Utilities Technology Leadership Is Winning the Hiring Race. But Who Is Landing the Change?

More than 60% of the senior Utilities Leadership moves we tracked earlier this year had Technology, Digital, IT or Data explicitly in the title, around 150 appointments from a sample of 245.

That tells us something about where organisations have been investing.

But as we move through the final quarter of 2026, I have become more interested in what those leaders are actually being hired to achieve.

Utilities organisations are dealing with legacy platform modernisation, OT/IT integration, smart infrastructure, cybersecurity, resilience and the need to make far better use of customer, asset and grid data.

Our original analysis found that many of the leaders moving into these environments already had broader remits, combining operational accountability with Digital, Data, Regulatory and stakeholder responsibility.

And as the year has progressed, that picture has developed further.

Utilities Technology and Leadership Hasn’t Become Less Important. Accountability Has Become Broader.

Our H1 review looked at 268 senior leadership records across Utilities, Energy, Water, Infrastructure and adjacent markets.

The Q1 picture had been dominated by Technology and Data.

By Q2, leadership movement was spread much more widely:

• Approximately 94 Executive and General Leadership roles
• 43 Operations, Delivery and Field roles
• 41 Commercial, Sales and Growth roles
• 24 Customer roles
• 19 Technology, Data, Digital and AI roles

I don’t read that as appetite for Technology falling. I read it as technology moving closer to the operation.

The H1 analysis reached a similar conclusion. The more useful signal was not simply how many senior people were moving, but where accountability for performance, resilience and transformation was sitting, and who was expected to turn investment into visible operational progress.

The Briefs Themselves Are Changing

That shift is also showing up in the work I am doing.

Throughout 2026, I have seen live assignments move beyond straightforward functional replacement towards much more specific questions of capability, integration and delivery. In Water, Energy Technology and wider Infrastructure, the leadership question is is increasingly less:

“Who has done this job before?”

and more:

“Who can actually solve the problem we now have?”

One recent example involved supporting a PE-backed organisation to identify specialist capability to lead a function responsible for integrating technology across a group of acquisitions.

That is a very different leadership problem from simply finding a strong Technology CV.

It requires enough technical depth to establish credibility, but also the ability to work across different businesses, create common direction and translate technological capability into something useful at Group and operational level.

This Isn’t Only About Utilities Technology Leadership Appointments

We recently concluded a particularly challenging Managing Director search.

Following the process, a senior PE investor involved in the appointment told me they were:

“Impressed with the calibre of candidates for this position.”

That feedback came directly from the investor following shortlist, selection and appointment.

For me, that matters.

Not simply because it is good to receive positive feedback, but because these mandates are becoming increasingly difficult to solve through a conventional:

“Who has already held this title?”

search.

The brief has to get underneath the title.

It has to understand the business problem, the capability gap and the outcome the new leader will ultimately be accountable for.

Technology Capability Is Only Part of the Problem

When technology touches assets, Field Operations, customers, regulation and investment, the traditional boundaries become harder to maintain.

Who owns adoption?

Who ensures the technology improves an operational decision rather than simply producing more data?

Who joins together legacy platforms and newly acquired businesses?

Who owns the consequence when the system technically works but the intended business outcome does not follow?

Our wider Operational Performance research has highlighted the same tension.

As platforms, AI and Data move deeper into day-to-day operations, accountability increasingly overlaps across:

• CIO
• CDO
• Product
• Data
• Operations
• Transformation

That makes leadership design more complicated.

The Differentiator Is Translation

Technical competence remains essential.

But the differentiator is increasingly the ability to translate that capability into operational progress.

For Boards, CEOs and investors, this can make the hiring brief harder.

A traditional Technology leader may bring exceptional functional depth but not necessarily the operating range required.

An Operational leader may understand the business intimately but may not have led technology-enabled change at sufficient scale.

A Transformation leader may know how to mobilise a programme but may not necessarily inherit accountability for what happens several years after implementation.

So the question is no longer simply:

“Who should own Technology?”

It is closer to:

“Who has the credibility and range to connect the technology, the operation and the intended business outcome — and should they own that outcome too?”

The Leadership Signal

Technology is still winning the hiring race across Utilities, Energy and Infrastructure.

But the more interesting leadership question is becoming one of accountability.

As technology becomes embedded within operations, the distinction between Technology leadership and Operational leadership becomes less clear.

The strongest future leaders may therefore be those who can bridge both worlds.

Not necessarily the deepest technologist.

Not necessarily the most experienced operator.

But the leader capable of connecting:

Technology → Adoption → Operational Performance → Business Outcome

That is becoming one of the more interesting leadership questions I am encountering across Utilities, Infrastructure and Energy Technology.

For CEOs, COOs, CIOs and investors, the hiring brief may increasingly need to start there.

When you are hiring a senior Technology or Digital leader today, how much weight are you putting on their ability to own the operational outcome as well as the technology?

Technology leadership is changing. If you are reviewing where accountability should sit across Technology, Operations, Data or Transformation, talk to us about the leadership capability your business now needs.

Related Content

Chief Information Officer Recruitment

Utilities Executive Search and Professional Recruitment

Water Has a Talent Problem But Does It Also Have a Storytelling Problem?