Kampala
TECHNICAL LEAD – UGANDA
Company: NKISI Holdings Uganda Ltd
Reports to: CEO / Founder
Location: Uganda, with travel to client and project sites
Role type: Full-time or fractional
ABOUT NKISI
NKISI Holdings Uganda Ltd is the Ugandan project-development subsidiary of NKISI Holdings Ltd, a UK-based infrastructure, energy and technology company.
NKISI is developing renewable-energy, power, digital and compute infrastructure, and strategic industrial projects. Our objective is to expand access to reliable energy, strengthen industrial productivity and build scalable infrastructure across Uganda and other African markets.
Our Uganda operations are at an early project-development stage. Immediate priorities include identifying viable projects, assessing industrial energy requirements, supporting Letters of Intent, coordinating site and feasibility studies, managing advisers and preparing projects for investment and implementation.
PURPOSE OF THE ROLE
The Technical Lead will coordinate NKISI’s early-stage technical project-development activities in Uganda.
The successful candidate will assess prospective clients and project sites, review energy-consumption information, coordinate technical studies, evaluate engineering options and determine whether opportunities are technically and commercially viable.
The role will translate engineering information into clear recommendations, system requirements, cost assumptions, development plans and technical risk assessments.
The initial focus will be project origination, industrial energy assessments, feasibility coordination, preliminary design, regulatory preparation and consultant management.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
• Attend meetings and site visits with prospective industrial and commercial customers.
• Review electricity bills, load profiles, operating schedules, equipment information and previous energy reports.
• Identify data gaps and determine whether further measurements, audits or specialist studies are required.
• Estimate electricity demand, peak load, consumption, system capacity and potential savings.
• Assess solar PV, battery storage, grid integration, backup generation and hybrid-energy options.
• Prepare technical summaries to support client discussions, Letters of Intent and feasibility decisions.
• Explain technical findings clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Identify and assess potential renewable-energy and infrastructure sites.
• Review solar resources, land, access, grid proximity, environmental constraints, existing infrastructure and expansion potential.
• Record coordinates, photographs, observations and supporting evidence.
• Compare sites using consistent technical, commercial and development criteria.
• Recommend whether opportunities should proceed, be revised, paused or discontinued.
• Define the technical information required for pre-feasibility and feasibility studies.
• Support scopes of work for engineers, surveyors, environmental consultants and specialists.
• Coordinate client, site, grid, environmental and resource data.
• Review consultant reports, calculations, drawings, assumptions and recommendations.
• Identify unsupported assumptions, missing information, inconsistencies and technical risks.
• Coordinate comments and revisions before recommending approval.
• Develop or review preliminary system concepts, calculations, energy-yield estimates, equipment schedules, storage requirements and grid-connection concepts.
• Ensure feasibility work supports commercial, financing and investor-readiness requirements.
The Technical estimates, equipment schedules, storage requirements and grid-connection concepts.
• Ensure feasibility work supports commercial, financing and investor Lead will coordinate qualified specialists and will not be expected to personally complete every specialist study.
• Support power-system assessments for data centres, AI infrastructure, high-performance computing and other energy-intensive compute operations.
• Evaluate continuous and flexible loads, power quality, redundancy, cooling demand, backup systems and behind-the-meter integration.
• Assess how renewable generation, battery storage and grid supply can provide reliable and cost-effective power.
• Translate compute-load assumptions into generation capacity, storage requirements, operating constraints and preliminary capital costs.
• Identify and evaluate engineering consultants, surveyors, contractors and equipment suppliers.
• Review proposals, methodologies, qualifications, cost assumptions and deliverables.
• Monitor performance against agreed scopes, timelines and milestones.
• Verify progress before recommending technical approval or milestone payment.
• Coordinate clarifications, requests for information and design revisions.
• Escalate delays, quality concerns, scope variations and emerging risks promptly.
• Work with legal, environmental and regulatory advisers to identify required approvals.
• Support engagement with ERA, NEMA, UETCL, UEDCL, local authorities, ministries and utilities.
• Prepare or coordinate technical information for licences, permits, environmental approvals and grid-connection applications.
• Maintain a regulatory and permitting tracker for each project.
• Monitor requirements, approval timelines, dependencies and outstanding actions.
• Ensure proposals consider Ugandan standards, grid, safety and environmental requirements.
• Maintain organised records of submissions, correspondence and approvals.
• Prepare or review preliminary capital and operating-cost estimates, equipment schedules and indicative bills of quantities.
• Obtain and compare quotations from suppliers, consultants and contractors.
• Work with the CEO, finance lead and advisers to ensure technical assumptions are accurately reflected in financial models.
• Support value engineering without compromising safety, quality or long-term reliability.
• Establish and maintain an organised digital technical-document repository.
• Introduce templates for site assessments, energy-data collection, consultant reviews, risk registers, project tracking and technical approvals.
• Maintain project files and produce concise management updates.
• Establish a technical risk register for each active project.
• Identify project, grid, equipment, environmental, permitting, cost and scheduling risks.
• Recommend mitigation actions and escalate material concerns promptly.
• Apply a “no evidence, no technical approval” approach to material consultant and supplier deliverables.
FIRST 90 DAYS
Within 30 days:
• Review available client, project and technical information.
• Identify major data gaps and technical risks.
• Establish the initial digital document structure and standard assessment templates.
• Present a prioritised 90-day technical action plan.
Within 60 days:
• Complete preliminary technical reviews of priority industrial opportunities.
• Establish a multi-project development tracker.
• Produce site-screening criteria and technical risk registers.
• Support technical information required for Letters of Intent and feasibility decisions.
Within 90 days:
• Establish a practical technical-governance and document-control framework.
• Produce development schedules, initial system concepts and cost assumptions for priority projects.
• Establish preliminary regulatory and permitting pathways.
• Recommend which projects should proceed, be revised, paused or discontinued.
• Present a 12-month technical-development roadmap.
PERSON SPECIFICATION
Essential:
• Bachelor’s degree in electrical, mechanical, civil, energy, renewable-energy or another relevant engineering discipline.
• At least four years of relevant engineering or infrastructure experience.
• Experience in renewable energy, electrical power, industrial facilities, construction or infrastructure.
• Experience conducting or reviewing site assessments, technical studies or feasibility work.
• Strong ability to review calculations, reports, drawings and technical proposals.
• Strong Microsoft Excel, technical-calculation and cost-estimation skills.
• Ability to prepare clear reports and presentations.
• Strong written and spoken English.
• Willingness to travel across Uganda.
Desirable:
• Registration, or progress toward registration, with the Engineers Registration Board of Uganda.
• Experience with industrial solar, battery storage, mini-grids, hydropower or grid connections.
• Experience supporting power systems for data centres, AI, high-performance computing or other compute infrastructure.
• Familiarity with Uganda’s energy, environmental and infrastructure regulatory environment.
• Experience engaging regulators, utilities and local authorities.
• Experience managing consultants and contractors.
• Familiarity with AutoCAD, PVsyst, HelioScope, HOMER, GIS, ETAP, MS Project or similar software.
• Experience working within an early-stage company or project developer.
CORE COMPETENCIES
The successful candidate will demonstrate technical judgement, commercial awareness, ownership, integrity, attention to detail and effective communication. They must be comfortable building practical systems in an early-stage environment.
The Technical Lead will not approve major expenditure, enter contracts or provide statutory engineering certification unless separately authorised and professionally qualified.