Why Technology Professionals are Attracted to the UK Greentech Industry

The demand for tech staff in the UK Greentech sector is being driven by continued public and private investment aimed at delivering net zero targets.

Key takeaways

• The government announced initiatives totalling £4bn towards green technologies and clean energy in its autumn statement, particularly focusing on a £960m Green Industries Growth Accelerator (GIGA) fund.

• Small, Medium and Enterprise (SME) businesses, both new and established, are in need of the right internal technology infrastructure and transformation specialists in 2024 to help them scale and expand.

• A recent UK survey saw that 54% of developers would like to be part projects that contribute to the greater good, and 94% having their own ideas for developing sustainability projects

• Software development is driving innovation across multiple sectors including renewable energy and clean transportation.

What types of Greentech companies are thriving in the UK?

The main sub-sectors growing within Greentech include:

• Clean energy – from hydropower and wind to solar and biofuels.
• Agritech – including vertical farming, CEA, and precision agriculture.
• Sustainable transportation – including Electric Vehicle (EV) and EV Charging, sustainable logistics, and hydrogen electric technologies.
• Circular economy – as it relates to product design, goods from recycled and reused parts, collection & reverse logistics, and sorting & preprocessing. 

There are growing job opportunities in all these industries for niche technology professionals looking to expand their experience across D365, IT Change and Transformation, Mobile, .Net and JavaScript to name a few.

According to  Beauhurst, the top eight growing UK Greentech companies in 2024, based on their amount of equity funding included, Octopus Group, Zenobē, Pragmatic, OVO Energy, Nexeon, Field, GRIDSERVE and Plastic Energy. 

These businesses work across a variety of Greentech areas including EV charging, plastic recycling, sustainable energy and sustainable transportation, with projects covering solar parks, innovative battery solutions and sun-to-wheel high-powered chargers.

Where are these companies located?

Many are based within London and in the home counties. However, there are companies like Iduna in Manchester, C-Capture in Leeds, and Modo Energy in Birmingham, flying the flag for Greentech innovation outside of London.

What is the fastest growing Greentech sector?

Renewable energy. In 2023, 42% of the UK’s share of electricity came from renewable sources. This is forecast to grow even more in the next five years. According to LinkedIn, there were over 10,000 IT vacancies advertised in January 2024 within this sector. Renewable energy is, of course, linked to sustainable transportation, with the growth of electric vehicles, and businesses related to EV charging. 

Job opportunities in software development

A crucial part of electric cars and hydrogen-fuel cell cars is the software that comes with it, including battery control, digital dashboards, mobility functions, safety monitoring, charging software as well as even driver-less software. As these vehicles grow in their market need in building sustainable solutions, software development has been driving the industry forward in its rapid growth. It's not even just the centric vehicle industry, but generally organisations are planning bigger budgets towards software development and specialist software developers are rising in demand by 17% in 2023.

Interesting IT projects to watch out for

There are so many interesting projects for IT professionals to get their teeth into across the UK. We’ve highlighted some of our favourite Greentech ones:

1. Powerverse: This innovative project involves an energy ‘ecosystem’ incorporating smart EV charging, that is solar ready. What makes this exciting is that it’s powered by AI and data, which has five years of real-world and in-lab AI training. Powerverse plans to have 250,000 customers using its AI platform in the next five years, meaning potential opportunities for tech professionals, looking to raise their game.
   
   
2. bp pulse: Over the next 10 years bp plan to invest around £1 billion in EV charging in the UK. They’ve already invested $100 million in high-speed charging hardware for Tesla in US and they recently won an award for best CX Deployment. Its safe to say bp pulse are going places.
   
   
3. Centrica: You might think Centrica are your normal utilities company, but they also have a dedication to creating a greener, fairer future in their journey to net zero. They are transforming their business with hydrogen energy plans in the North East of the UK, as well as using Demand Side Response (DSR) to convert a gas-fired power plant into a green energy hub with battery storage facilities and pioneering the latest in DSR technology and propositions. 
   
   
4. GRIDSERVE: This technology-enabled sustainable energy business, has created a pioneering and multi award-winning Sun-to-Wheel platform delivering EV charging networks that are making a difference. For example, they've combined the latest advancements in batteries and solar energy to supplement the exisiting grid connection at Cornwall Services, to deliver ten times the charging power. They hire talented tech professionals to maintain and develop their proprietary data platform. If you are interested in working for GRIDSERVE, get in touch. 

How ‘green’ IT professionals are in growing demand outside of Greentech

As the wider business world is looking to become greener and save on energy costs, technology professionals who have experience in green coding and green systems architecture are in high demand. Green IT also covers everything from design and manufacturing, through to operating and disposing of computer equipment is an environmentally friendly way. There is also the small matter of the redesign of data centres, using green data storage, networking and the increase usage of cloud technology.

What to do if you are considering changing sectors?

There are many reasons IT professionals decide to change sectors:

• Obtaining a higher salary.

• There is more job availability in another sector.

• Looking for more meaning, purpose, or job satisfaction.

• The benefits might be better in another sector e.g. the public sector often has a much higher pension scheme.

There are a few key things to consider when changing sectors, for example, into Greentech.

• Transferable skills: Review your transferable experiences and skills, then highlight them on your CV and LinkedIn.

• Training: Consider further training specific to your favoured industry. What are the costs and timelines.

• Research: Analyse the new job opportunities you want to apply for. Match them with your skills and experience. Highlight the language they use, and keywords so you can incorporate into your CV.

• What’s your story: Have a great story to tell. Your next employer will ask why you are looking to change industries. Make sure you can explain what has sparked this change of direction. For example, “I’m passionate about the environment and want to work for an organisation that matches my values”, when moving into Greentech.

Considering working with impactful companies making a change?

Are you looking for a technology job opportunity where you can make a difference? At Gravitas, we are proud to work with a number of companies making positive change, whether that’s public service, healthcare, housing or sustainable energy.

About the author

Louise Smith, Client Relationship Practice Lead, has been a part of Gravitas for over 6 years, joining the Manchester Office to build the Client Relationship desk; developing account relationships, adding value and meeting hiring needs in the technology recruitment sector. She is a passionate advocate for Women in Tech, setting up the Gravitas Women in Tech networking events back in 2019, hosting empowering roundtables and meet ups.