Our Sectors

Energy - Senior Management

Leadership is about much more than technical competence and a great leader in one business may not translate this success to a different style or culture of business even within the same industry.

At Cripps Sears, we form a partnership with your business to understand both its skill gaps and its culture, including how that culture may need to change. Our depth of knowledge allows us to penetrate the market and present you with a range of options.

Cripps Sears has a wealth of experience in the recruitment of executive and senior management in the energy sector. This includes main board positions: Chief Executive (CEO), Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Chief Operations Officer (COO), and General Counsel; as well as other integral roles such as General Manager, Managing Director, Business/ Commercial Development Director, Exploration Director, Operations Director, Chief Information Officer (CIO), Human Resources (HR) Director, Regional Manager, Country Manager and Asset Manager. We also recruit Non-Executive Directors (NEDs).

Upstream Commercial & Business Development

The international oil and gas sector never stands still and companies of all sizes live and die on the quality of the deals they make. Recent years have seen a number of new players enter the upstream market, from genuine start-ups to wealthy international utilities with a need to secure supply and hedge against fluctuating wholesale prices. Whatever the company's background, it is their business development and commercial people that operate at the front line of the business' growth. Opening the door and establishing a relationship; turning a relationship into an opportunity; and turning an opportunity into a deal, are broadly speaking the three steps to building the business. These three stages require different skill sets and sometimes different mindsets and it is in understanding the human factors that Cripps Sears is able to help companies looking to grow and diversify their businesses to recruit the people that can make it a reality.

Upstream Oil and Gas - Senior Technical

There remains an international skills shortage affecting the recruitment of experienced and talented technical personnel in the energy industry. Cripps Sears has a team devoted to this subsector and is constantly in the market sourcing and networking with Asset Managers, Production & Operations Managers, Exploration Managers, Geologists, Geophysicists & Petrophysicists; and all types of senior engineers and engineering managers such as Petroleum Engineers, Reservoir Engineers, Drilling Engineers/ Managers, Facilities Engineers, Process Engineers etc. Our contacts in these areas are broad and deep as they have to be to ensure successful recruitment of senior technical personnel.

Gas and Power

The issue of sourcing supply to meet demand is at the very top of the industry and political agendas. The need to diversify fuel and supply sources has never been greater, while at the same time this need has to be balanced against environmental commitments and economic pressures. Companies need diplomacy, impeccable strategy and the talent to originate and implement well laid plans and projects. Cripps Sears has the knowledge to ensure that our clients have access to the brightest people in the market place.

Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)

With global resources in tight supply and the demand for diversification of energy sources being felt across the globe, LNG provides part of the answer. Normally utilising otherwise stranded gas fields, LNG effectively increases the world's available resources while at the same time creating a competitive market place where buyers have supply options. Cripps Sears has an experienced unit dedicated to recruitment in the ever growing global LNG industry.

On the commercial side this specialisation incorporates sourcing supply - both projects and contractual supply agreements - LNG trading and marketing as well as shipping and operations.

On the infrastructure side this incorporates development, design and project management of liquefaction, storage and regasification assets.

The growth of the LNG industry also brings with it an ever increasing demand for specialised professional services, particularly lawyers, and we support their recruitment to energy companies, law firms and other advisory firms.

Energy Trading & Risk Management

Successful optimisation and trading of energy resources can be hugely profitable, but much more than this it is the key to managing risk in these uncertain times. Knowing and more importantly understanding one's exposures to future changes and fluctuations in the volatile global energy industry, and implementing an effective hedging strategy are challenges that can make or break companies of any size. Cripps Sears has a long and very successful track record of placing optimisation and trading professionals as well as the other functions that exist to support this function.

Professional Services

The current drive for increasing transparency and accountability in the executive management of public companies has lead to the increasing prominence of executive search as a method of finding the best leaders to deliver shareholder value in a responsible way.  Professional, experienced and commercially astute senior managers are highly sought after in disciplines such as finance, tax, treasury, legal, investor relations, regulatory affairs, strategy, HR and corporate social responsibility (CSR).

Our expertise, knowledge and networks in the professions [link] have proven invaluable when working on assignments relating to the corporate functions of our energy industry clients.

We also form cross-sector teams when working with law firms, accountancy practices, management consultancies, funders, investors and insurers that are seeking to recruit senior professionals with experience within or advising companies in the energy sector.

Energy Services & Infrastructure/ Construction

As infrastructure ages, time, technology and global economies march on. Diversification of supply to include a range of new power technologies including microgeneration and renewable sources present a challenge to dynamic transmission systems. At the same time new nuclear, coal, gas, oil and renewable plant as well as oil rigs and facilities; and LNG regasification terminals must be built and maintained to satisfy the diversity of supply that nations all over the world understand to be the only way to protect their energy security.

This level of investment in energy infrastructure throughout the world makes for a tight recruitment market where securing talent is a competition between companies and projects, and valuable experience and genuine talent can come at a premium.

Cripps Sears has long been established in this market and understands the competencies needed to succeed in it and the drivers affecting the choices made by its players.

Cripps Sears supports consultancies, contractors, construction companies and equipment suppliers operating up, mid and downstream internationally. Our clients include multi-national oil services and engineering companies, international construction groups and niche service suppliers. Our work covers all operational and commercial management functions within the sector.

Sustainability and Renewable Energy

The climate change debate is no longer about whether our actions are having an effect on the environment, but how we can put frameworks in place that support the growth of global economies while at the same time curbing emissions and providing the market with security in diversity of supply. Sustainability is not just a buzz word in the energy sector. It encompasses the diverse range of solutions that necessarily represent the future of the industry.

The planet has huge untapped resources in terms of wind, solar, geothermal and hydroelectric power and the technologies that capture and utilise these resources are at the cutting edge of human ingenuity.

As well as these constant sources of natural energy we are using fabricated fuels that are often classed as sustainable, such as biofuels and energy from waste, as an alternative to fossil fuels.

At Cripps Sears we work with power companies, developers, sponsors, investors, professional services firms, traders, contractors and technology companies to expand their expertise and assist their growth in the renewable energy space.

Carbon cap and trade is the system by which the right to emit greenhouse gases is regulated and paid for. Putting a price on emissions gives companies an economic business reason to make their processes more environmentally friendly and thus profitable. The emissions trading market is growing rapidly to enable companies to find new ways to manage their emissions of greenhouse gases. 

Our clients include those organisations involved in trading carbon, organisations selecting and managing carbon offset projects, those offering technologies aimed at reducing carbon emissions as well as the financial and professional advisers working in this space.

Nuclear Power

For a long time considered one of the most politically sensitive forms of power, nuclear is now very much back on the agenda and is likely to remain an important element in the energy supply mix for the foreseeable future. Although more abundant in some counties than others, expertise in this specialist field - particularly in relation to the planning, engineering, procurement, construction and financing of new build nuclear power plants - is scarce in the UK owing to recent new build inactivity. The political momentum behind nuclear is set to create an increasing demand for skills, some of which will be transferable from other parts of the energy sector and others which will require specialist nuclear expertise. Thanks to our global reach and specialisation Cripps Sears is well placed to assist its clients as they seek to fulfill this requirement through the recruitment of experienced energy and infrastructure sector professionals.