VPP Commercialization Manager

Rhythm Energy•Houston, TX

About The Position

We’re hiring a VPP Commercialization Manager to be the economic and financial owner for Rhythm’s VPP business. You’ll sit within the VPP team but work closely with Portfolio, Product, Finance, and our capital partners, owning the models, business cases, and capital structures that make our VPP programs scalable, bankable, and attractive to both customers and investors. In the next 12–18 months, you’ll take what our Head of VPP has been doing himself and turn it into an institutional‑grade “financial engine” for our residential battery VPP—showing how batteries and other DERs create value, designing investor‑ready business models, and helping launch and scale programs in Texas and, over time, other US markets.

Requirements

7–12+ years in a combination of: renewable/DER project finance, energy/infrastructure finance, VPP/DER aggregation, energy markets, or similar roles with heavy modeling and commercialization exposure.
Proven experience building complex models from scratch that became the single source of truth for product, investment, or portfolio decisions.
Hands‑on experience with distributed energy resources (batteries, solar, VPPs, DR) or closely related assets—you understand how they actually operate, not just their line in the P&L.
Experience with wholesale power markets; ERCOT exposure is strongly preferred, with other ISO/RTO experience (PJM, CAISO, etc.) a plus.
Expert‑level Excel and financial modeling skills suitable for institutional‑grade project and portfolio models (cash flows, scenarios, sensitivities).
Strong analytical and first‑principles problem‑solver: you’re comfortable starting from a messy problem, structuring it, and iterating until the answer is robust.
Data‑savvy: comfortable working with data (SQL/Python/R or BI tools helpful) to feed and validate your models.
Able to translate complex economics into clear, concise narratives for leadership and investors.
Collaborative, low‑ego partner who works well with Portfolio, Product, Engineering, Finance, and external capital providers; you influence without authority and build trust through rigor.

Nice To Haves

Engineering/science (mechanical, industrial, energy systems) → VPP/DER innovation/market development (Zach‑like path).
Embedded senior FP&A or commercial analytics in energy/DER, working closely with product and markets.
Exposure to tax equity, ITC/PTC structures, or DER lease portfolios.
Experience at VPP operators, DER aggregators, storage OEMs, or advanced retailers.

Responsibilities

Own the core economic and financial model for Rhythm’s residential battery VPP, from blank sheet to production tool.
Model how batteries and solar behave in the real world: customer load, dispatch logic, performance, degradation, and portfolio‑level cash flows under multiple future scenarios.
Partner with Portfolio/Risk & Supply Management to turn market data and forecasts into robust assumptions, sensitivities, and stress tests across ERCOT (and later other ISOs/RTOs).
Identify key drivers of portfolio performance and risk, and synthesize insights into clear recommendations for leadership.
Design and evaluate business models and capital structures (tax equity, debt, sponsor equity, leases) that make Rhythm’s VPP programs scalable and bankable.
Quantify investor return profiles (IRR, cash yield, downside cases) for $100–$500M‑scale capital deployments into VPP assets.
Build investor‑ready models and materials that support diligence processes and capital raises, working closely with Rhythm leadership and external partners.
Iterate structures based on market feedback, regulatory constraints, and investor appetite.
Collaborate with Portfolio, Product, and Marketing to design the economics behind VPP customer offers: tariffs, incentives, revenue‑share, and program rules.
Incorporate regional incentives, tax credits (ITC/PTC), tariffs, and grid programs into pricing and product decisions.
Run “what if” analyses for new markets (e.g., “if we launch in New York instead of Texas, here’s how the economics change”) and inform market‑entry sequencing.
Work with portfolio/data teams to define data needs, build pipelines into your models, and continuously improve assumptions as new performance data comes in.
Document methodologies, assumptions, and versioning so your models can be trusted, audited, and reused across the business.
Enable cross‑functional teams (Product, Finance, Ops, Sales) with clear economics, scenarios, and guardrails so they can make confident decisions.
Support investor and capital‑provider conversations: walk through model logic, assumptions, scenarios, and risk mitigants.
Partner with Rhythm leadership and external advisors to refine structures and terms as deals progress