Eli
Head of Energy Programs at Eli in San Francisco, New York, Sacramento
Job Description
Head of Energy Programs
About Eli Technologies
America is investing trillions of dollars upgrading homes and buildings to be more efficient, electric, and resilient. The systems moving that money were built for a different era. Contractors wait months to get paid. For every dollar meant to fund these upgrades, as much as 40 cents is lost to administrative friction and bureaucracy.
Eli is building the new financial operating system for building decarbonization. Our AI-native platform powers energy programs for utilities, government agencies, implementation firms, and lenders. We handle intake, eligibility, document review, underwriting, compliance, reporting, and payment disbursements. Since launching in December 2023, Eli has processed hundreds of thousands of projects, advanced ~$50 million to installers, and now runs energy programs end-to-end for investor-owned utilities and government agencies across multiple U.S. states.
We’re building the future of energy programs and we want you to join us!
The Role
The way Eli delivers energy programs is revolutionary, but we operate in an industry that moves at the speed of evolution. As Head of Programs, your job will be to help bridge that gap and accelerate the transition to faster program launches, lower costs, real-time visibility, and contractors who get paid in hours not months. You will own this side of the company end to end: the go-to-market motion that wins utility, government, and financing program contracts, and the program management organization that delivers on them. You will be the senior industry voice inside Eli and the face of Eli to the industry.
What You'll Own
Build and run the pipeline for program administration and implementation contracts with utilities, state and local governments, financing program sponsors, and implementer partners. Lead pursuits from first conversation through RFP response, pricing, negotiation, and signature.
Represent Eli with utility program leadership, agency and commission staff, and industry partners. Your relationships get us into rooms early, and your judgment tells us which pursuits to chase and which to walk away from.
Stand up and lead the program management organization: launch planning, staffing, SLAs, quality control, regulatory reporting, and evaluation readiness for every program Eli operates.
Own the P&L for the programs business, including bid pricing, delivery cost, and margin.
Recruit, develop, and retain program managers and delivery leads as the portfolio grows.
Work with product and engineering to turn what programs need into platform capability, so each new program launches faster and cheaper than the last.
Shape how Eli shows up in the industry, from conference stages and working groups to regulatory proceedings.
Who You Are
You are able to work in the SF Bay Area, Sacramento, or New York City ~2 days/week
You have spent 10 or more years in energy efficiency, demand-side management, or electrification programs, running large program portfolios or business lines at an implementer, a utility, or a government agency. Or, you are newer to the industry but are really crushing it.
You have won program work and know RFP cycles, sole-source paths, program pricing, and what it takes for a program manager or agency director to say yes.
Utility and agency leaders take your calls, and your references will vouch for how you deliver.
You know the status-quo delivery model from the inside and are clear-eyed about its problems: heavy overhead, slow payments, legacy systems, and brittle workflows.
You believe this model will be replaced with something better within the decade, and you want to be the person who helps build it.
As a player-coach, you are comfortable writing this quarter's proposal yourself and building the team that writes the next ten.
You are interested in starting a new chapter in your career at a fast-growing venture-backed technology company aiming to do something extraordinary and difficult.
What Success Looks Like
Eli wins and launches new programs across new sponsors and states, on time and on scope.
Contracted program revenue grows [3x or better] in your first year.
Programs pass regulatory review and evaluation cleanly, and sponsors and partners renew and expand from one program to a portfolio.
The program management team is hired, ramped, and retained, and delivery margin holds steady or improves as the platform absorbs more of the work.
Sponsor references and industry word of mouth generate inbound pipeline.
Compensation
This is a business ownership role. Your compensation will include performance incentives tied to growth and profitability milestones for the programs business, alongside an executive equity package, with a base salary range of $185,000-250,000 annually depending on experience. In addition, we offer:
Health Benefits: Generous health benefits (top-tier medical, dental, and vision).
Time Off: Flexible, unlimited time off (minimum 3 weeks!).
Remote/Hybrid Work: We are open to fully remote candidates for this position, but prefer those who can work in person ~2 days/week in the SF Bay Area, Sacramento, or New York City offices. We also have at least 2 in-person company gatherings per year, plus ample budget to co-work to solve thorny problems.
Diverse, Family/Parent-Friendly Work Environment: We’ve built a welcoming work environment where humility, honesty, and humor are highly valued.
Eli is proud to have a "no negotiation" compensation policy. We believe it is on us to do our homework, understand your expectations as part of the interview process, and ensure we are offering a competitive salary for every position. A growing body of evidence suggests that allowing for negotiation after an offer is made exacerbates pay disparities and simply rewards good negotiators. There's also evidence that women and people of color are less likely to negotiate. We want everybody on our team to feel well-compensated and on track to meet their financial goals, so if you get an offer from us, you can be assured it's the best offer we can make.
About Eli
Read this page to learn more about our team and values.