About Sparkfund
Sparkfund is an energy transition partner built to accelerate the energy transition by transforming the built environment into a productive, resilient, climate-adapted extension of the grid. We do this by partnering with utilities and building owners to provide program management, project implementation, and financing services and capabilities to our partners' customers. Together, we are creating a more equitable, resilient, and sustainable energy future.
Position Summary
Sparkfund is hiring a junior Commercial Solutions professional to support the intake, development, proposal, and contracting of efficiency and electrification projects for one of our utility partner’s programs. This role is critical to the continued growth and success of Sparkfund’s Commercial Solutions team as well as this utility program. This person will collaborate with teams across all four of Sparkfund’s business units – particularly our Program Management, Project Development Engineering, Legal, and Finance teams – to manage and support strategic lead generation initiatives, project qualification, close strategy, pricing, proposal development, and internal management of the project across relevant cross-functional teams. They will be responsible for contributing to the margin goals of one specific utility program.
This role will focus on one of Sparkfund’s existing strategic utility partners and the utility’s commercial energy solutions program, which focuses on solar PV, electrical vehicle charging, lighting, HVAC, controls, and back -up generation projects. This person will be responsible for collaborating closely with our external partner’s key account managers to develop relationships with end-use customers and implement strategies to target qualified leads efficiently and effectively. They will then work cross-functionally within Sparkfund to support the scope development, pricing, and proposal creation of qualified customer projects.
This position can be Associate-level or Manager-level, depending on the person’s level of experience. This position will report to the Senior Manager, Commercial Solutions leading the assigned utility program. This role requires a self-starter and highly effective communicator capable of effectively managing multiple projects and priorities at once.
Location
While Sparkfund is a fully remote company, we will give strong preference to this person to being based in Georgia, particularly the Atlanta metropolitan region. In addition to working from our utility partner’s local office 1-2 days per week, we expect you to travel to Washington, DC and / or other US cities for organized team and / or company gatherings 2-4 times per year to collaborate with other members of the team / company, learn the ins and outs of our business, and contribute to our company culture.
Key Responsibilities
- Support the program manager and the Commercial Solutions program lead with all strategic initiatives and the project pipeline of the assigned utility program.
- Intake all new opportunities from utility partner account managers, following standard processes to create records in Salesforce and organize necessary information and data on the opportunity.
- Communicate, collaborate, and work effectively alongside account management and economic development professionals within the program who originate, qualify, and own customer relationships.
- Manage / support project qualification, sales strategy, project modeling, pro formas, and proposal preparation for assigned projects in the program’s pipeline, including indirectly managing / supporting a project team of financial and technical support professionals assigned to a specific project’s process.
- Manage all commercial customer account and opportunity data in Salesforce regularly, ensuring the data is up-to-date, accurate, and consistent for use in reports for a variety of stakeholders across Sparkfund.
- Collaborate with the Projects Operations team on sales process optimization and team enablement, contributing to the Commercial Solutions team’s as well as Sparkfund’s operational efficiency and our ability to more effectively meet our customers’ needs.
- Bring best practices in the sales process and in project development to a rapidly growing organization.
Required Skills & Qualifications
- 1-5 years of relevant experience in program management, project development and/or sales, or a similar role.
- Experience or familiarity with the utilities, ESCO, or broader energy industry.
- Effective ability to build and maintain relationships and trust internally and externally, including a consultative approach to relationship management and meeting preparation (organized, anticipatory, goal-oriented).
- Strong written and verbal communication skills with an ability to communicate effectively for different audiences, including technical and non-technical audiences as well as audiences at different levels of an organization.
- A self-starter with the initiative and drive to identify and do what it takes to deliver outcomes as well as the growth mindset to strive to improve.
- Proven ability to demonstrate good judgment and composure in difficult situations and with incomplete information.
- Experience effectively managing multiple projects and priorities simultaneously with the demonstrated mental agility and ability to switch between contexts quickly.
Preferred Skills & Qualifications
- Competency in software and cloud-based information management tools – especially with Salesforce, Google Workspace, Slack, Asana, Excel, PowerPoint, and/or project management tools.
- Some degree of financial acumen, including an understanding of project economics as well as energy project financing solutions (leases, loans, etc.).
- Some degree of technical acumen, including experience with one or more (ideally more) of our core technologies: HVAC, building controls, solar, battery storage, generation, EVSE, or lighting.
- Dedication to what we’re building at Sparkfund and a passion for combating climate change.
Benefits
- Competitive compensation and stock option plans - we believe in shared ownership.
- Comprehensive benefits package including medical, vision, and dental insurance as well as disability and life insurance.
- Flexible vacation policy that encourages ~4 weeks of paid time off. We also observe all federal holidays.
- 8 weeks gender-neutral paid leave for caregivers when they have a new addition to their families and an additional 4 weeks of paid leave for birthing parents.
- A one-time, work-from-home stipend to help cover any equipment, hardware, etc. you need to set up your remote office.
- A monthly allowance of $100 to help cover phone and WiFi expenses.
We Want You To Know
You can be a great candidate even if you don't fit everything we've described above. You can also have important skills we haven't thought of. If that's you, don't hesitate to apply and tell us about yourself. We are dedicated to environmental stewardship, and recognize we need diverse perspectives to successfully tackle this massive challenge. To change the world, we must first change ourselves, which is why Sparkfund has created a space that sources viewpoints from people who look and think differently.
We are committed to diversity and building an equitable and inclusive environment for people of all backgrounds and experiences, and we're taking steps to meet that commitment.
We especially encourage members of traditionally underrepresented communities to apply, including women, people of color, LGBTQ+ people, veterans, and people with disabilities.
