The Inverter Ban is a Hiring Story, Too 

Earlier this week, the FCC added foreign-made "connected power inverters" to their Covered List of equipment and services under their watch, citing national security concerns. The FCC is also now preventing any new models from being issued by inverter manufacturers.  While existing models of inverters are fine, this new policy puts a real expiration date on today's supply chain right as the industry needs to build faster than ever.

As this new policy is enacted, it is also becoming clear that the renewable industry isn't just adapting its supply chain, it’s redefining who it needs to hire. As you can see in the chart above, the US relies very heavily on importing power inverters. So let's start with the obvious point: domestic inverter manufacturing needs a lot more manpower, fast! With 15 years of experience in recruiting for inverter OEMs, I can tell you with certainty that the talent pool for power-electronics engineers, technicians, and compliance is already thin.

Procurement itself is changing

"Find the best inverter at the best price" now also means reading a Covered List update and building vendor diversification into the plan. The companies that navigate the next few years most successfully won't necessarily be the ones with the biggest procurement teams.  They'll be the ones that recognize compliance, sourcing, engineering, and procurement are no longer separate disciplines. They're converging into one! This is accelerating a trend I've been watching for more than a year. The most sought-after professionals are no longer specialists in a single discipline. They’re part supply chain, part regulatory literacy, and it's not a skill set that most companies have had to hire for before.

Developers are expected to understand procurement

Procurement teams need to navigate evolving regulations. Engineering leaders are weighing equipment availability alongside technical performance. The lines between departments are blurring, and companies are competing for people who can connect those dots.

Ten years ago, project developers handled site control, permitting, and interconnection. Today, developers need to have fluency in supply chain, domestic content, FCC, tax credits, vendor qualification, procurement strategy, and risk management. That's a pretty profound evolution of the job!

Retention matters as much as hiring

The challenge isn't just finding those project developers, it's keeping them. The procurement people you already have understand your supplier relationships and pipeline better than anyone you'd hire from outside the organization. The smarter move I'm seeing from clients is upskilling existing staff on the compliance side rather than trying to buy it in, and making sure those staff are motivated to stay on board, since they're exactly who a competitor would try to poach.

One theme has resounded in my advice to clients this summer: don't just hire for development or procurement experience. Hire for people comfortable living inside regulatory ambiguity and compressed timelines. Right now there's a need for both of these areas of expertise, and they're compounding into one solid skillset.