Project reference · Renewable energy
Staffing a wind farm from an empty page.
An international EPC contractor won the construction of one of the largest renewable-energy projects in Ukraine. They had the engineering. What they did not have was a single employee in the country — no entity staff, no site team, no payroll, no office. We built the Ukrainian organisation that let them start work.
Around 60 defined positions
Scope
Six months to a staffed site
Timeline
Four working languages, seven nationalities
Coordination
Three employment models running in parallel
Structure
The brief
What the client actually needed
Not a shortlist. A complete working organisation for a remote construction site in southern Ukraine — and the administrative machinery to keep it legal and paid.
That meant the obvious roles: a project director, a site manager, technical leaders for civil, electrical and mechanical works, engineers, quality and HSE staff, planners and document control. It also meant everything people forget until the site opens. Interpreters. Drivers. A residence with cooks. Security. A paramedic. A finance function that could actually run a payroll in Ukraine.
The hard parts
Where it gets difficult
One site, many passports
Senior management, engineers and specialists came from seven countries. Correspondence, contracts and safety documentation had to work in four languages at once — and staff interpreters were part of the org chart, not an afterthought.
Lender-grade compliance
The project was financed by international development banks. That pushes real obligations down onto the contractor: environmental and social standards, documented health and safety, and counterparty and KYC checks completed before anyone is contracted.
Three employment models at once
Some people had to be employed. Some were placed through outstaffing. Some worked as Ukrainian sole proprietors. Each carries different tax treatment, different paperwork and a different risk if it is done casually — and all three ran side by side on one project.
No time to be ahead of the programme
Construction started while senior recruitment was still open. Positions were filled against a live build, not a comfortable pre-mobilisation schedule, with several candidates running concurrently for the critical roles.
Everything on the ground, too
A country office had to exist before anyone could report to it. Premises, a vehicle fleet, insurance for individuals, residence and catering — all standing up at the same time as the hiring.
Judged, not just interviewed
Senior shortlists went through formal psychometric assessment alongside the interviews, so the project director and site manager decisions rested on something more durable than a good conversation.
What we did
Three steps, one partner — on a live construction site
We ran the search for the management and site positions, assessed the senior shortlists formally rather than on impression alone, and then carried the people we placed: contracts in Ukrainian and English, salary budgets calculated to real net cost including taxes, insurance, sole-proprietor administration and monthly payroll.
- Search and selection for management, engineering, HSE, quality and project controls roles.
- Employment, outstaffing and sole-proprietor administration running in parallel on one project.
- Bilingual contracts, insurance, monthly payroll and the compliance file behind them.
The contractor dealt with one Ukrainian partner instead of assembling a recruitment agency, a payroll bureau, a law firm and an office provider separately.
How we work
We do not show you another company’s name
The client, the site and the people are not named here, and they will not be named in a meeting either. We are glad to talk this project through in detail — what we cannot do is discuss the last client that way with you, or you with the next one.
Next step
Mobilising a project in Ukraine?
Whether it is one engineer or a whole site organisation, thirty minutes is usually enough to tell you what your plan is missing.
