Business Development Manager - Distributed Energy

Our client is a well-established Midwest power generation and energy services company. For two decades it has quietly kept critical facilities running: manufacturing plants, hospitals, grocery operations and data centers. It engineers, services and monitors on-site generation and electrical infrastructure. It also does something most competitors don’t: it enrolls customers’ backup generators in utility demand response programs, so equipment that used to be a pure cost center starts earning money.
The company is now under new, growth-focused leadership with private equity backing, and it’s making its first dedicated sales hire. That’s you. You won’t inherit a pipeline. You’ll build one, and you’ll have a real say in how the sales function takes shape as it grows. That includes the path to lead the team.
The customer conversations are interesting ones. In the morning you might show a CFO how a demand response program turns a $400K generator from an expense into an asset. In the afternoon you might walk a facilities engineer through a paralleling upgrade. You’ll sell the full energy stack: standby and prime generation, switchgear, battery storage, microgrids and real-time monitoring. You’ll have an in-house engineering team behind you to scope and deliver it.
What you’ll do
Prospect and close new industrial, commercial and institutional customers across the Midwest: manufacturers, data centers, hospitals, cold storage, campuses and municipalities.
Run consultative, technical sales from site discovery through proposal, making both the reliability case and the ROI case.
Expand service, monitoring and upgrade work with an existing customer base that already trusts the company.
Build channel relationships with utilities, OEM dealers, electrical contractors and engineering firms.
Report directly to the CEO and help define pricing, target verticals and the sales playbook.
Requirements
You don’t need to check every box, but you should recognize yourself in most of these:
A track record of finding and closing new business, not just renewing it. You’ve built a territory, a channel or a sales function from the ground up.
Experience selling in distributed energy, microgrids, battery storage or demand response. A generator OEM or dealer background, switchgear and controls, or electrical distribution with strong contractor and engineer relationships also fits.
Comfort going deep technically. You can hold your own with an engineer without handing the conversation off.
An engineering degree (EE a plus) or equivalent hands-on field experience.
Relationships with Midwest industrial and commercial energy buyers, utilities or channel partners. Familiarity with utility demand response programs is a strong plus.
Willingness to travel 30–50% across Iowa and the surrounding states. The best deals start on a plant floor, not a Zoom call.
Benefits
Uncapped commission on bookings and margin. Your earnings scale with what you build.
A seat at the table. You’ll report directly to the CEO and help shape strategy in a growing, PE-backed company.
A path to leadership. As the sales team grows, the person who built it is first in line to lead it.
Full benefits: health, dental, vision and 401(k).
Vehicle or car allowance, plus phone and travel expenses covered.
An Eastern Iowa base: a short commute, low cost of living, and real work-life balance between site visits.
Strong Compensation Potential: goal to earn $150,000 - 300,000+ with a strong base salary, and the ability to ramp up the right candidate with guranteed commission draw
Non-Local Candidates: relocation assistance can be provided

Work arrangement
No