Asset Investment Planning Manager in Exeter

Join to apply for the Asset Investment Planning Manager role at National Grid. An exciting new opportunity is available for an Asset Investment Planning Manager to join the Asset Management team at National Grid Electricity Distribution (NGED). This newly created role is pivotal in delivering optimised decision‑making for asset investments. Reporting to the Senior Asset Programme Manager, you will lead the centralisation of investment decisions, ensuring alignment with business objectives and regulatory requirements.

Your work will drive efficiencies and improved outcomes through holistic decision‑making across a diverse portfolio of investments—ensuring NGED makes the right choices for our network and customers. You will lead a small team to translate business plans, regulatory commitments, and long‑term strategies into tactical delivery plans for Field Operations. These plans will ensure NGED effectively manages network risk associated with asset condition and criticality.

In addition, you will maintain a central view of asset investment drivers, enabling better long‑term, coordinated whole‑system decisions. This will involve identifying synergies between condition‑based asset replacement and refurbishment, load‑based reinforcement, connections, business commitments, and reopeners. You’ll consider a range of metrics, including asset health and criticality, Network Asset Risk (NARM), whole‑life cost, customer interruptions and faults, as well as deliverability, resourcing constraints, and procurement opportunities.

This role is ideally based in Bristol, Stoke, or Exeter, or anywhere within our licence areas: East Midlands, West Midlands, South West, and South Wales. We also offer hybrid working, with approximately two days per week in the office.

• Develop multi‑year and annual asset investment plans based on asset condition, aligned with long‑term strategy, policy, and regulatory commitments.
• Overlay of load and non‑load network drivers to identify synergies and whole system opportunities at a strategic level, to deliver network health benefits, financial efficiencies and reduced outages.
• Create decision‑making frameworks to support operational teams in making asset‑specific investment decisions.
• Understand deliverability constraints and test planning assumptions - such as unit costs - against actual delivery, ensuring a robust feedback loop from delivery teams into the planning cycle.
• Collaborate with the Digital team to drive IT and digital enhancements for the team, ensuring the team is significantly supported by IT infrastructure and investment planning tools.
• Drive improvement initiatives and embed a continuous improvement mindset within your team.

• Educated to degree level in a relevant discipline such as Engineering, Business Economics, or Finance, or equivalent experience.
• Professional membership of a relevant body (e.g., IAM or ICE) with a commitment to continuing professional development.
• Expertise in investment planning for highly complex portfolios and programmes, with a strong understanding of the benefits, risks and strategic implications of the decisions.
• Proven experience in portfolio optimisation across multiple drivers, considering a multitude of business needs.
• Working knowledge of the relevant tools and digital platforms for investment decision making and optimisation.
• Industry knowledge in electricity distribution is ideal; experience in similar industries will be considered.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to apply them to complex, multidisciplinary programmes.
• Understanding of the RIIO regulatory price control processes and relevant funding mechanisms.
• Advanced stakeholder management skills, collaborating successfully and able to understand and balance the needs of different stakeholders.
• Excellent IT skills are essential; experience with NGED internal systems (e.g. Electric Office, CROWN, ODI and E5) is desirable.
• Proven people management experience including team development and succession planning.
• Experience in asset management, particularly asset strategy, asset planning is highly desirable.
• Preferably, experience working in new or transforming teams, or leading on business change initiatives and projects.

National Grid Electricity Distribution is committed to safeguarding the interests of the Company, colleagues and customers. This role is subject to a satisfactory Barring Service (DBS) check; depending on the role different levels of screening and vetting are required. Some roles require a tri‑annual check.

We’re National Grid Electricity Distribution (NGED), the owner and operator behind the electricity distribution systems for the Midlands, the Southwest of England and South Wales. Serving communities of more than 8 million people, our expert teams deliver heat, light and power for homes and businesses. National Grid employs over 29,000 people worldwide. We are building an inclusive workplace, a place to actively celebrate the cultures, personalities and preferences of our colleagues – who in turn help to build the success of our business and reflect the diversity of the communities we serve. Our vision is to be at the heart of a clean, fair and affordable energy future and we are doing this in a fast‑moving industry with an increasing focus on tackling climate change, exploring new energy sources that are renewable, low‑carbon, and improving efficiency to meet demand.