Solar & Battery Storage Recruitment Case Study: 20 Technical Hires for RES
This renewable energy recruitment case study shows how Astute People partnered with RES to scale its Solar and Battery Energy Storage (BESS) technical workforce across the UK and Ireland — evolving from a People Lite engagement into a strategic People Solutions partnership, recruiting 20 technical professionals and reducing hiring lead times during one of RES’ fastest periods of growth.
RES had experienced exceptional growth, but the renewable energy recruitment market had changed dramatically. Many of the industry’s most experienced field engineers had progressed into management positions, leaving a shrinking pool of operational talent available to support the next phase of expansion.
Strategic Recruitment to Support Rapid Renewable Energy Growth
Rather than recruiting role-by-role, RES and Astute developed a long-term hiring strategy capable of supporting sustained operational growth while responding to an increasingly competitive engineering market.
A shrinking technical talent pool
As the renewable energy industry matured, experienced engineers increasingly moved into leadership positions, creating a shortage of skilled field-based professionals. This reflects a wider workforce pressure across the UK solar and battery storage sector, where demand for operational and maintenance talent continues to outpace the supply of experienced engineers. “When O&M first started, there was a really broad engineering skill set available. Over time, those engineers naturally moved into management positions, but the skills weren’t being replaced. What we found over the last few years was that finding the people we needed had become almost impossible unless you already knew someone in the industry—and even that only got you so far.” Rather than continuing to compete for an increasingly limited talent pool, RES recognised the need for a different recruitment strategy—one that combined experienced renewable energy professionals with engineers possessing transferable skills and apprentices capable of developing into future specialists.
From contingency recruitment to strategic workforce partnership
The relationship began through People Lite, supporting RES during a significant period of expansion. Rather than simply filling vacancies, Astute worked alongside Matthew and his team to understand future workforce requirements, regional demand and the types of candidates that could be successfully developed within the business. “We didn’t just say, ‘Go and find me some technicians.’ We sat down together and developed a recruitment strategy. We looked at where we needed experienced people, where electricians with transferable skills would work and where apprentices could come in because we already had the expertise to develop them.” As Astute consistently delivered against ambitious hiring targets, the partnership evolved naturally into People Solutions. Rather than engaging Astute on a role-by-role basis, RES adopted a more strategic recruitment model, giving Astute exclusive responsibility for selected technical vacancies and enabling long-term workforce planning aligned to business growth. “Once we’d come through that major hiring period, we formalised things because we’d built trust. By that point it had become much more of a strategic partnership.”
Listening first. Delivering the right people.
Rather than overwhelming hiring managers with large volumes of CVs, Astute focused on delivering candidates who genuinely matched the brief across the renewable energy sector. “Tim listened to what the instruction was and then went away and delivered exactly that. There was never a case of sending ten CVs where only one matched. He understood the brief, understood the skills we needed and only brought back people who genuinely fitted the role.” This quality-first approach reduced wasted interview time, improved hiring efficiency and allowed the RES leadership team to remain focused on delivering operational growth.
Supporting one of RES’ fastest periods of growth
Astute played a significant role in supporting RES’ expansion, recruiting 20 technical professionals across 2025 and 2026. Recruitment lead times reduced considerably while maintaining consistently high candidate quality, enabling RES to mobilise teams quickly enough to support new customer contracts, acquisitions and continued portfolio growth across the UK and Ireland. “Before Tim came on board we were struggling and there were delays. He came in and really reduced those lead times. It was quick, it was efficient, but more importantly, quality was never impacted—we were still receiving really top-quality people.” Today, Astute is one of only two recruitment partners supporting RES and continues to play a key role in delivering technical talent through a strategic workforce partnership. Explore our full range of recruitment solutions to find the right model for your hiring challenge.
We’ve built a really good partnership with Tim. I’m very clear about what I expect from a recruitment partner—I know what I want, when I want it and how I want it. Tim listened to that, understood how we operate and consistently delivered the right people. Because of that, Astute is now one of only two recruitment partners we use, and I’d say Tim delivers around 75% of our technical recruitment.
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20 Technical Hires 11 Solar Technicians, 7 Solar O&M Technicians, an O&M Coordinator and a Field Expert Communications Technician recruited to support rapid business growth.
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Reduced Hiring Lead Times Recruitment became significantly faster while maintaining exceptional technical quality and cultural fit.
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UK & Ireland Coverage Successful recruitment delivered across operational sites throughout England, Scotland and Ireland, supporting nationwide Solar and BESS operations.
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Strategic Workforce Planning A long-term hiring strategy combining experienced renewable energy professionals, transferable engineering talent and apprentices helped future-proof RES’ technical workforce.
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Trusted Recruitment Partner Astute progressed from People Lite contingency recruitment to a People Solutions workforce partnership, becoming one of only two recruitment partners used by RES and supporting approximately 75% of technical recruitment during a major growth period.
