The guide: why consider contract instead of permanent?

For plenty of people working in renewable energy, a permanent job has always felt like the default.

You join a business, settle into a team, work your way through projects and build your career from there. Contracting can seem like the riskier alternative - shorter assignments, more movement and less certainty about what comes next.

But renewable energy is not a particularly conventional employment market.

Projects move through distinct stages. Developers enter new markets. Construction programmes ramp up quickly. Specialist expertise can be required intensively for 12 months and then somewhere completely different afterwards.

For the right person, that makes contracting worth a serious look.

It isn't necessarily better than permanent employment. But depending on where you are in your career, it can offer something permanent positions sometimes struggle to provide: variety, exposure and the opportunity to become very good at solving a particular type of problem.

First, renewable energy needs experienced people

The scale of the market matters.

IRENA and the International Labour Organization estimate that at least 16.6 million people were employed in renewable energy globally in 2024, the highest figure recorded to date. Solar PV alone accounted for 7.2 million jobs, while wind accounted for 1.9 million.

Yet headcount only tells part of the story.

Renewable energy projects don't simply need more people. They need people with the right experience, in the right place, at the right point in a project's lifecycle.

That distinction matters for contractors.

A project moving towards financial close has very different requirements from one entering construction. A wind farm approaching commissioning needs different expertise again. The same applies across solar PV, battery storage and grid infrastructure.

When a project hits one of those stages, employers cannot always wait months for the perfect permanent hire.

Sometimes they need someone who has done it before and can get moving quickly.

Contracting can accelerate your experience

Imagine two professionals starting at roughly the same point.

One joins a developer permanently and spends four years working across a relatively small number of assets.

The other completes three contracts during the same period, perhaps working for a developer, an EPC and an investor across projects at different stages.

Neither career is automatically stronger.

But the contractor may come away with exposure to three businesses, three ways of working and several different project challenges.

That breadth can become valuable.

You start seeing what good looks like across organisations. You learn which processes genuinely help projects move and which ones simply create more meetings. You encounter different technologies, markets, teams and commercial structures.

Eventually, you are not being hired simply because of your job title.

You are being hired because you've encountered a particular problem before.

You can become known for something specific

There is a misconception that contracting makes careers less coherent.

Done well, the opposite can happen.

Contracting gives professionals an opportunity to build a recognisable specialism.

Perhaps you're particularly strong at taking solar projects through construction. Maybe you've developed deep expertise in offshore wind commissioning. Perhaps your experience sits around grid connections, project controls, BESS delivery or commercial management.

A permanent role often asks you to broaden your responsibilities as you progress.

Contracting can allow you to go deeper.

That matters in a market where specialist skills remain important. IRENA has highlighted that continued renewable deployment requires investment in skills and training, with the human element remaining fundamental to delivering the energy transition.

The question becomes less:

"Why have you moved around so much?"

And more:

"Have you solved this problem before?"

For an experienced contractor, the answer increasingly becomes yes.

There is the financial question too

We can't talk seriously about contracting without mentioning money.

Contract positions can offer higher headline rates than equivalent permanent salaries, partly because organisations are paying for flexibility, specialist expertise and the ability to bring someone into a project quickly.

But headline rates aren't the whole calculation.

A contractor also needs to think about gaps between assignments, tax arrangements, pensions, insurance, travel, accommodation and benefits that may otherwise be provided by an employer.

So comparing a £500 daily rate with a permanent salary and multiplying it by 260 working days isn't particularly useful.

The better question is:

What does the entire package look like over a realistic 12-month period?

For some people, contracting still comes out considerably ahead. For others, the additional security and benefits attached to permanent employment are more valuable.

Both are perfectly reasonable conclusions.

You may get more control over your career

One of contracting's less discussed advantages is the natural decision point it creates.

A permanent career can drift.

You join a company intending to stay for two years. Four years later you're still there. The job is fine, the people are good and leaving feels like unnecessary disruption.

Contracts work differently.

There is an end date.

That forces you to periodically ask:

What do I want to do next?

Perhaps you want your next assignment to be offshore rather than onshore. Perhaps you want to move from solar into storage. Maybe you want exposure to construction after several years in development.

That doesn't mean contractors have complete freedom. Market conditions, location and project pipelines still matter.

But contracting can create more regular opportunities to actively choose the direction of your career rather than simply following the structure of one employer.

What about job security?

This is usually the biggest objection.

And it's a fair one.

A permanent contract can provide greater predictability. Contracting means accepting that assignments finish and the next project isn't always guaranteed to start the following Monday.

But permanent employment isn't completely insulated from project economics either.

Renewable energy businesses reorganise. Projects get delayed. Investment decisions change. Markets become more or less attractive. Development pipelines are reprioritised.

Contracting simply makes some of that uncertainty more visible.

The way experienced contractors manage it is by treating their professional network and reputation as part of their career.

They keep relationships warm. They understand where projects are moving. They know which businesses are building teams. And ideally, they start conversations about their next assignment before their current contract finishes.

This is also where working with a recruitment specialist that genuinely understands your market can make a difference.

Expert Thoughts

Adam Standley, Director of Contract Recruitment at Hunter Philips, says the biggest shift when moving from permanent employment into contracting is understanding that you are being hired for what you can deliver, not simply to fill a position.

“People sometimes look at contracting and focus immediately on the day rate, but that’s only one part of the decision. The contractors who build strong careers tend to think much more about the experience they’re gaining and the problems they’re becoming known for solving. In renewable energy, clients often need someone because a project has reached a particular stage and they need specialist experience quickly. They’re looking for someone who can come in, understand what needs doing and make an impact without a long settling-in period. That can be a real advantage for experienced professionals. Moving between projects exposes you to different businesses, technologies and ways of working, and over time that experience becomes part of your value as a contractor. Contracting won’t suit everyone, and I’d never suggest somebody should make the move purely because they’ve seen an attractive rate. But if you enjoy project-based work, want more variety and have experience that renewable energy businesses genuinely need, it’s certainly worth considering.”

Contracting isn't for everybody

And it shouldn't be presented as if it is.

If you value having a long-term internal career path, building one team over several years or having maximum certainty around income and benefits, permanent employment may suit you better.

Contracting tends to appeal to people who are comfortable with change.

People who enjoy joining a project, understanding the problem quickly and getting to work.

People who would rather build their career around their expertise than around one employer.

And people who look at a growing global renewable energy market and see an opportunity to take their experience from one project to the next.

So, should you make the switch?

Don't start with the day rate.

Start with what you want the next three to five years of your career to look like.

What experience are you missing?

Which projects would strengthen your CV?

Do you want to specialise or broaden your experience?

How important is flexibility to you?

And how comfortable are you with periods of uncertainty?

Contracting isn't a shortcut to a better career. But for the right renewable energy professional, at the right point in their career, it can be a very effective way of building one.

At Hunter Philips, we work across the global renewable energy market, speaking every day with professionals and employers across wind, solar, battery storage and the wider energy transition.

If you're considering moving from permanent employment into contracting, the useful conversation isn't simply about which jobs are currently available.

It's about whether contracting makes sense for where you want your career to go next.