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Big Tech has been on an energy hiring spree. Technology companies investing heavily in artificial intelligence are bolstering their workforce with energy experts as they look to overcome the biggest bottleneck in scaling AI: access to power. Energy-related hiring jumped 34% year-on-year in 2024, according to data compiled by Workforce.ai for CNBC. Last year's hiring almost matched this pace and remained 30% higher than pre-AI levels of 2022, when ChatGPT was released late in the year. Energy is increasingly important to Big Tech companies whose AI ambitions hinge on securing power for insatiable data centers. Data centers accounted for around 1.5% of global electricity consumption in 2024 – representing a 12% year-on-year rise over the last five years, per the International Energy Agency. Demand is widely anticipated to increase further in line with the build-out of infrastructure. Meeting that demand is one of Big Tech's biggest hurdles, leading companies to bring energy knowledge in-house and build their own supply — and, in some cases, gobbling up whole companies along the way. It marks a step-change from traditional sustainability roles, which boomed in the Inflation Reduction Act era but lost steam amid broader ESG backlash that intensified as U.S. President Donald Trump's second term got underway. Instead, operational roles have been in demand: energy procurement, markets, grid interface and strategy, according to energy recruiters who spoke with CNBC.
Microsoft is a quiet winner of the talent war, with over 570 additions since 2022, including Betsy Beck who joined in January last year as director of energy markets. She previously held an energy markets and policy role at Google . Microsoft also snapped up General Electric's former CFO Carolina Dybeck Happe back in 2024 to be the firm's chief operating officer — perhaps an early indication of the mega-cap's playbook. It is second only to Amazon, which has notched 605 energy-related hires, though this data includes its subsidiary AWS. Google has played catch-up to its Silicon Valley neighbors when it comes to AI – and it appears to be paying off as shares in its parent company, Alphabet, have been on a tear. Its market capitalization surpassed Apple's for the first time since 2019 on last week. The technology giant's energy strategy — which has seen the addition of 340 hires since 2022 — has also garnered attention. Eric Schubert, an energy regulatory affairs advisor who previously worked with BP for nearly 14 years, joined Google in January, per his LinkedIn profile. Google brought Duke University researcher Tyler Norris on board in November to head up energy market innovation, and is still growing its energy market and policy team.
Targeting energy and data center know-how
As well as individual talent grabs, Big Tech has snapped up energy-related companies while simultaneously scaling work with contractors. Notably, Alphabet is set to acquire data center company Intersect in a $4.75 billion cash deal that includes the assumption of debt. Project and construction managers and people with land acquisition roles are increasingly in demand but are being serviced with temporary contracts to oversee the initial build-out of infrastructure for these tech giants, rather than via permanent employees, according to Daniel Smart, group CEO of The Green Recruitment Company.
"There are tech companies that are turning into energy companies," Daniel Smart group CEO of The Green Recruitment Company
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