Job description

About Smart Power India - Rooftop Solar for Rural C&I Initiative

Smart Power India (SPI), a subsidiary of the Rockefeller Foundation (RF’s), is the key agency for implementing the Smart Power initiative of the Foundation in Asia. The Smart Power Initiative of Rockefeller Foundation is uniquely positioned to lead the development of large-scale, innovative partnerships that break down the silos between traditional utilities and these disruptive new DRE technologies and unleash a new wave of last-mile electrification that better directs public investments and crowds-in private players.  

Rooftop Solar (RTS) presents a commercially scalable DRE alternative for millions of C&I customers in rural areas. The adoption of RTS by rural C&I customer can not only support Government of India to meet its 40 GW target, but also enable state DISCOMs to improve last mile electrification efforts, leveraging the techno-commercial benefits of DRE systems. SPI’s mission is to nurture an ecosystem to drive the adoption of RTS for millions of underserved rural C&I customer segment, working closely with RTS service providers and other stakeholders to help build a conducive environment and viable business models.

To know more about Smart Power India's impact, head over to their website.

About the Role | Associate Director - Market Development

The Associate Director (AD) will oversee SPI’s 3-year program for rapid deployment of rooftop solar for rural C&I customers across SPI priority geographies in India. The AD will develop and execute a coherent strategy, drawing learnings from our existing portfolio of DRE projects and partnerships. They will lead SPI’s efforts in developing and nurturing a RTS ecosystem, building long-term strategic partnerships with RESCOs, RTS Financiers, government stakeholders and other important stakeholders. The AD will also support SPI to distill insights for broader organizational learnings and capacity development of our in-country operations across other priority geographies in Asia and Africa.

Key Responsibilities

•  Developing and executing a three-year strategy and implementation plan for scaling adoption of RTS solutions for C&I customers in rural areas across SPI priority states in India - target of 100 MW in next 3 years.
• Creating a detailed and actionable plan with clearly defined milestones and targets, managing SPI’s RTS portfolio, providing day to day oversight of the progress to the senior management.
• Understanding the current market dynamics & trends, techno-commercial needs of various customer segments within rural C&I, and the policy environment to inform the go-to-market strategy.
• On-boarding and nurturing a vibrant RESCO/EPC player ecosystem (of national and regional players), working closely with them to implement the go-to-market strategy.
• Developing a techno-commercial business model for small ticket size RTS for rural C&I, identify viability gaps and support RESCOs with an incentive-based framework to achieve scale and business model sustainability.
• Effectively deploying and managing a team to oversee the rapid roll-out as per action plan to demonstrate proof of concept and informing the strategy for scale across priority geographies.
• Engaging with the broader RTS stakeholder ecosystem such as RTS financing institutions, development institutions and government stakeholders to drive alignment with SPI’s mission.
• Engaging and building capacity of global and early-stage technology providers in the RTS space for them to effectively cater to the nuances of the rural DRE ecosystem.
• Defining and monitoring the impact of RTS across impact areas relevant from Smart Power Program such as livelihood, climate change mitigation, per capita consumption, etc.
• Identifying the need for and leading the development of internal reports, quarterly reviews and internal and external communications as needed.
• Building a knowledge database using SPI’s existing MIS systems and dashboards to document the learnings of the RTS program for the global Smart Power leadership in other geographies such as USA, Africa and South East Asia.
• Serving as SPI’s representative as a subject-matter expert at key events, conferences and external engagements with relevant global and regional stakeholders.

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Critical requirements for the role (Must- Haves)

• Minimum of 8 to 10 years’ experience of establishing and driving sales operations for Rooftop solar C&I market in India.
• Updated techno-commercial knowledge of energy systems and adequate technical understanding of rooftop solar and its various components.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Willingness to travel in rural areas (30% of time) with occasional international travel.
• Strongly motivated to drive social impact and improve lives.

Preferred requirements for the role (Good to Have)

• Engineering degree in electrical or energy systems & an MBA degree.
• Previously worked in low-income states such as UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Rajasthan, etc.
• Existing network and strong relationships with national and regional EPC players, RESCOs, rooftop project financiers and other RTS value chain players in India.

Candidate Attributes (Culture Fit )

• Ability to work collaboratively in a team.
• Self starter.
• Ability to anticipate future opportunities and consequences and devise innovative approaches to address them.