Director of Channel Development

Company Overview

Driven by our vision of the affordable, reliable, net-zero carbon grid of the future, Mainspring has developed a new category of power generation — the linear generator — that delivers local, scalable, and , fuel-flexible power to help accelerate the transition to the net-zero carbon grid.

The unique combination of attributes offered by Mainspring’s linear generator enables applications on both the commercial and utility sides of the meter for the $816B global electricity equipment market. We serve a wide range of Fortune 500 customers across markets and industries as well as top-tier utilities and other gridside providers.

We are looking to build relationships with people who share our values:

• Pragmatic Optimism. Building a new category of world-class power generation requires the optimism of ambition and creativity, balanced with practicality to solve problems efficiently. The challenges that arise are opportunities for growth.
• Excellence without Ego. We bring expertise and commitment to creating the best customer experience, from sales to deployment and service, just as we apply deep technical rigor to building and delivering world-class products. We strive for excellence and behave as leaders with the humility to acknowledge our challenges, both collectively and as individual contributors.
• Proactive Collaboration. The integration and cross-disciplinary nature of Mainspring’s business requires intentionally seeking out others who bring different skills, perspectives, and priorities. Our culture of inclusion and respect extends beyond our team to interactions with our partners and customers.

Mainspring is based in Menlo Park and has partnered with top-tier investors and utilities such as Khosla Ventures, Bill Gates, NextEra, and American Electric Power. More information can be found at www.mainspringenergy.com.

Responsibilities

We are seeking a dynamic person who can help accelerate our growth in the U.S. markets and ensure an excellent customer experience with Mainspring Energy. Reporting to the Chief Commercial Officer, you will work cross functionally with sales, product, policy, finance, marketing, and project delivery teams to grow our behind-the-meter businesses across multiple dimensions. As a key member of the commercial team, you will work with leadership to develop the strategy and implementation of a formal channel sales program for Mainspring to drive future growth. Mainspring is a high-growth organization, and this role can serve as a prelude to a wide variety of future positions at Mainspring as we expand globally.

Key responsibilities of the Director of Channel Development will:

• Working with senior commercial leadership, develop an overarching channel philosophy and strategy for Mainspring
• Assess market environment and define all possible sales and distribution options for Mainspring’s linear generator in behind-the-meter markets in the United States
• Define approaches to various portions of the value chain in a comprehensive and coherent channel strategy: global and national equipment suppliers, ESCOs, EPCs, system integrators, financiers, complements, influencers, advisories, etc.
• Sequence the rollout to various channels taking into consideration Mainspring’s multi-year sales and production plans. Identify, engage and contract with the highest priority partners and direct other Mainspring sales professionals in the outreach. Integrate the management and support of Mainspring’s direct sales team into channel management plans as appropriate
• Develop and deliver comprehensive go-to-market plans for each channel, including appropriate contracts and channel conflict management plans
• Ascertain the sales enablement, marketing, training, product and O&M support needs of each channel and develop plans to deliver support as required
• Create, organize and deliver training to a variety of channel partner representatives, i.e., sales, technical, marketing, and service. Determine the optimal platforms for the delivery of training to optimize reach and effectiveness
• Lead Mainspring team members in the creation of content for deployment to channel partners
• Define a scalable staffing plan and hire supporting team members as needed

Qualifications

• Action-oriented with a positive attitude, willingness to take initiative, accountable, and able to communicate across departments
• MS/MBA/PhD highly preferred, bachelor’s degree required. Quantitative education and background with exposure to sales, marketing and finance preferred
• Total work experience greater than 15 years (advanced degrees counting towards experience), with at least five years in distributed energy markets in the U.S. and/or Europe
• Demonstrated success selling products, services, or concepts in complex environments with multiple customer stakeholders, able to maintain key account relationships. Relationships with leading energy developers, integrators, owners, and operators highly preferred
• Experience generating and implementing go-to-market strategies in the energy space, with a preference for microgrids or equipment components thereof (solar, batteries, generators, etc.)
• Comprehensive analytical and problem-solving skills. Able to analyze complex issues and data and synthesize to provide clear recommendations to internal and customer teams
• Ability to multitask and work under tight deadlines with strong project management, organizational, analytical and coordination skills
• Experience with financial models and energy markets (financial modeling, rate analysis), comfort with basic project finance concepts
• Demonstrated ability to lead cross functional teams in a high growth environment