BESS Development Manager

SunStrong Management, LLC•,

19h

About The Position

The BESS Development Manager originates and advances GoodFinch’s battery storage pipeline, including standalone projects and storage co-located with or retrofitted to existing solar assets, from site screening through ready-to-build and handoff to Project Delivery. The role owns the interconnection, permitting, land, and commercial workstreams that determine whether a project is financeable and buildable, as well as the pipeline governance used to decide which projects proceed. The Manager works with utilities and ISOs/RTOs, authorities having jurisdiction (AHJs), landowners, offtakers, equipment manufacturers, and Finance, Legal, and Tax. The role requires disciplined project screening and a willingness to stop projects when assumptions or risks do not support advancement. It maintains stage-gate criteria, sourced and dated assumptions, and records explaining why projects were advanced or stopped. The Manager recommends and prepares investment materials; investment approval and execution of binding agreements remain with VP, Commercial Operations / GoodFinch according to delegated authority. The role does not direct construction. After handoff, Project Delivery owns delivery, while the Manager remains accountable for development-origin obligations until documented closure. The position also establishes project technology and procurement strategies, develops financial models and investment approval packages, manages development budgets and at-risk spending, supports financing-partner diligence, and prepares complete handoff packages. Operability considerations—including O&M access, monitoring and data architecture, spares, and field-service coverage—are incorporated into origination decisions.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in business, finance, engineering, renewable energy, or a related field, or equivalent demonstrated experience.
Five or more years of experience in renewable energy development, including experience in battery storage or solar-plus-storage development through interconnection, permitting, and commercial close; the posting leaves the specific storage-experience threshold as '[ insert threshold ]'.
Demonstrated working knowledge of interconnection processes in one or more U.S. ISO/RTO or utility jurisdictions, including study processes, cost allocation, and surplus interconnection and material modification pathways.
Working knowledge of storage revenue structures, including capacity and resource adequacy, tolling, ancillary services, and merchant energy markets.
Advanced Excel and financial modeling skills, including the ability to build and defend a pro forma and sensitivity analysis.
Working understanding of storage technology and safety fundamentals, including LFP chemistry, DC-block and AC-block architectures, NFPA 855, and UL 9540 and 9540A.
Experience negotiating land agreements and commercial contracts, with working awareness of tax-credit and financing-consent implications.
Demonstrated written precision in memos, study summaries, and agreement abstracts.
Valid driver’s license and ability to travel as needed.

Nice To Haves

MBA.
Experience developing storage at existing operating solar sites.
Experience with acquired development portfolios, or in operations or asset management.

Responsibilities

Screen the GF-owned and SSM-managed solar fleet for co-location, retrofit, and adjacent-land storage opportunities, and evaluate standalone sites against market, interconnection, and land criteria.
Build and maintain the BESS pipeline using defined stage-gate criteria; document advance and stop decisions and report pipeline status, attrition, and reasons projects stopped.
Analyze target markets, including capacity and resource adequacy constructs, ancillary services, energy arbitrage spreads, and regulatory trends, to identify durable storage revenue opportunities.
Evaluate existing-site constraints, including point-of-interconnection capacity, interconnection and PPA terms, lease and easement provisions, and lender or tax-equity consent requirements.
Own interconnection strategy and applications, including queue position, study processes, surplus interconnection service and material modification pathways, and upgrade-cost allocation.
Independently review interconnection study results and cost estimates with engineering support, challenge assumptions, and update project economics as results arrive.
Manage interconnection agreements through execution and track milestones, deposits, and security postings as dated obligations.
Own permitting paths and sequence land-use approvals, conditional-use permits, building and fire code review, environmental requirements, and stormwater requirements against interconnection and procurement milestones.
Engage AHJs, fire authorities, and local officials on BESS safety design, emergency response planning, and decommissioning commitments; lead community engagement where projects face public opposition.
Track permit conditions as obligations and transmit them to Project Delivery at handoff.
Structure and negotiate revenue arrangements with GF support, including tolling agreements, resource adequacy and capacity contracts, merchant and hybrid structures, and amendments to existing PPAs or host agreements.
Negotiate land options, leases, easements, and amendments, including appropriate access, assignability, and decommissioning provisions for long-term assets.
Abstract executed development agreements into the standard term register and log exposures against SSM standards, including assignment, termination, curtailment, performance guarantees, and consent requirements.
Evaluate tax, structural, trade-policy, supply-chain, lender-consent, and tax-equity-consent implications before committing project scope in coordination with Tax, Legal, and Finance.
Define each project’s technology basis with GF, the BESS/PV Engineer, Project Delivery, and Portfolio Management, including chemistry, block architecture, AC/DC coupling, duration, and platform, against the SSM fleet standard and approved vendor list.
Run equipment and integrator selection processes, including RFI, shortlisting, and bid leveling; assess supplier financial strength, warranties, degradation guarantees, service coverage, and long-term parts and software support.
Structure long-lead equipment reservations and supply terms so that capital at risk before financial close is explicit and bounded.
Bring O&M access, monitoring and data architecture, spares, and field-service coverage into origination-stage site and technology decisions with Field Service.
Build and maintain project pro formas covering revenue stack, degradation and augmentation, round-trip efficiency, availability, capital and operating costs, warranty costs, taxes, and financing, with assumptions sourced and dated.
Run sensitivity and downside cases for key return drivers and identify assumptions whose failure could cause a project to miss its hurdle.
Prepare investment memos and approval packages containing a recommendation and risk position.
Own the development budget and track at-risk spending against stage gates; do not spend ahead of the gate that justifies it.
Support lender, tax-equity, and equity-partner diligence through data rooms, technical and market advisor coordination, and condition-precedent tracking.
Prepare development handoff packages to SSM standards, including design basis, interconnection agreements and obligations, permit conditions, land documents, executed commercial agreements, technology basis, budget, and open risks.
Document and assign open items at handoff; brief Project Delivery, Engineering, Commercial Operations, and Asset Management on commercial and permitting commitments that constrain construction scope and schedule.
Remain accountable for development-origin obligations after handoff until closure is documented.
Participate in lessons-learned reviews and incorporate findings into site criteria, stage-gate standards, and counterparty selection.