Head of Energy & Grid

About Us

At Gi21 – Great Ideas for 21st Century, we move great ideas forward.

Our team brings more than two decades of European datacenter experience across design, construction, operations, and managed and cloud services. Over 12 years, the datacenters we built and operated delivered 100% uptime, and we have completed more than five exits, including sales to leading private equity investors.

We are now developing and building AI-ready, high-density datacenters across Europe, which we will also operate.

About the Role

In our business, power is the scarcest resource. We are looking for a senior Head of Energy & Grid to own it across the entire platform: from the first grid connection request to the last megawatt-hour delivered to our clients.

You will report to the Founder & CEO and work closely with our Real Estate team on site development and with our Commercial team on coordinating client needs. You will build the energy function and team from the ground up and become the internal and external authority on everything related to power, grid and energy cost.

What You Will Do

• Energy Strategy: Define and execute the platform's energy strategy, so that every site has secure, scalable and cost-competitive power for the full life of the asset.
• Grid Connections: Lead grid connection processes end to end, from feasibility studies and applications to technical specifications, ramp-up profiles, energisation and grid connection agreements with TSOs and DSOs.
• Grid Provider Negotiations: Negotiate connection costs, payment schedules, delivery dates, redundancy and curtailment conditions, and protect the platform against delays, cost overruns and capacity risk.
• Capacity Planning: Build and maintain the platform-wide power plan, aligning grid reservations, construction phasing and client ramp-up so that capacity is neither missing nor sitting idle.
• Client Needs Coordination: Work with the Commercial team to coordinate client power needs and ramp-up schedules, and make sure they are reflected in grid reservations and capacity plans.
• Power Procurement & PPAs: Design and execute the power procurement strategy, including physical and virtual PPAs, supply contracts, hedging and guarantees of origin backing our renewable commitments.
• Consumption & Energy Budget: Own the long-term consumption plan and energy budget for each site and for the platform, including PUE targets, energy cost models for investment decisions and pass-through mechanisms.
• Site Due Diligence: Together with the Real Estate team, assess power availability, grid risk and energy economics of new sites and acquisition opportunities.
• Energy Infrastructure: Together with the Real Estate team, shape the concept for substations, backup power, energy storage and waste-heat recovery, including heat offtake agreements with district-heating operators.
• Regulatory & Policy: Monitor energy taxes, network tariffs, connection rules and datacenter regulation across our markets, and represent Gi21 with regulators, ministries and industry bodies.
• Local Partners: Coordinate local partners in each country, including grid and energy consultants, engineering firms, legal advisors and site teams, so that energy workstreams are delivered on time across all markets.
• Team Building: Build and lead the energy team.

What We Expect From You

• 10+ years in energy, utilities, grid development or power procurement, ideally serving large consumers (datacenters, energy-intensive industry) or as a developer of energy projects.
• A proven track record of securing grid connections of 100 MW+ at 110 kV or higher, from application to energisation.
• Hands-on experience negotiating PPAs and power supply contracts, with solid understanding of hedging and price risk.
• Deep knowledge of European power markets; experience with the Nordics, CEE or Germany is a strong plus.
• Solid understanding of grid codes, connection processes, network tariffs and energy taxation.
• Strong analytical and modelling skills, with the ability to translate a grid offer or a PPA term sheet into its impact on project returns.
• Ability to explain complex energy topics clearly to clients, investors and internal teams.
• A degree in electrical engineering, energy economics or a related field.
• Strong negotiation skills and an entrepreneurial, hands-on mindset.
• Fluent English.
• Willingness to travel frequently.

What We Offer

• A competitive compensation package with a performance-linked component.
• A key role with real influence on the strategy of one of Europe’s most ambitious AI infrastructure platforms.
• Direct work with the CEO and senior leadership team.
• The opportunity to build a function and team from the ground up.
• Exposure to large-scale projects across multiple European energy markets.
• Flexible working arrangements in London or Prague.