The story behind the search
The challenge
Building a team in an emerging green hydrogen market
Aker’s clean hydrogen business needed three senior professionals during a period of rapid development. Green hydrogen was an emerging industry with a limited pool of experienced specialists.
The company required people who could combine commercial origination, energy market understanding and technical analysis to support new projects.
The takeaway: Three senior appointments in a young and competitive market.
The brief
Two Origination Managers and a Senior Analyst
The brief covered two Origination Managers and one Senior Analyst for the business then known as Aker Clean Hydrogen. The team needed experience of energy projects, commercial partnerships and hydrogen economics.
Executive Integrity explored the company’s mission and the requirements of each position before defining the search.
The takeaway: Commercial and analytical capability for hydrogen development.
The search
Mapping hydrogen projects and industry specialists
The team mapped global hydrogen projects and their key participants, using sector networks and referrals to reach relevant professionals.
Interviews explored technical and commercial experience, motivations and alignment with the company. Recruitment support continued through negotiations and the appointment process.
The takeaway: A global view of hydrogen projects helped identify specialist talent.
The placement
Three specialists with complementary backgrounds
Gylfi Mar Geirsson brought more than 20 years’ experience, including green power purchase agreements and international energy work.
Anna Korolko brought more than ten years’ experience and a background in hydrogen and carbon capture at Equinor.
Abhinav Bhaskar joined with hydrogen research experience at Rystad Energy and techno-economic expertise developed in Stavanger.
The takeaway: Origination experience and hydrogen analysis strengthened the team.
The result
Supporting the next stage of hydrogen growth
The appointments strengthened the company’s capacity to develop projects and partnerships. The company recorded 150% headcount growth after the placements and developed a partnership with VNG to support green ammonia production in Norway, with capacity of up to 200,000 tonnes a year.
The new hires added commercial and analytical experience relevant to those ambitions.
The takeaway: Specialist experience aligned with a growing project pipeline.
Why it matters
Understanding a market before its talent pool matures
Mapping projects and relationships was especially valuable in an emerging industry where conventional job titles alone did not identify the right expertise.
The search combined knowledge of adjacent energy markets with hydrogen-specific insight, connecting technical and commercial experience to the brief.
The takeaway: Project knowledge and referrals opened access to scarce expertise.
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