National Careers Week Spotlight - Michelle Gallagher

As part of National Careers Week , we're shining the spotlight on the career journeys of colleagues throughout SSE.

We spoke to Michelle Gallagher, who has been with SSE for nearly 11 years and is now Global Bid Director at SSE Renewables.

Here is what she had to say about her career journey so far...

I’ve been with SSE for almost 11 years, and I’m based in Glasgow.

My remit is to lead the global bidding activity for the UK, Ireland and international markets including seabed leases and contracts for difference (CFD) in both onshore and offshore wind.

I have a diverse background and what you’d describe as a ‘squiggly career’ which has allowed me to learn from many different people and organisations. I spent my early career in the rail industry working on multi-million, complex infrastructure projects. This gave me fantastic experience and learning in project, commercial, and risk management.

Having some management experience, I started studying business studies part time and went on to gain a Master of Business Administration (MBA), which I’m very proud of. Studying and working full time was hard. However, I had the benefit of being able to really understand the context of the topics I was studying and applying the learning in practical day to day situations.

From rail I moved to a local authority, looking after risk management, insurance and business continuity. It was very different. With many different stakeholders, including politicians and senior leaders, I learned a lot about managing and influencing stakeholders with sometimes opposing agendas!

I then moved into management consultancy, spending five years leading a team advising Scottish Government and public sector bodies in developing long term partnerships for project finance Infrastructure projects (PFI) with the private sector. I had studied these partnerships for my dissertation in my MBA however quickly realised the policy theory bore no resemblance to what you actually do on a day-to-day basis to get these very complex joint venture partnerships set up for success.

Looking for a new challenge, I wanted to develop my career in energy. I came into SSE in 2012, joining the offshore business after six months. Since then, I’ve worked across onshore and offshore wind projects in a variety of roles learning and challenging myself continuously. I’ve worked on some amazing projects, including Beatrice and Dogger Bank, and worked with really talented and committed people across the organisation.

My career journey and experience has been varied and I'm glad now I didn’t go to university after school, studying in my mid/late twenties when I had more maturity and appreciated the learning more.

For me I’ve always found I’ve moved roles when I’ve stopped learning or being challenged. My advice is to take every opportunity that’s thrown at you. Even if you fail, the biggest learning comes from failure and learning comes in lots of unexpected ways. Challenge yourself, be brave, curious and believe in yourself and your potential. Get as broad as experience as you can, from a diverse range of people and really learn from those experiences.

I’d also say get a mentor, someone who can help you navigate your current and future roles and can positively challenge you.

Also build a really good network internally and externally, have trusted advisors who you can call on when you’re having a bad day or when you need support or advice. This really helps with resilience and confidence building.

It's nice to be able to share my story and I really enjoyed being part of this week’s first Supporting Women in SSE virtual panel and networking event and hope other women will do too going forward.