Principal Access and Approvals Specialist


Key Skills: Permits, Regulatory Approvals, Environmental Engineering
Location: Oslo
Contract: 24 months, with possibility of extension
Salary / Package: Hourly rate
Timeframe: ASAP

Recruitment Partner: Airswift                Account Manager: Robert Caldwell

Key words: Project Permits, Regulatory Approvals, Environmental Engineering

Our business
Airswift is an international workforce solutions provider within the energy, process and infrastructure industries. Airswift serves as a strategic partner to our clients, offering a turnkey workforce solution to capture and deliver the top talent needed to complete successful projects by aligning with the unique needs of our clients. With over 800 employees and 6,000 contractors operating in over 50 countries, our geographical reach and pool of talent available is unmatched in the industry and the level of experience, exposure and expertise that the organization has is unparalleled.
 
 
Airswift is supporting our leading global energy firm, with offices in Oslo as well as Stavanger.

We are seeking an experienced Principal Access and Approvals Specialist, who will be responsible for supporting land acquisition and approvals (including permits, licences), for our client's projects in Norway. As part of this roles you will strategically support land and approval requirements and integrate with project teams to adequately plan, schedule and deliver these requirements in line with our client's standards and procedures.




Key Responsibilities:

• Supporting the Norway Projects team to ensure that land access, permitting and approval processes are delivered effectively and in line with the agreed project schedules.
• Coordinating with multiple functions in the business to identify, apply, and secure necessary approvals, permits, licenses and consents in a timely manner and in line with agreed project schedules. This will likely include primary approvals (i.e. ESIAs, rezoning etc.) as well as secondary approvals required for building, construction, safety and operations.
• Ensuring that all applicable regulatory requirements are identified and communicated to Project and Commercial teams.
• Supporting with the engagement of government agencies, NGO’s and other stakeholder groups as part of the land access, permitting and approvals process.
• Supporting the development of scopes for consultants, engaged as required for approvals, permits and land access requirements.
• Manage work undertaken by approval consultancies and coordinate the exchange of information between the consultancy, project team and internal subject matter experts.
• Supporting land access negotiations with landholders, government entities etc.
• Supporting discussions with local municipality and other regulatory agencies as required for the preparation, assessment and grant of approvals, permits, licenses and consents. • Coordinate compliance against obligations and conditions received as part of granted approvals or negotiated land Agreements.
• Ensure access and approvals planning, progress and obligations are adequately maintained in systems such as (but not limited to) approval and permitting strategy and schedule, approval and access plans, schedules, risk registers, obligations registers and land management systems.
• Technical review of permitting documents, supporting studies and scopes of work.
• Tracking and reporting on project permitting status.

• Experience in a permitting and regulatory role within the resources sector, energy industry or equivalent
• Significant experience in land and water access/acquisitions
• Significant experience and subject matter expertise in the identification, procurement, and management of regulatory approvals in the renewable/resource industry for large scale projects
• Major project greenfield permitting and approval experience in Norway
• Experience in Norwegian Municipality spatial planning, would be beneficial
• Degree qualified or equivalent tertiary qualifications and/or relevant work / industry experience in technical area within the renewables/resource industry (e.g., Engineering, Environment, Legal)
• Demonstrated ability and experience in interfacing and influencing regulators, stakeholders and senior management
• Strong negotiation skills
• Experience working within regulatory and legal frameworks
• Knowledge of permitting requirements, environmental management and impact mitigation methodologies, relevant to energy generation, linear infrastructure, port and industrial processes
• Experienced in navigating corporate and joint venture governance and approval processes.
• Proficiency in risk identification and budget forecasting
• Highly organized and ability to manage work across multiple jurisdictions.
• Strong communication, interpersonal and relationship building/collaboration skills.
• Proficient in Norwegian and English
• Uses initiative, demonstrates resilience and a continuous improvement mindset and proactive approach to problem solving.
• High levels of self-motivation.
• Ability to be agile and resilient when managing diverse workloads with multiple priorities and delivering work to a high quality and on time.
• Willing to work outside ‘traditional’ office hours to interact with international offices.