Vice President, Business Development

Our client is seeking a Vice President (VP) of Business Development who will be an integral part of the leadership team and report to the CEO, owning all ‘direct-to-customer’ business development activities and sales results. The VP will lead business development efforts by proactively positioning our Energy-as-a-Service (EaaS) solution with customers that includes the financing and implementation of renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy storage, sustainable cooling & heating or EV charging technical solutions. This position requires high-levels of customer engagement know-how, strategic thinking, financial-selling knowledge and leadership skills to identify and drive early-stage leads and project opportunities. The VP of Business Development will work cross-functionally with our Project Development, Structured Finance, and Operations teams. Leads and opportunities identified by the VP will ultimately be implemented by our client’s ESCO partners or preferred customer ESCO/contractor.

This role is a hunter, responsible for selling our client’ EaaS solution and originating customer interest and leads in defined key market segments. The VP must be effective at identifying and assessing technical needs of EaaS projects and communicating the value proposition to customers. The VP will meet with customers on a regular basis to originate and advance leads and will work with and sell through key customer-facing organizations and industry associations. The VP of Business Development will be informed of any relevant federal/state/local policy changes, incentives, competitive landscape and other market intelligence that provide our client with insights that spur conversations with customers and increase the quality and relevance of our outreach. This role requires travel to meet with customers, partners, and our Client’s team members; travel could be up to 50%.
 

• Develop sales and marketing strategies targeted at key customer segments that align with our client’s EaaS product and result in high quality pipeline to meet annual sales goals
• Meet regularly with customer prospects and other organizations or associations that represent and cover key end-user markets
• Consistently engage with customers to educate and sell them on the value of our client’s EaaS solution
• Present educational sessions on Energy-as-a-Service and support discussion panels at conferences and trade shows to inform customers and associations of our client’s value proposition.
• Identify and assess technical requirements for Energy-as-a-Service projects while effectively communicating the value proposition to customers
• Develop and maintain loyal customer relationships with new and existing customers and position our client as our customers selected provider of EaaS
• Identify, qualify and pursue customer opportunities for EaaS projects, with specific focus on commercial & industrial, higher education, and healthcare customers
• Gather, analyze and understand customer pain points to develop EaaS project win strategies that meet customer needs
• Creating new customer leads and opportunities to help achieve sales intake goals
• Craft and deliver high quality presentations to customers that explains our value proposition and exhibits a deep understanding of our EaaS structure and benefits
• Responsible for effective deal qualification, and steering qualified early stage leads to our Project Development team and support through successful deal closing
• Work cross-functionally with Project Development team to transition customer pursuits from leads to executed deals to successfully operating EaaS projects

 

Qualifications

• Must be highly motivated, able to understand and explain complex technical and financial concepts, and possess communication skills to expose and translate customer needs into a strategic approach for the solution
• Must have experience designing and implementing direct to customer business development programs, from front end strategy to ongoing management
• 15+ years of experience in business development or consulting in the energy efficiency or clean energy industry with increasing responsibility
• Working knowledge of state, local and national energy efficiency and clean energy markets, programs, and policies
• Ability to successfully prioritize, manage complex projects, deadlines, and tasks with little supervision
• Collaborative and creative team player with drive for innovation and continuous improvement of systems, processes and tools
• Self-starter with strong organization, project management, time management, and problem-solving abilities
• Exceptional communications and strong interpersonal skills that can serve as a senior representative in a wide range of partner and customer discussions
• Strong leadership skills including the ability to lead indirectly (i.e., get things done by working effectively with other internal and external parties)
• Proficient in MS Excel, PowerPoint and SaaS CRM tools (SFDC) to track activity and targets
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience preferred