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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Wind Supervisor

💰 $ - $

OperationsRenewable EnergyWindMaintenanceSupervision

🎯 Role Definition

The Wind Supervisor leads day-to-day operations and maintenance (O&M) activities across a wind farm, supervising turbine technicians and subcontractors to ensure safe, reliable, and cost-effective energy production. This role combines field leadership, technical troubleshooting, regulatory compliance, and continuous improvement to maximize asset availability and minimize LCOE (levelized cost of energy).

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Wind Turbine Technician III / Senior Technician
  • Site Lead or Shift Lead for renewable operations
  • Electrical/Mechanical Field Service Technician with wind experience

Advancement To:

  • O&M Manager / Operations Manager – Wind
  • Regional Operations Manager for Renewable Assets
  • Asset Manager or Plant Manager (renewables)

Lateral Moves:

  • Health, Safety & Environment (HSE) Specialist for wind
  • Technical Trainer / Workforce Development Lead

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Supervise and coordinate day-to-day field O&M activities for onshore/offshore wind turbine fleets, ensuring shifts and work schedules are optimized to meet availability and production targets.
  • Lead and mentor a multi-disciplinary crew of turbine technicians and subcontractors, assigning tasks, monitoring performance, and conducting regular toolbox talks and competency assessments.
  • Ensure full compliance with HSE policies, local regulations, and company safety management systems by enforcing permit-to-work, lockout/tagout, rescue procedures, and incident reporting protocols.
  • Plan, prioritize and execute preventive maintenance (PM) and predictive maintenance (PdM) programs using manufacturer recommendations and condition-based monitoring to reduce unexpected downtime.
  • Perform and supervise fault diagnosis and root-cause analysis for mechanical, hydraulic, and electrical failures (including generator, gearbox, yaw/ pitch systems and power electronics) to expedite repairs and remedial actions.
  • Operate and interpret SCADA, CMS (condition monitoring systems), and turbine controller logs to identify trends, alarms, and performance degradation; escalate and coordinate corrective work.
  • Manage crane, hoist and heavy-lift operations for major component replacements, coordinating rigging, lift plans, and third-party lift contractors to ensure safe execution.
  • Oversee blade inspections and coordinate blade repair specialists, ensuring composite/material repairs meet OEM standards and warranty requirements.
  • Control site logistics including spares inventory management, parts ordering, stock rotation, and optimization of spare parts levels to support fast MTTR (mean time to repair).
  • Lead commissioning, decommissioning and major outage activities, developing scope of work, resource plans, permit approvals, and quality assurance checks.
  • Coordinate with asset owners, project managers and engineering teams to implement reliability improvement projects, CAPEX initiatives and contract amendments.
  • Maintain accurate work orders, maintenance records and compliance documentation in CMMS (e.g., SAP, Maximo) and ensure daily shift logs are comprehensive for audits.
  • Conduct workforce planning including shift rosters, overtime approvals, travel arrangements, and resource deployment for emergency response and peak maintenance windows.
  • Train and certify technicians on OEM procedures, rescue techniques, electrical safety and work at height protocols; track training matrix and competency records.
  • Manage subcontractor performance by reviewing scopes, negotiating SOWs, verifying qualifications, conducting permits and ensuring contractual KPIs are met.
  • Investigate incidents and near-misses, lead HAZOP or incident reviews, recommend corrective actions, and implement lessons learned to prevent recurrence.
  • Monitor and report operational KPIs including availability, production versus forecast, MTBF, MTTR and OPEX metrics to senior management and stakeholders.
  • Ensure environmental compliance for site activities such as oil/spill control, waste management, and bird/bat mitigation measures in accordance with permit conditions.
  • Implement continuous improvement and reliability-centered maintenance strategies by analyzing failure modes, leading root cause workshops and tracking corrective action closure.
  • Maintain clear communication with control room, meteorological teams and grid operators for curtailment events, site shutdowns and reactive dispatch instructions.
  • Support asset warranty claims with manufacturers by assembling failure evidence, test logs and coordinating technical meetings to maximize warranty recoveries.
  • Ensure site emergency response readiness by maintaining rescue equipment, running emergency drills, and liaising with local emergency services and port/logistics providers as applicable.

Secondary Functions

  • Assist in seasonal planning and budgeting activities by providing field-level input on labor, parts and contractor costs to support O&M financial forecasts.
  • Contribute to preparation and review of technical documentation including SOPs, work instructions, and OEM service bulletins to maintain up-to-date field references.
  • Support pre-construction / construction handover activities for new turbine installations, including snagging lists, punch lists and as-built verification.
  • Participate in vendor and supplier audits to validate product conformity, delivery lead times and service capability for critical spare parts.
  • Work with the asset management team to develop risk registers and mitigation plans for long-term asset health and decommissioning strategies.
  • Provide on-call support for emergency troubleshooting and coordinate rapid mobilization of teams during severe weather or unexpected outages.
  • Engage with community stakeholders and local authorities when site activity impacts access, noise, or traffic to maintain good neighbor relations.
  • Support data-driven initiatives by ensuring field data quality, tagging anomalies and collaborating with analytics teams for improved performance models.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Proven technical expertise with wind turbine systems (rotor, nacelle, gearbox, drivetrain, pitch/yaw systems and control systems) for major OEMs (e.g., Vestas, GE, Siemens Gamesa).
  • Strong electrical skills including troubleshooting of LV/HV switchgear, transformers, power converters, protective relays and grid interface fundamentals.
  • SCADA and condition monitoring system (CMS) proficiency: ability to read logs, alarms, vibration spectra, oil analysis and SCADA trend analysis.
  • Hands-on experience with blade repair techniques and composite materials, plus knowledge of bonding, sanding and erosion repair best practices.
  • Mechanical and hydraulic systems troubleshooting skills, including pumps, hydraulic cylinders, bearings and lubrication systems.
  • Familiarity with CMMS systems (SAP, Maximo, IFS or similar) for managing work orders, spares records and maintenance histories.
  • Proven ability to develop and implement preventive and predictive maintenance plans, FMECA and RCM methodologies.
  • Competence in lift planning and heavy-lift operations; understanding of rigging, cranes, spreader bars and lifting gear certification.
  • Knowledge of relevant safety standards and regulations (OSHA, ISO 45001, local HSE legislation) and experience running permit-to-work systems.
  • Ability to interpret technical manuals, wiring diagrams, PLC/turbine controllers and electrical schematics for fault isolation.
  • Experience with warranty claim processes and liaising with OEMs for root-cause analysis and claim resolution.
  • Proficiency in Microsoft Office (Excel for reporting, data pivoting and KPI dashboards) and basic familiarity with SQL or data export for analytics is a plus.
  • Experience coordinating offshore logistics, vessel operations and port interfaces for offshore sites (for offshore wind roles).

Soft Skills

  • Strong leadership and people-management skills: coaching, conflict resolution, performance reviews and building high-performing teams.
  • Excellent verbal and written communication for clear reporting to internal stakeholders, clients and OEM contacts.
  • Problem-solving and analytical mindset to diagnose complex failures and drive durable corrective actions.
  • Time management and prioritization abilities to balance reactive repairs and planned maintenance under tight deadlines.
  • Customer and stakeholder orientation with ability to present technical issues in business terms and influence decisions.
  • Resilience and adaptability to operate in remote locations and under adverse weather conditions.
  • Detail-oriented with strong documentation habits for audit readiness and compliance.
  • Ability to mentor and develop technician capabilities through structured on-the-job coaching.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • High school diploma or equivalent with technical/vocational training in electrical, mechanical or industrial trades (preferred: technical certification in wind or electrical).

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Renewable Energy, or related technical field preferred.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Electrical Engineering
  • Renewable Energy Technology
  • Industrial Maintenance / Mechatronics
  • Occupational Health & Safety

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 3–8 years in wind turbine O&M with 1–3 years in a supervisory or lead role.

Preferred: 5+ years of direct wind farm experience, proven supervisory experience overseeing multi-disciplinary O&M crews, familiarity with specific turbine OEMs (Vestas, GE, Siemens Gamesa) and experience with CMMS and SCADA/CMS platforms.

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