Civil Engineer

Department: Engineering Centre of Excellence

Reporting Line: Global Head of Civil Engineering

Location: Sydney, Australia

About Lightsource bp

Lightsource bp is a global leader in the development and management of solar energy projects. We are bp with a mission to help drive the world’s transition to low carbon energy.

Our goal is to play a vital role in shaping the future of global energy delivery with a global growth strategy of developing 25GW of solar by 2025.

With solar set to increase tenfold in the next 20 years, we are well-positioned to capitalize on this growth. By joining the Lightsource bp team, you will ‘be the change’ on the world’s energy transition to a more sustainable future.

We pride ourselves on our entrepreneurial spirit as we continue to push the boundaries of an ever-changing energy landscape. By choosing a career with us, you can expect a challenging and fulfilling role surrounded by people who are passionate and have brilliant ideas about sustainable technology, innovation and making the world a better place.

What You’ll do (the role)

Summary

The role is part of the Civil Engineering area in the LSbp Engineering Centre of Excellence, based in Australia to give specialized technical support to the business activity in the APAC region, primarily focused in Australia and New Zealand.

The successful candidate will join a diverse and dynamic team who supports global growth by performing technical and commercial assessment of civil works engineering for Wind Projects, PV Projects, BESS Facilities and Interconnection Infrastructures at any project stage: development, design, and construction, as well as in operation stage upon request.

This role may require close coordination of the civil engineering area with Commercial Engineering, Business Development, Planning, Main Equipment SME (specially PV mounting structures), Construction, Quality and Asset Management teams.

Duties and responsibilities

• Define site surveys plans (geotechnical, topographical, hydrological, POT, etc.), review the resulting site surveys reports and assess the suitability of the plant layout, Equipment (PV mounting structure, BESS Containers, Wind Turbines) foundation design, roads layout and drainage basic design, identifying risks and proposing mitigation plans,
• Cooperate with mounting structure SMD and CAD teams to conduct PV plant design layouts, including earth works movements estimates,
• Participate in Basic Designs deliveries for EPC RfQs processes, leading the Civil Engineering area,
• Support the Project Development and Project Acquisition processes to assess the civil works risks, mainly those related to the site characterization, challenging the existing civil engineering design assumptions when required.
• Support the LCOE optimization process for new and existing projects internationally, iterating as many times as required with Construction, SME, etc.
• Review, improve and optimize the civil works design in the EPC Contract bidding and negotiation stage with the selected bidders, supporting the Construction team,
• Conduct and review of all calculations and design on regards with the civil and ground works for elements related with PV plants projects, such as preconstructions site works, general earth works, foundations, etc.
• Conduct and review of site roads design and access roads design for renewable projects, according to LSbp's internal Technical Standards and international standards as applicable.
• Participate in Owner’s Engineer detailed designs reviews, leading the Civil Engineering area,
• Manage and coordination of external consultants to complete the internal assessments, preparing technical and economical comparison among proposals.
• Support Main Equipment SME to conduct such equipment technical review.

Who we’re looking for

Knowledge & Experience

• Experience in civil engineering for Wind Farms, PV plants and BESS projects, including foundations, drainage, roads, trenching, HV substations, OHL, ...
• Experience in construction of utility scale Wind Farms and ground mounted PV plants.
• Experience in Wind Turbines foundations and Roads
• Experience in earth works (i.e preconstruction works for), ground works (i.e. foundations) and excavation works (i.e. trenching). Including experience and knowledge regarding the main machinery.
• Experience undertaking calculations for earth movement for levelling and flattering), being capable to estimate the cut and fill volume.
• Experience in foundations calculations for PV Structures and Equipment
• Experience in hydrological and flooding studies been capable to understand and analyze reports.
• Topographical surveys good knowledge, been capable to analyze the main parameters and methods.
• Experience in detail civil design for utility scale Wind Farms and PV Plants using specialized calculation or modelling software such as AutoCAD Civil 3D or similar,
• Experience with GIS software (ideally with QGis, ArcGis and Global Mapper)
• Experience building tailor made software for Civil Works engineering needs,
• Ability to work with variety of software packages, such as Microsoft Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel, VBA, to produce correspondence and documents and maintain presentations, records, spreadsheets and databases.
• Desirable experience in PV plant design: Layouts, tracker manufacturers, main equipment, and market standards.
• Familiarity with different PV technologies, modules, inverters and tracking systems.

Why you’ll make a great member of the team

Education & Experience

• Degree or master’s degree in civil engineering or similar
• Relevant experience in civil engineering technical roles or equivalent
• International working experience or in projects globally
• Fluent English spoken and written. Additional languages are a plus.

Personal & Work Skills

• Excellent oral and written communication skills. Ability to discuss complex situations with others both in person and remotely.
• Strong analytical skills and attention to detail to identify root cause technical issues.
• Able to work autonomously on projects to improve central and commercial engineering teams processes on performance.
• A good commitment to technical excellence in a pressured commercial environment.
• Flexible, reliable, assertive, consistent & with a “can do” attitude.
• Forward thinking, a problem solver and solution provider (solution oriented).
• Team player.
• Self-starter and self-confident.
• Present yourself with integrity, credibility, and professionalism.
• Ability to prioritize.
• Driving license and availability to travel as required

Why you’ll want to work for us

Our company is a place where you can be yourself and grow; a place where your ideas and opinions matter.

Be you

We pride ourselves on being an inclusive community, where every individual is valued and treated with respect.

Be responsible

Our culture is driven by our core values. From operating safely to ensuring our solar projects are responsible and promote biodiversity. 

Be recognized

Alongside a competitive salary, we offer a variety of benefits.

Be inspired

Beyond your day-to-day working life at Lightsource bp, there’s a variety of initiatives that will contribute to your own personal development. Initiatives to get involved with including our charitable causes, supporting our solar honey project or our sustainability initiatives.

Our Core Values

Lightsource bp truly cares about creating a sustainable future through safe, responsible and meaningful low carbon energy projects. Our core values of Safety, Integrity, Respect, Sustainability and Drive are the guiding principles for everything we do.