Smart Meter Apprentice

Salary banding: Starting £22,825, rising to £26,975 upon passing probation and eventually reaching £35,950 once fully qualified.

Location: Field Based - Orkney (KW)

Can you see yourself in an active role while helping to achieve Zero Carbon Living? Are you a practical learner? You can become a qualified Smart Meter Engineer while working and training on the job! Do you prefer to be on the move and help our customers in person rather than stuck in front of a computer screen? You’ll meet different people every day while having autonomy over your own work.

Teamworking for the planet: Everything we do here spins around Plan Zero. We’re offering an exciting opportunity to start at OVO and become a Smart Energy Engineer. As a Smart Energy Engineer, you’ll be working at customers' homes delivering a service we can be proud of and helping us achieve our mission of driving progress towards net zero carbon living.

At OVO, we want to work towards zero carbon living by giving people a tangible understanding of their carbon footprint and clear ways to reduce it, using technology to drive progress. Metering is right at the center of providing customers with the inspiration, information, products and tools they need to take their homes and cars on the journey to zero carbon.

Your key outcomes will be: You’ll join us as a Smart Energy Engineer Apprentice, ready to take advantage of the opportunities provided to develop your skills. Your apprenticeship will last for a minimum of one year, during which time you will gain recognised transferable skills and qualifications.

As part of a 53-week Apprenticeship programme, we’ll support you through your initial 20-week training period, half of which will be spent at one of our top training academies. You’ll learn and obtain experience in the fundamentals of installing smart, gas and electric meters and associated equipment, providing energy efficiency advice - and helping our customers make the most of their new technology. You’ll then partner with an experienced OVO Engineer who will mentor you on the job to get you started on the path to becoming a fully qualified and brilliant Smart Energy Engineer.

Upon completion of your training and mentoring, you’ll continue your 53-week Apprenticeship working live, installing meters into the homes of thousands of our customers whilst completing your apprenticeship portfolio, laying the foundations for a smarter grid that will enable the coordination and control of millions of connected devices, creating a fully flexible and decentralised future energy system.

Key Responsibilities

• Being a passionate advocate of OVO’s Plan Zero and energy efficiency, you’ll deliver the highest possible level of customer satisfaction by becoming a brand ambassador, understanding how you can make a difference.
• Engaging with our customers on the benefits of smart meters including how to monitor and reduce their energy consumption.
• Committed to learning and achieving a Diploma in Smart Metering Dual Fuel, and associated qualifications.
• With support and coaching from mentors and your Manager, you will continue to develop and document your progress along the way.
• You’ll be responsible for the whole customer experience, starting with ensuring you have the right materials stocked in your van, a proactive approach to pre-visit communication, whilst utilising strong technical skills to deliver exceptional service, getting it right the first time.
• Adapt working methods to installing Smart metering systems in a range of Customer environments. Identify where situations or conditions are to unsafe standards and take appropriate actions.
• Always look for opportunities to work collaboratively with your peers and colleagues whilst having a flexible and responsive approach to ensure we always deliver on our customers’ needs.
• Be a self-starter and take ownership to work on your own initiative by regularly refreshing knowledge and your skills to ensure you’re up to speed on all technical, customer and procedural updates, adopting and applying new skills and working practices to enhance safety, member satisfaction and efficiency.
• Carry out risk assessments to ensure safety of yourself, customer and their property. Use tools, equipment and PPE in a safe and appropriate manner.

You’ll be a successful Smart Meter Apprentice at OVO if you:

• Have a strong desire to learn and develop, using creative thinking and be able to adapt to new ways of working.
• Demonstrate key behaviours that align with our OVO values, including understanding the power of getting things done better, together; being creative and enjoy solving problems, as well as thrive when moving quickly and working at pace.
• Value different perspectives, skills and experiences. We create an inclusive working culture where people from all backgrounds can belong and succeed.
• Are comfortable talking to & helping our customers in their home.
• Are great at multitasking and handling your time to get things done.
• Are comfortable using smart devices, and always happy to learn about new systems and tools to help you do your job better.
• Have a good level of Maths and English skills.
• Hold a current full manual driving licence (with up to 6 points), which you can use in the UK and be 18+.

Let’s talk about what’s in it for you

We’ll start paying you £22,825, rising to £26,975 upon passing probation and eventually reaching £35,950 once fully qualified. You’ll be eligible for an on-target bonus of 15%. We have one OVO bonus plan that focuses on the collective performance of our people to deliver our Plan Zero goal.

We also offer plenty of green benefits and progressive policies to help you feel like you belong at OVO. You’ll get 9% Flex Pay on top of your salary – 4% of this is auto enrolled into your pension, and the remaining 5% is yours to do what you like with. You can use this to buy from our extensive range of flexible benefits, including our green benefits which we’ve put at the heart of our offering, add to your pension or even take it as cash.

Here’s a taster of what’s on offer:

• 34 days of holiday (including bank holidays).
• Benefits like a healthcare cash plan or private medical insurance depending on your career level, critical illness cover, life assurance, health assessments, and more.
• With gym membership, travel insurance, workplace ISA, will writing services, dental insurance, and more.
• Extra holiday buying, discount dining, home & tech loans, and supporting your favourite charities with give-as-you-earn donations.
• Get up to £400 towards any OVO Energy plan, plus great discounts on solar, smart thermostats and EV chargers.
• Nab a great deal on ultra-low emission car leasing, plus our cycle to work scheme and public transport season ticket loans.

To find better ways to support our people, we need to listen to each other’s experiences and find ways to build a truly inclusive and diverse workplace. As part of this, we have 8 Belonging Networks at OVO. Led by our people, for our people - so when you join OVO, you can play a part - big or small - with any of the Networks.

We’d be thrilled if you tick off all our boxes, yet we also believe it’s just as important we tick off all of yours. And if you think you have most of what we’re looking for but not every single thing, go ahead and hit apply. We’d still love to hear from you!

If you have any additional requirements, there’s a space to let us know on the application form; we want to make the process as easy and comfortable for you as possible.