capability in France.
Turner Lovell was appointed to identify experienced permanent engineers and technical leaders across several specialist disciplines. The search needed to reach beyond an already limited pool of active candidates.
Background & Objectives
The client was delivering major HVDC programmes across Europe, with further projects in the pipeline. This growth meant expanding its engineering team in France with experienced professionals who could contribute to complex HVDC projects from the outset.
The requirements covered several specialist disciplines, including LV secondary systems, automation and control, system engineering and power systems. Some positions also required experienced technical leaders capable of managing engineering teams and taking responsibility through key stages of project delivery.
Turner Lovell’s objective was to widen the client’s access to specialist talent, identify candidates with the right combination of technical and leadership experience, and secure permanent hires across several roles at the same time.
The Challenges
Senior HVDC engineering talent is scarce across Europe, and the available pool becomes smaller when searching for professionals with 10–15+ years of relevant experience.
Several of the client’s roles had already been open for months. Direct applications had produced limited numbers of candidates with the specialist experience required, while competition for the same skills was high across HVDC manufacturers, transmission contractors and other businesses within the sector.
The client also needed to recruit across several disciplines simultaneously rather than filling one position at a time.
Most of the strongest potential candidates were already established in permanent positions. The search therefore needed to reach beyond the active market and engage people who were not considering a move. Turner Lovell also needed to establish genuine motivation for relocation and a long-term opportunity in France.
Strategy & Execution
Turner Lovell assembled a dedicated HVDC recruitment team and worked with the client’s hiring managers to establish the technical requirements, priorities and target market for each search.
Rather than limiting the campaign to candidates already based in France, the team mapped specialist talent across other European HVDC competence centres. The search covered professionals working within HVDC OEMs, transmission contractors, grid automation teams, system studies functions and protection and control engineering groups.
Candidates were approached directly and assessed against the technical requirements of each position, alongside their HVDC experience, leadership capability, career motivations, salary expectations and willingness to relocate.
Regular reporting gave the client visibility of candidate progress and feedback from the market, helping the hiring team understand availability, expectations and potential barriers as the searches progressed.
Turner Lovell managed the interview and offer process, keeping candidates engaged, aligning expectations on both sides and supporting negotiations through to acceptance.
Results
The campaign resulted in successful permanent hires across LV System / LV Secondary and Automation & Control leadership positions, adding experienced engineering capability to the client’s team in France.
By taking the search beyond direct applicants and targeting specialist engineers across the wider European market, Turner Lovell gave the client access to experienced candidates outside its existing recruitment channels.
The campaign also created a broader pipeline of relevant HVDC talent and greater visibility of candidate availability, salary expectations and relocation considerations across Europe.
Alongside the immediate hires, Turner Lovell established a repeatable sourcing model for future HVDC recruitment in France, giving the client a stronger foundation for continued engineering growth.