Director of Field Service and Utility Delivery

OUR MISSION   SPAN IS ENABLING ELECTRIFICATION FOR ALL ⚡ WE ARE A MISSION-DRIVEN COMPANY DESIGNING, BUILDING, AND DEPLOYING PRODUCTS THAT ELECTRIFY THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT, REDUCE CARBON EMISSIONS, AND SLOW THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE. - Decarbonization is the process to reduce or remove greenhouse gas emissions, especially carbon dioxide, from entering our atmosphere. - Electrification is the process of replacing fossil fuel appliances that run on gas or oil with all-electric upgrades for a cleaner way to power our lives. AT SPAN, WE BELIEVE IN: - Enabling homes and vehicles powered by clean energy - Making electrification upgrades possible - Building more resilient homes with reliable backup - Designing a flexible and distributed electrical grid THE ROLE SPAN is hiring a Director of Field Service & Utility Delivery to lead all aspects of SPAN’s physical operations at scale, which includes 1) delivering on utility contracts by managing large scale deployments of SPAN Edge hardware and our Fleet Manager software, then overseeing ongoing utility programs, and 2) post installation servicing of the entire SPAN fleet. Sitting within SPAN’s highly collaborative Support & Services group, you will be our singular Field Service leader and have the opportunity to define and build the function from the ground up. In the near term this will involve both strategic efforts and rolling up your sleeves to do some work yourself as we define and build out the function. In this highly cross-functional role, you will partner closely with the Customer Support, Service Engineering, Supply Chain/Fulfillment, Accounting, Manufacturing Quality, and Commercial teams to ensure that product issues requiring physical remediation are taken care of expeditiously and utility customers move seamlessly from the commercial phase to the delivery and support phases. RESPONSIBILITIES - Partner with the VP of Support & Services to develop a vision for SPAN’s approach to field service for all sales channels (solar and storage, new homes, utilities, etc.) and approaches to a third-party, field service network. Bring your vision to life by creating that field service network, including partner sourcing, diligence, and evaluation. Participate in contract negotiation and performance expectation definition. Manage these partner relationships to ensure high-quality service delivery and cost-effectiveness. - Collaborate with key internal cross-functional partners to drive field service and service parts strategy, decisions, processes, and tooling, especially, but not exclusively, related to the launch of new products and the sunset of products that are being retired. - Oversee the development, maintenance, and continuous improvement of our field service documentation and standard operating procedures (SOPs), including but not limited to external resources for service parts replacement, SOPs for third parties, and internal processes/policies. - Build playbooks for - and manage - quality events and field investigations or part replacement activities if necessary. Analyze data related to field service activities to drive key decisions. - Oversee the handling of customers’ field service requests. Be an escalation point for advice and decisions as needed as the team handles customer requests for parts. Manage these activities to ensure we consistently deliver an excellent customer experience. - Judiciously administer warranty claims and advise Customer Support agents on warranty questions/concerns. Manage SPAN’s warranty claim processing and warranty tracking holistically. - Manage inventory of service parts, including projecting inventory needs and then collaborating cross functionally on packaging development, procurement, and setting up parts with our third party fulfillment center and internal/external systems. - Enable and support distributors and other third parties in stocking service parts. - Build deep knowledge of all SPAN products, their evolution over time, and their field applications, ensuring you and/or your team are expert resource for Customer Support and Service Engineering on product installation questions as well as service parts compatibility. - Develop a suite of key performance indicators (KPIs) for both Field Service and Utility Delivery/Support. Monitor, measure, and improve those metrics over time. Regularly assess utility program outcomes, implementing improvements as necessary to enhance effectiveness. - Collaborate closely with your Customer Support and Service Engineering management peers to ensure alignment in process and philosophy of handling customer issues. - Oversee the planning and execution of large-scale utility deployments, ensuring seamless coordination across internal cross-functional teams, utility partners, and external stakeholders. Establish clear milestones, manage risks, oversee the budget, and drive operational excellence to ensure successful implementation and adoption. This operational enablement phase will include items like utility customer onboarding, third-party training, hardware deployment, support model definition, coordinating joint marketing efforts, and software set up. - Work closely with counterparts in Commercial (e.g. strategic account owner who owns the commercial relationship) and Customer Support (e.g. technical account engineer responsible for operational account management) to ensure the utility's seamless cycle throughout key phases of the relationship: commercial, delivery, and support. - Create playbooks for utility delivery by defining workable models for large scale utility deployments. - Support the definition of SPAN’s business plan for utilities, including the design of service packages (field service, support, software, etc.), pricing structures, and value propositions that align with market needs and standards. Conduct market analysis and gather stakeholder feedback to refine offerings and ensure long-term program success. ABOUT YOU  Required Qualifications - 15+ years of experience in field service, field operations roles, or utility field services roles - Experience managing a field operations and/or fleet management function (i.e. physical operations of distributed hardware assets) including people management, process and playbook development and optimization, tooling implementation and integrations, and more. Bonus points for past experience standing up a field service network. - Experience building and managing external partnerships or vendor relationships, including business development of those relationships, diligence, negotiation, and ongoing management of partner performance. - Technical knowledge and experience in electrical systems (e.g. electrical panels, solar and storage systems, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, home appliances, automotive equipment, or similar. - Familiarity with utility and/or enterprise operations requirements. - Experience managing work within a ticketing tool (e.g. Zendesk, JIRA, Salesforce, etc.) Bonus Qualifications - Are a structured and analytical thinker - Are highly collaborative and can work toward and negotiate shared outcomes with both internal and external parties whether customers or partners - Bring both a sense of urgency and a strong customer orientation to your work and understand the importance of being an escalation point for customer issues - Have strong judgment and a keen eye for risk and safety issues - Enjoy having your hands in a bit of everything – both high level strategy and being in the tactical weeds. - Bring an entrepreneurial spirit and a love of problem solving to every challenge you encounter - Are detail oriented, organized, efficient, and reliable. You do what you say you’re going to do with a strong sense of urgency - Are a strong communicator, both written and verbally, and easily adapt your communication for different audiences (technical vs not technical) - Have a continuous improvement mindset - Are scrappy and have a knack for excelling in complex and ambiguous situations - Have a strong sense of ownership - Have a track record of building high performance teams with a strong culture LIFE AT SPAN Headquartered in San Francisco’s vibrant SoMa neighborhood, we are an eclectic group of creative thinkers who value open communication, teamwork, and a ‘make it happen’ approach to addressing complex challenges.  SPAN embraces diversity and equal opportunity in a serious way. We are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills.  We’re hiring talented individuals who are driven by success and are passionate about shaping the future of renewable energy. If that sounds like you, we’d love for you to consider joining the rapidly growing team at SPAN. The Perks: ⚡ Competitive compensation + equity grants at a well-funded, venture-backed company ⚡ Comprehensive benefits: 100% employee premiums for base plans on medical, dental, vision with options for additional coverage.  Parental leave up to twenty four (24)  weeks depending on eligibility ⚡ Comfortable, sunny office space located near BART and Caltrain public transit ⚡ Strong focus on team building and company culture: Employee Resource Groups, monthly social events, SPANcakes recognition breakfast, lunch, and learns ⚡ Flexible hours, one holiday per month, and flexible time off   Interested in joining our team? Apply today and we’ll be in touch with the next steps!