Business Development Manager - United States

FIRST SOLAR • Tempe, AZ

148d • $94,415 - $134,550

About The Position

This position is a cross-functional role that integrates several independent teams and functions while seeking to recognize cross functional synergies between them. The position requires a strategic development perspective combined with a Markets origination focus to drive the organization's performance within the US. This role is key to coordinating customer activity within and across those regions, and more globally. The Manager is responsible for the support and development of growth and customer relationships in First Solar's US region. The Manager will help drive implementation through preparation and opening of assigned new markets or segments and evolving this network. They will identify market entry points, develop opportunities, and ensure the best strategy is employed to develop a sustainable value proposition and in turn help grow the business. The successful candidate will further identify companies headquartered in the US region that develop and own utility-scale PV power plants across this region. The candidate will successfully develop and support establishing strong relationships to support these customers. Strong cross-functional coordination and internal/external relationship building will be essential to success. This position requires analyzing challenging situations and driving clarity while maintaining complex alignment across the decision-making processes. Key aspects of this role will be strategy development, commercial contract execution, managing cross functional relationships and the ability to obtain executive management support and approvals.

Requirements

• An undergraduate degree is required; MBA or Masters is a plus.
• 5+ years of work experience in business development, engineering, sales, project management or other relevant technical experience.
• Minimum of 3+ years of experience in the energy, alternative energy and/or utility sectors.
• Prior experience in utility-scale solar energy industry is required.
• Prior experience living and/or working in multiple geographies is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead origination and negotiations resulting in executing commercial contracts with a number of new and existing customers.
• Develop and manage long-term strategic partnerships and framework agreements.
• Being a trusted advisor to the head of strategic accounts, in market segmentation, origination strategies, and collaboration with leadership to implement.
• Facilitates and supports the collaborative development and alignment of the global business plan and strategy for identified market segments or channels.
• Development of a multi-year, multi-segment Market Strategy that includes an integrated segmentation strategy and product application/solution roadmap.
• Participate in the annual planning process, provide updates in regular review meetings, and document/manage approvals for the plan.
• Host recurring meetings with key stakeholders to align strategies.
• Lead product adoption ensuring the business success of the product and its applications.
• Manage market entry timing of phase-gated process via product line team format.
• Ensure segment models meet market needs for product applications, resources, skill, process, documentation etc.
• Execute plan to develop and deliver documentation.
• Lead the development of strong and intimate relationships across multiple levels and customer accounts by ensuring close collaboration between all key-account managers and subject matter experts engaging with the customer.
• Responsibility for supporting supplier qualification and development/maintenance of overarching framework agreements.
• Provides cross-functional and executive reporting of key business metrics and corrective action plans to achieve key performance metrics.

Benefits

• 401k
• health_insurance
• dental_insurance
• vision_insurance
• life_insurance
• disability_insurance
• paid_holidays
• paid_volunteer_time
• tuition_reimbursement
• professional_development

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Industry: Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing
• Education Level: Bachelor's degree
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees