Vice President, Project Development
Overview
Our client’s market-leading Energy as a Service (EaaS) structure enables enterprises to finance on-site energy and sustainability projects that result in the outcomes of decarbonization, increased resilience and cost savings.
The Vice President of Project Development spearheads all activities and team members who lead to closing (read: winning) of projects that utilize the EaaS financial solution.  The role should develop functional excellence, uplift team members, and contribute to organizational capabilities, but, explicitly, the role extends beyond functional leadership.  The VP’s primary scope is to have an active role in each opportunity including, at times, being first chair for high-value and strategic customers and projects. 
The role demands a dynamic professional capable of gaining (read: educating, persuading, compelling) customer buy-in throughout the process, coordinating technoeconomic development of projects, orchestrating contractual relationships across multiple stakeholders, and ensuring economics viability for all parties. This role could require up to 25% travel in a given month depending on the needs of the business.
The role is a fiduciary for our client, and those in this function must continually evaluate which company resources are needed (or not) for the various conditions of each opportunity.  Our client affords the Project Development team many pre-existing tools, but new ones may be required; and this team member must have the judgment to identify such needs and the wherewithal to generate (by themselves or with others) the new materials.  
As a matter of scale, our clients will deliver 8 to 14 projects per year, with project costs for each in the range of $3-30M.  While EaaS is a ubiquitous structure and can be used across many sectors, Our client’s primary go-to-market focuses on C&I, higher education, and healthcare.
Duties and Responsibilities

• Lead Management: Steer qualified leads through the project development process to closing, optimizing both internal and external resources.
• Deal Coordination: Conduct internal deal reviews, sponsor projects during senior leadership reviews, and align multi-party priorities to smooth out deal friction.
• Value Proposition Development: Craft tailored value propositions and offers based on deep understanding of customer needs, enhancing customer engagement and satisfaction.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work collaboratively with sales teams, legal, operations, finance, and marketing to launch sales initiatives, introduce new products, and support pipeline generation.
• Performance Metrics: Achieve personal KPIs and sales quotas while aiding team members in reaching collective goals.
• Project Leadership: Lead special projects and strategic initiatives, contributing innovative ideas for system and process improvements.
• Team Leadership: Responsible for the team’s performance and individual development; recruiting and staffing for the function; and supporting/drive HR practices, policies, compliance.
• Functional Leadership: Accountable for elevating the unit’s effectiveness and excellence – through various measures noted by leadership or themselves – including but not limited to training, improved teamwork, technology, and process.

 
Skills

• Mastery of Financial and Economic Principles:  Ability to calculate and, then, use for education, analysis, and persuasion all the various measurements that are part of financial decision-marking: cost of capital, internal rate of return, net present value, discounting, hurdle rates; macro-economic concepts around inflation, fixed-income markets, carbon and REC markets; and logic associated with comparing alternates where incremental benefits, avoided costs, and sunk costs are part of the calculus.   
• Judgment, Diplomacy, Tact: Demonstrated ability to lead directly—and indirectly--and to manage complex projects with minimal supervision. Strong organizational, project management, and problem-solving skills.
• Communication Excellence: Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills, capable of acting as a senior representative in diverse discussions.
• Innovative Collaboration: A collaborative and creative approach with a continuous drive for innovation in processes and tools.
• Technical Proficiency: Elite skillset using Excel, PowerPoint, and Salesforce
• People Leadership: Proven ability to inspire, mentor, and lead diverse teams to achieve excellence in project execution and deliver outstanding results in a dynamic environment.

 
Experience

• Industry Expertise: 15+ years in sales, project development, or consulting within the energy efficiency or clean energy sector, with a proven track record of increasing responsibility.
• Project Leadership: Extensive experience leading a project development process, particularly in financial solution selling environments.
• Complex Negotiations: Proven ability in negotiating intricate legal structures and facilitating complex project financings.
• Market Knowledge: Deep understanding of energy efficiency and clean energy markets, programs, and policies.
• Educational Background: Master’s degree preferred or equivalent work experience in a relevant field.