Women in Power - Louise

Energy Business Partner & Head of Energy Markets, Ireland

I’m Louise, and I’ve been in my role in Energy Markets for two years now as the main business partner for all of our energy businesses (Renewables, Thermal, Enterprise and Energy Customer Solutions). Basically I started at the bottom and worked up, with some interesting career moves along the way.

When I left school I did a degree in Pure Mathematics mainly as I was good at it. At Uni I had a job as manager of a bar here in Glasgow – probably one of my most favourite jobs ever. However, with the end of my degree I knew I had to use it to the good, so took an entry level role as an analyst in an energy company crunching numbers and producing forecasts and model building.

After a quick detour into sports broadcasting, I knew that I wanted to get back into energy and that pointed me to SSE. I landed here in 2014 working on the domestic retail market. That gave me exposure to Energy Markets, which is actually where I work now on the Executive Committee. They asked me to work in their contracts team primarily on B2B. That was a no brainer for me as I wanted to get back into that as I’d absolutely loved it in previous roles. I did that for a year then was given the chance to apply for a Head of Commercial role which was a big jump but successful, as I was promoted up to Director to build a new team for the B2B business.

In 2021, I moved again for a clear opportunity to work with our renewables business during a period of massive growth. It’s been lots of work but deeply rewarding, and I have seen my role grow to work with all the energy businesses as a result. In addition I recently took on a leadership role for our Energy Markets team in Ireland who do incredible work to support all of our interests on the island of Ireland. They are a cracking team and I am learning lots from them every day.

I love the people at SSE. It’s hard to find people here who are not deeply invested in what we do and are really driven to work with the company. The difference here is that you can get in front of people, do a good job for them, and that opens doors to wider opportunities. I’ve always had to apply for every role I’ve had and in pretty stiff competition, probably being the only female in the field. I feel really proud of my career development both as a female and as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community.

The advice I’d give is to be absolutely unafraid to go for something where you don’t tick all the boxes. I recently had to review a job profile for someone to come in well below me and I didn’t meet the required criteria! It’s all about the strengths you have, not the boxes you tick.
SSE takes diversity and equality seriously – our Mat Leave policy is a game changer for returning to work and we’re improving parent leave and flexible working too. Having these pathways is huge for getting really talented women back to work, and SSE is leading the way.

I love taking something new and making it happen – it’s where I get real satisfaction, as I don’t do that on my own, so seeing things happen and the people that make it happen.

"The advice I’d give is to be absolutely unafraid to go for something where you don’t tick all the boxes. It’s all about the strengths you have, not the boxes you tick."

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