Energy Sector Heroes ~ Careers in Oil & Gas, Sustainability & Renewable Energy

About Energy Sector Heroes ~ Careers in Oil & Gas, Sustainability & Renewable Energy

Welcome to Energy Sector Heroes! This podcast is all about showcasing stand-out individuals in the energy sector and their inspiring careers. If you're interested in making a name for yourself in the energy industry, this is the perfect show for you. Each episode, we'll sit down with a different energy sector hero and learn about their journey to success, the challenges they faced along the way, and the valuable lessons they learned. From engineers and scientists to executives and entrepreneurs, we'll hear from a diverse range of professionals who are making a real impact in the world of energy. Tune in to Energy Sector Heroes to get motivated, learn from the best, and start your journey to becoming an energy sector hero too!

Publisher

Michelle Fraser

Category

business · business · education

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

9 Jan 2023

Latest episode

22 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

174 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   22 Sept 2026

   Getting Your First Energy Job: What Graduates Need to Know with Tony Appleton | Energy Sector Heroes

   For graduates, students and anyone trying to build a career in energy, knowing where the industry is heading is only part of the challenge. You also need to understand where your skills fit, what employers are looking for and what you can do now to create opportunities for yourself. In this episode of Energy Sector Heroes, I speak with Tony Appleton, Managing Director of Green Power Global, about careers in offshore wind, the changing energy mix and what it really takes to establish yourself in the energy sector. Tony has spent around 20 years in offshore wind and has worked across more than 80 projects worldwide, covering everything from feasibility and bankability through to operations and maintenance. His wider career has also taken him through coal fired power generation, oil, nuclear and renewables. One of the themes we return to throughout our conversation is that the future of energy is unlikely to belong to one technology alone. Tony sees oil and gas, nuclear, wind, solar and other sources continuing to form part of the energy mix, with the balance varying considerably between countries and regions. We also discuss why this creates opportunities for people already working in traditional energy. Offshore experience, engineering knowledge, safety awareness, technical capability and project experience don't suddenly become irrelevant because the technology changes. Many of those skills can move across sectors. 🎓 For graduates, however, having the qualification is only the beginning. Tony and I talk about the difficult gap between employers saying they need engineers and graduates struggling to secure that first opportunity. His advice is to start building practical experience before leaving university through internships, placements, industry events, professional networks and direct engagement with companies. We also discuss using AI as a career planning tool. Rather than seeing AI simply as something that could replace jobs, Tony suggests using it to research career paths, understand the qualifications and experience required for particular roles, identify skills gaps and explore how different areas of the energy industry fit together. But AI doesn't replace technical knowledge. You still need enough understanding to ask good questions, assess the answers and develop your own expertise. Another important part of our conversation is what happens after you get that first job. Your first role may not be exactly what you imagined, but it can still give you valuable experience. Tony recommends actively looking for opportunities to learn, asking for additional responsibilities, attending conferences and speaking with managers about where you can contribute. Careers don't necessarily develop in a straight line either. Tony shares how his own career changed unexpectedly when, as a young production engineer, he was offered the opportunity to move to Hong Kong as a commercial manager ultimately taking his career away from engineering and towards commercial and leadership roles. 🔑 Three Key Takeaways 🔹 The energy transition is creating different careers, not simply removing old ones. Energy demand continues to evolve, and skills from oil and gas, engineering and offshore operations can transfer into renewables and other parts of the energy system. 🔹 Start building your career before graduation. A degree matters, but employers also look for evidence that you've explored the industry, gained practical exposure and taken responsibility for developing yourself. 🔹 Career plans should provide direction without becoming rigid. Understand where you would like to go and what skills you'll need to get there, while remaining open to opportunities that could take your career somewhere you hadn't originally considered. 🎯 Three Actionable Takeaways ✅ Map one potential career route. Choose a specific role that interests you and research the qualifications, technical skills and experience typically required at entry level, three years and five years. ✅ Create practical experience before you need it. Look for internships, placements, industry events, professional organisations and opportunities to speak directly with people already doing the work you want to do. ✅ Ask for specific development opportunities. Instead of asking your manager, “What else can I do?”, identify something concrete a course, conference, project or additional responsibility and explain how both you and the organisation would benefit. This episode is a useful reminder that there isn't one predetermined route through the energy sector. The industry is changing, technology is changing and individual careers will change with it. The important part is understanding your options, developing relevant experience and being prepared to put yourself forward when opportunities appear.

2. 

   15 Sept 2026

   AI in the Energy Sector: Why Human Expertise Still Matters with Edmund Hain | Energy Sector Heroes

   For anyone working in energy or considering where their career might take them next technical knowledge is only part of the picture. The sector increasingly sits at the intersection of technology, economics, infrastructure, geopolitics and digitalisation. Understanding how those pieces connect can be just as valuable as knowing one technology in depth. In this episode of Energy Sector Heroes, I speak with Edmund Hain, an engineer and business development professional with more than 25 years of experience across technology, IT, IoT and industrial markets. We discuss why Edmund believes energy professionals need to think beyond individual technologies and understand the wider systems they operate within. Using smart grids as an example, we explore how solar generation, battery storage, smart meters, electric vehicles and software can work together and why decisions about energy infrastructure are as much economic and geopolitical as they are technical. We also talk about what this means for people building careers in energy. Edmund challenges the idea that everyone needs to become a narrow specialist. Instead, he makes the case for developing enough breadth to understand how different disciplines connect, while knowing when to bring in deeper technical expertise. 🤖 We also spend time on AI particularly the difference between using AI and simply trusting it. Edmund shares how he uses AI professionally to accelerate complex work, but stresses that useful results depend on the knowledge of the person asking the questions. Without context, clear requirements and the ability to challenge an answer, AI can just as easily send someone in the wrong direction. Three Key Takeaways 🔹 Energy problems need systems thinking. Smart grids demonstrate how generation, storage, buildings, vehicles, software, economics and infrastructure decisions increasingly overlap. Understanding those relationships can be valuable even if you aren't the technical specialist in every area. 🔹 AI works better when you already understand the problem. AI can dramatically reduce the time required to research, structure and evaluate information, but professional judgement still matters. Knowing what to ask and recognising when an answer doesn't make sense remains important. 🔹 Career breadth can create adaptability. Edmund argues that moving between companies, teams, technologies or business units can expose you to different ways of solving problems. For people entering energy today, that breadth can help them navigate a sector that continues to change. Three Actionable Takeaways ⚡ Map the wider system around your role. Choose one project or technology you currently work with and identify the technical, commercial, regulatory and operational factors that influence it. You don't need to become an expert in all of them start by understanding how they connect. ⚡ Give AI requirements, not just questions. Before using an AI tool for professional research, define what you actually need, the constraints that matter and the type of evidence you want. Then review the output using your own knowledge rather than accepting it automatically. ⚡ Build career breadth deliberately. Look at what your current role isn't teaching you. That could mean another discipline, business unit, project phase, technology or organisation. Make your next development decision around filling one of those gaps rather than simply collecting another job title.

3. 

   8 Sept 2026

   Will AI Replace Engineers? Simon Seaton on the Future of Energy Jobs | Energy Sector Heroes

   For anyone building a career in energy — whether you’re a graduate trying to get your first opportunity, an experienced professional adapting to new technology, or someone wondering where the industry is heading — the skills we develop now will matter enormously over the coming years. In this episode of Energy Sector Heroes, I’m joined by Simon Seaton, CEO of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), to talk about the changing energy workforce, the impact of AI, the challenge facing new graduates and why engineering skills will remain important well beyond traditional oil and gas. Simon has spent 35 years in industry and is now in his fourth year leading SPE. We discuss what he has seen change since we last spoke, including the pressures facing the sector, changing employment patterns and the role professional organisations can play in keeping technical knowledge and professional networks alive. 🎓 Getting into the energy industry We talk openly about the challenges graduates can face when looking for that first role. Simon makes the point that a degree alone may not be enough. Building relationships, attending industry events, taking internships and sometimes accepting a role that gets you into the right environment can all help create a route into the career you ultimately want. We also discuss why graduates increasingly need to demonstrate something beyond their core qualification — whether that's an understanding of AI, carbon capture, geothermal, critical minerals or other technologies shaping the future energy system. 🤖 AI, productivity and the changing workforce AI is already changing how technical professionals find information and carry out everyday work, but Simon doesn't see the story simply as AI replacing engineers. Instead, we discuss how technology allows organisations to achieve more with fewer people and why professionals who learn how to work effectively with AI could have an advantage. Simon also shares what SPE is developing, including an AI knowledge assistant designed to draw on SPE's technical papers, journals, books and conference material while providing references back to the original technical sources. 🌍 Where will the engineering jobs of the future come from? Oil and gas remains part of the discussion, but we look much further ahead. Simon explains why petroleum engineering and other technical disciplines can transfer into geothermal, carbon capture and storage, critical minerals and other emerging areas of energy. That raises a bigger issue: are enough young people choosing STEM subjects to provide the engineers and technical professionals required to deliver the infrastructure of the future? We discuss the importance of role models, schools, families and the industry's own responsibility to show younger generations what engineering careers actually involve. Three Key Takeaways 🔹 Engineering skills are becoming broader, not obsolete. Skills developed in oil and gas can increasingly transfer into geothermal, CCUS, critical minerals and other areas of the evolving energy system. 🔹 AI literacy is becoming part of professional competence. The opportunity isn't simply to compete against AI, but to understand how to use it alongside trusted technical information, engineering judgement and experience. 🔹 Careers rarely follow a perfect route. Your first opportunity may not be your ideal job. Building experience, relationships and exposure to the industry can create opportunities that aren't obvious at the beginning. Three Actionable Takeaways ✅ Build your network before you need it. Attend technical events, SPE meetings and industry conferences, speak to people outside your immediate discipline and stay connected afterwards. ✅ Add one emerging skill to your existing expertise. Start developing practical knowledge of AI, geothermal, CCUS, critical minerals or another area that complements your core engineering background. ✅ Create more than one route into the industry. If your ideal position isn't available immediately, consider adjacent roles, internships, projects or disciplines that give you relevant experience and access to the organisations where you ultimately want to work.

Who has been a guest on Energy Sector Heroes ~ Careers in Oil & Gas, Sustainability & Renewable Energy

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Trond Knutsen Hundsnes
• Rebecca Fitzpatrick
• Troy Tittlemier
• Brad Dore
• Tom Meulendijks

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

1,765

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.0 / 5

3 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

22 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 77 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

91

Social presence

0

YouTube

68

Engagement

89

Contact Energy Sector Heroes ~ Careers in Oil & Gas, Sustainability & Renewable Energy

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.