CMB.TECH’s hiring signals move from piloting to full operations

From the newsletter

Belgium-based clean fuels company CMB.TECH is strengthening its presence across Africa, with new hiring patterns revealing a strategic shift from technical project delivery to commercial and organisational scaling. An analysis of the company’s LinkedIn data shows a deliberate pivot from engineering-heavy roles towards commercialisation and operational growth.

• Business development and HR roles grew 100% year on year, far outpacing other functions, a sign that CMB.TECH’s push for shipping decarbonisation via green hydrogen and ammonia is shifting from demonstration to structured commercial operations.

• With an average tenure of just 0.5 years in business development, the shift is both recent and deliberate, reflecting Africa’s wider hydrogen trend towards scaling and market maturity.

More details

• The shift towards commercial and organisational functions is happening alongside wider workforce expansion. CMB.TECH’s African headcount has grown by 22% over the past year, signalling steady growth across its clean fuels operations. The company now employs 67 full-time staff on the continent, with 12% growth recorded in the past six months. This broad-based expansion provides the foundation for the company’s transition from pilot projects to structured commercial operations.

• The strongest hiring momentum is in business development and human resources, reflecting a structural rebalancing within CMB.TECH. These functions are increasingly focused on partnership management, client engagement, and internal systems development, signalling that the company is building the organisational depth required to sustain long-term commercial operations.

• This organisational shift is reflected in the company’s evolving talent base. New hires are increasingly drawn from logistics, maritime and energy infrastructure sectors, pointing to a move towards operational integration and market delivery rather than research and demonstration. This broadening of professional backgrounds indicates a company positioning itself for scale and long-term service delivery.

• While business-facing roles are expanding, the publicly listed company retains a solid technical backbone. Operations and engineering remain the largest teams, accounting for 19% and 13% of employees respectively. This balance between technical delivery and business development reflects a dual focus on capability and market readiness, suggesting that CMB.TECH’s transition to scale is being built on firm technical foundations.

• The company’s workforce profile further reinforces this shift towards stability and maturity. Employees bring an average of 12.8 years of professional experience and 7.3 years of tenure, providing institutional continuity even as new commercial functions emerge. The ability to attract and retain highly experienced professionals points to an embedded institutional base capable of supporting complex, long-term projects.

• Education levels are equally strong. Half of CMB.TECH’s African staff hold a master’s degree, well above the industry average of 30%, underscoring a workforce equipped for both strategic and technical delivery. With strong representation from NUST Namibia, Stellenbosch Business School in South Africa, and Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny in Côte d’Ivoire, the company appears to be cultivating a local talent base with advanced business and project management skills.

• Geographically, CMB.TECH’s workforce is concentrated in Côte d’Ivoire, Namibia, and Nigeria, reflecting its growing regional footprint. Zimbabwe and Namibia recorded the fastest one-year workforce growth at 150% and 100% respectively. The rapid growth in Zimbabwe suggests CMB.TECH is laying groundwork for future clean-fuel infrastructure or regional logistics operations serving Southern Africa.

• In Namibia, expansion is likely driven by the company’s partnership with Cleanergy Solutions Namibia, which recently launched the country’s first integrated hydrogen hub under the Hydrogen Dune project. The hub includes a refuelling station for hydrogen-powered vehicles, marking a key step towards commercial-scale operations. To consolidate its presence, CMB.TECH is set to take full ownership of Cleanergy Solutions after acquiring a 51% stake from the Ohlthaver & List (O&L) Group through its hydrogen-focused subsidiary, H₂Infra NV.

Our take

• Africa’s hydrogen industry is maturing, with the focus shifting from proving technology to building the institutions and talent needed for long-term impact.

• CMB.TECH’s ability to attract seasoned professionals and invest in business-facing roles, unlike many early movers still reliant on engineering-heavy teams, signals strong market confidence.

• For Africa’s hydrogen sector, CMB.TECH’s evolution signals that technical excellence alone is no longer enough, and that sustainable scale will depend on combining local talent with cross-functional growth.Africa’s hydrogen industry is maturing, with the focus shifting from proving technology to building the institutions and talent needed for long-term impact.