Utility Partnerships Director

The Role

Voltus is seeking a Utilities Partnerships Director to build and grow relationships with utilities across North America as we expand our addressable market into a segment we have not formally served before.

Utilities need additional capacity and are thinking about demand response as part of their supply strategy like never before. Voltus has achieved the scale, tools, and team to support utilities in their need for reliable, affordable capacity. This role exists to unlock that opportunity, opening new markets, developing new programs, and building a function from the ground up.

The right candidate understands how utilities think, has navigated complex partnership and program development cycles, and knows how to move from a first conversation to a signed contract in a relationship-driven, long-cycle environment. Experience working at a utility or selling to utilities is a must. This is an individual contributor role with significant room to grow into leading a team as the function scales.

This is a remote role. Candidates must be based in the United States.

Responsibilities

• Build and manage relationships with utilities across North America, calling on Directors of Strategic Energy Resources, Directors of Demand Response, and Managing Directors of Customer Load Management among others.
• Identify and pursue opportunities for Voltus to provide utilities with capacity through demand response and battery deployment as well as wholesale market participation to add additional value to their current demand responses programs.
• Build relationships with key stakeholders at utilities to help shape their thinking about demand response. Respond to utility RFIs and RFPs, and work to refine and improve Voltus's approach to RFP and RFI responses over time. Strategically work through ecosystem partners to position Voltus as part of a complete solution.
• Work cross-functionally with Partnerships, Energy Markets, Product Management, Engineering, Legal, Operations, and Marketing to pitch Voltus as part of a complete, winning solution for utility partners and execute on program delivery. Own the full cycle from initial outreach through relationship development, contract negotiation, program launch, and ongoing program management.
• Attend industry conferences and in-person meetings to build relationships and represent Voltus in the utility market.
• Share learnings and progress internally on an ongoing basis to help Voltus refine its utility offerings and competitive positioning.

Desired Qualifications

• 5 to 10 years of experience in business development, partnerships, or sales in the energy industry.
• Experience working at a utility, DERM, VPP platform, or demand response company strongly preferred.
• Familiarity with wholesale electricity markets, demand response programs, and utility procurement processes including RFPs and RFIs.
• Proven ability to manage long, complex sales cycles with multiple stakeholders across large organizations.
• Comfortable operating in ambiguity. This role requires someone who can figure out what utilities need and how Voltus can best serve them, not someone who needs a fully defined playbook on day one.
• Strong cross-functional collaboration skills and the ability to work closely with internal teams to develop proposals and programs.
• Experience with Google Suite, Salesforce, and Slack preferred.