Job title: Chief Executive Office

Job location: London, SE1 (hybrid working, minimum 2 days per week in the office)

Deadline: Noon, Friday 13th March, 2026

Purpose of the job

Smart meters are the essential infrastructure of Britain's net zero future, enabling a smarter, more flexible energy system and giving consumers control over their energy use. Smart Energy GB is the independent, non-profit body driving their adoption, and we're looking for an exceptional leader to take us through our next and most critical chapter.

Having achieved around 70% national penetration, our focus now shifts to reaching every eligible household and business by 2030. It's a complex, fascinating challenge, part mass-market behaviour change, part precision stakeholder management, part public service mission. We are not a government body, but we exist to serve public goals. We're funded by energy suppliers, governed by an independent board, and work closely with a wide range of stakeholders.    

The incoming CEO will inherit a high-performing organisation with a stable senior team, strong stakeholder relationships and a clear mandate. We’re looking for a confident, collaborative leader who can build on strong foundations, navigate complexity, and guide us to the finish line with creativity and rigour. You'll be the sole executive on the board, the external face of the organisation, and the person ultimately accountable for delivery.

You'll manage a diverse portfolio of marketing, communications, corporate affairs and finance & operations functions, and your stakeholder relations will range from parliamentary select committees to creative agencies, to energy suppliers. 

A deep understanding of marketing and communications is essential, but experience in the energy sector is not. What matters most is the ability to convene, influence and deliver across a wide range of stakeholders, with the judgment and values this unique role demands.

Job Remit

• Set direction and strategy within the defined public remit of Smart Energy GB and take ultimate responsibility for delivery against the annual goals set by the Smart Energy GB Board
  
  
• Motivate, manage and lead the team at Smart Energy GB, especially the Senior Leadership Team (SLT), to deliver the organisation’s remit and goals
  
  
• Sit as the sole Executive Director on the Board and represent the organisation to the Board in an open, transparent and accountable way
  
  
• Foster a strong and productive working relationship between Smart Energy GB’s Board and senior stakeholders in government, the regulator, energy suppliers, Parliament and the third sector – representing the organisation at the variety of stakeholder forums that surround the rollout
  
  
• Set a strong personal example of the values and standards of the organisation – being performance driven, evidence-based, people-focussed, collaborative, inclusive and agile – both internally and externally
  
  
• Be a thought leader in the space of net zero consumer engagement

Key tasks & Responsibilities

• Lead the SLT in agreeing Smart Energy GB’s annual goals (known as the Performance Management Framework, or PMF), business plan and budget with the Board
  
  
• Lead the Smart Energy GB team to deliver against that plan – ensuring high performance and value for money delivery
  
  
• Ensure thorough, transparent and timely reporting on performance against the organisation’s PMF, to the Board and wider government and industry stakeholders
  
  
• Work closely with the Chair of Smart Energy GB to enable the Board to fulfil its governance role of oversight and accountability: agreeing Board meeting agendas, ensuring that the Board receives high quality, accurate and timely information and helping to facilitate productive support and challenge from the Board
  
  
• Ultimate responsibility for the Smart Energy GB P&L and ensuring the organisation is run with appropriate financial discipline
  
  
• Ensure that Smart Energy GB has the optimum staffing structure, people, policies and positive working culture and environment to deliver the organisation’s goals
  
  
• Maintain, grow and nurture Smart Energy GB as a great place to work, including a strong people-focussed approach and emphasis on EDI
  
  
• Line manager responsibility for the Director of Marketing, the Director of Operations, the Director of Communications and the Director of Corporate Affairs
  
  
• Overall responsibility, working with the SLT, for ensuring best in class external agencies (creative, media, PR and research agencies) are in place to support the delivery of Smart Energy GB’s activities
  
  
• Responsible for senior level stakeholder liaison and relationships with Government, Ofgem, the three Parliaments of GB and the third sector, including consumer groups and charities
  
  
• Acting as the key external face of the organisation, speaking at conferences, industry and other gatherings, as well as engaging with the media, as necessary

Skills, knowledge and competencies

• A strategic leader who will provide positive and inspirational leadership to the Smart Energy GB team
  
  
• Leadership experience at the most senior levels in marketing and communications, in any relevant sector or organisation
  
  
• Experience of engaging with a diverse range of consumer and non-domestic audiences, including consumers in vulnerable circumstances
  
  
• Demonstrates probity in line with Smart Energy GB’s values and position as an organisation with public service goals
  
  
• Appreciation of the diversity of the people and communities of Great Britain and a passion to embrace this diversity in the delivery of Smart Energy GB’s marketing and communications activities, as well as representation within the staff team
  
  
• Personal credibility and excellent communication skills with Government, industry, the media and relevant external stakeholders such as Parliamentary select committees, charities, think tanks and trade associations
  
  
• The ability to be a highly effective influencer and relationship builder to both internal and external audiences.
  
  
• An aptitude for public service or purpose-driven work, coupled with skills and experience that demonstrate strong commercial and financial discipline

How to apply for the role

PLEASE DO NOT CLICK "START APPLICATION"

INSTEAD FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS BELOW:

Saxton Bampfylde Ltd is acting as an employment agency advisor to Smart Energy GB on this appointment.

Please visit https://roles.saxbam.com/advert-details/?id=d0c4edca-0d13-f111-8342-7ced8d9997c0 to submit your application.

Applications should be received by noon on Friday 13th March 2026.

Welcome to Smart Energy GB. It’s our task to engage everyone in England, Scotland and Wales with the national rollout of smart meters - and we are all thrilled to have this once-in-a-career chance to communicate with the whole of our diverse nation.

Every British home and microbusiness has the opportunity to upgrade to new gas and electricity smart meters, which will utterly transform the way we all buy and use energy and pave the way to a smarter, more energy efficient future. It’s one of the biggest technological and infrastructural investments of our time; the smart meter rollout has already converted approximately 70 per cent of British households. The goal for this voluntary technological upgrade is to engage every household in Great Britain, and so there is a continuing critical role for Smart Energy GB in the years ahead.

Our campaign is one of the most far-reaching of any campaign in the country. We are talking to consumers from all backgrounds, across the whole of Great Britain. Our legal duties mean that we have a particular need to make sure that consumers who are harder to reach or need greater support are not left behind (already an important part of our responsibilities and likely to be an increasing focus over the period leading beyond 2025).

It’s an important time to join one of the most talented and creative teams (c70 FTE) in the country to deliver marketing and communications campaigns. We have an exciting mission, and we pride ourselves on having a fully inclusive working environment.

We’re looking forward to meeting you and hope you’ll be as fired up about the challenge ahead as we are.

The Smart Energy GB team

How to apply for the role

PLEASE DO NOT CLICK "START APPLICATION"

INSTEAD FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS BELOW:

Saxton Bampfylde Ltd is acting as an employment agency advisor to Smart Energy GB on this appointment.

Please visit https://roles.saxbam.com/advert-details/?id=d0c4edca-0d13-f111-8342-7ced8d9997c0 to submit your application.

Applications should be received by noon on Friday 13th March 2026.

What do we do at Smart Energy GB to promote diversity and inclusion?

Smart Energy GB is an equal opportunity employer, and we value equity, diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We use data to measure the effectiveness of our attraction and selection methods to ensure that they are fair and equitable and that opportunities at Smart Energy GB are accessible to people from all backgrounds.

We actively encourage applications from currently under-represented groups. We have identified ethnic minority, lower socio-economic background and disability as the key areas we would like to focus our recruitment efforts in.

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of the candidate pack in a more accessible format, please email [email protected]. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use. An audio/visual version is also available upon request.

Every person who applies for a role at Smart Energy GB is asked to complete a diversity questionnaire.

Positive action

We are building a team that is able to understand the needs of and effectively communicate with the whole of our diverse nation. We want our team to reflect the diversity of the wider population, in terms of the representation of people from ethnic minority and lower socio-economic backgrounds. Where there are candidates of equal merit at the long and shortlisting stages, and where the candidates have consented to the use of the information they have provided on these characteristics in the diversity questionnaire, Smart Energy GB may take these characteristics into account, in order to ensure a diverse and representative field.

Disability Confident Scheme

We have the Disability Confident Leader status and we are committed to making our recruitment practices as inclusive and fair as possible for all applicants. Disability Confident is a government scheme designed to help us make the most of the talents of those with disabilities and/or health conditions in the workplace.

All disabled applicants who meet the minimum requirements of the job as set out in the job description will be guaranteed an interview, if consent is given for this data to be taken into consideration at the longlisting and shortlisting stage. 

If there’s anything we can do to make our interview process or working environment more inclusive and to meet your particular needs, please let us know. Our offices have full wheelchair access.

All In Champions

We’re committed to creating a workplace where everyone feels like they belong. That’s why we’re proud to be one of the first organisations awarded All In Champion status, as part of the Advertising Association, ISBA and IPA’s initiative. To achieve this, we provided evidence that we have adopted the first six actions from the All In Action Plan – improving the experience and representation of:

• Black talent
• Disabled talent
• Working-class talent
• Women
• Asian talent
• Older talent

You can read more about how to become an All In Champion and what it means here.

How to apply for the role

PLEASE DO NOT CLICK "START APPLICATION"

INSTEAD FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS BELOW:

Saxton Bampfylde Ltd is acting as an employment agency advisor to Smart Energy GB on this appointment.

Please visit https://roles.saxbam.com/advert-details/?id=d0c4edca-0d13-f111-8342-7ced8d9997c0 to submit your application.

Applications should be received by noon on Friday 13th March 2026.