Growth Lead - Australia

Planted; Sydney; On-site; AUD 200,000 - 270,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

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Travel covered

Access to US teams

Empowered early role

Job summary

Planted is expanding in Australia. You will be the first in-market Growth Lead, driving market formation, channel development, and partnerships with EPCs, developers, and industrial buyers.

You will own the end‑to‑end process from first contact to signed agreement, coordinating with US teams as needed to win the next portfolio. The role emphasizes autonomy, strategic selling of a high‑density, robot‑installed solar system, and a strong network across the Australian solar sector.

Qualifications

• 7+ years in commercial, business development, or delivery roles on Australian utility-scale solar or adjacent infrastructure.
• Autonomy as primary local leader with ability to set priorities and operate unsupervised.
• Robust network with Australian developers, IPPs, EPCs, owner’s engineers or energy teams.
• Channel/partner selling experience rather than direct sell.
• Hands-on techno-economic modelling, project estimating, or infrastructure deal structuring.
• Experience moving projects from concept to sponsorship and execution.

Responsibilities

• Establish the Australian market and own opportunities from first conversation to signed agreement.
• Build the channel and portfolio by training EPCs and structuring pricing, scope, and capacity.
• Develop techno‑economic case defending robotic, high‑density solar against incumbents.
• Identify deal needs, engage internal/external experts, and keep momentum with timely decisions.
• Represent Planted with government bodies, trade agencies, and industry associations.

Skills

Australian solar market

Autonomy

Strong network

Channel selling

Techno-economic modelling

Commercial deal making

Travel willingness

Right to work in Australia

Tools

AS 4000 / AS 4902

Job description

About Planted

Energy is the binding constraint on human progress. Solar and storage are the lowest cost sources of new generation, but the conventional project delivery model has not changed in 30 years and deployment cannot keep pace with demand.

About Planted

Energy is the binding constraint on human progress. Solar and storage are the lowest cost sources of new generation, but the conventional project delivery model has not changed in 30 years and deployment cannot keep pace with demand.

Planted is turning power plants from projects into products. Our software turns raw land into a build-ready power plant in minutes instead of months. Our hardware delivers twice the energy on every hectare. Our robots put steel in the ground so output scales with production lines instead of headcount.

We're expanding our team of ambitious, curious, and hands‑on engineers and operators who want to accelerate that transition. Come take ownership of large parts of our product, company, and business development as we help power the world with 100% clean and abundant energy.

We don't wait for abundance. We build it.

The Team: You will join a group at the intersection of deep tech and massive physical infrastructure. Our engineering core brings robotics and automation DNA from SpaceX and Tesla, working directly alongside energy infrastructure experts. We are led by repeat founders with a successful prior exit (Cogenra to SunPower). Planted is backed by leading investors in energy and Physical AI, including Piva Capital, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Khosla Ventures, RA Capital, Gigascale Capital, and Google.

About The Role

We are hiring a Growth Lead to build Planted's business in Australia. You will be our first person in the market representing the company.

Australian owners already buy high-density solar. What no one has put in front of them is a high-density system that robots install, at our cost and schedule. Labour is expensive and scarce on regional sites, structural steel is expensive, and modules are a smaller share of installed cost than in the US, all of which reward putting more panels on less steel with fewer hours in the field. Mining and off-grid load in the west and the data centre buildout in the east both want power faster than conventional delivery can produce it.

We are not the EPC in Australia, and that defines the job. We supply the array layout and plant‑level design support, the structural balance of system, the field robots, and the training that makes deployment more productive. The EPC designs and procures the electrical scope, builds the project, and holds the end‑customer contract. The work is not only expanding the market and selling projects. It is building the channel that sells them, and the terms that help our partners come back with their next one.

You will report to our Director of Growth and Strategy in California, and in practice you will run the market. In your first week you pick up a live pipeline and active EPC, developer, and industrial conversations, while certification, steel supply, and machine compliance move in parallel. You will set your own priorities, pull in US support when a deal needs it, and make the final call without waiting on a time zone difference. You will not be starting from zero, and you will not be starting from finished. Once a deal is signed, you hand delivery to Planted's field technical advisors and the EPC, and go win the next portfolio.

Salary range for this position is AUD $200,000–$270,000 base, plus superannuation, performance incentive, and share options. Placement within the range depends on experience and skills. The target experience for the position is 7+ years. Sydney preferred. Melbourne or Brisbane considered.

Responsibilities

• Establish the Australian market. Build and work the target list across developers, IPPs, EPCs, and mining and industrial buyers, and own every opportunity from first conversation to signed agreement. Decide where our capacity goes. Be honest when the answer is no or not yet, and keep the relationship progressing towards more megawatts.
• Build the channel, then the portfolio. Our route to market today runs through local EPCs. Find them, train them on what our system does to their labour curve, and structure the pricing, scope splits, volume commitments, and machine allocation that enable them to bring us their next wave of projects rather than to their incumbent supplier. A first project is the entry point, not the outcome. Convert proven delivery into frameworks and capacity reservations.
• Techno‑economic case. Build and defend the comparison that wins the project: our robot‑installed, high‑density fixed‑tilt system against the legacy single‑axis tracker their engineering team already trusts, and against the high‑density systems already selling here. Yield, installed cost, labour hours, schedule, O&M, LCOE, grounded in Australian benchmarks and site conditions. Owner's engineers will take it apart, and it needs to hold.
• Clear the path. Every deal raises questions you will not personally answer: structural and civil sensitivities, electrical architecture, certification, local content, supply and logistics. Identify what the deal needs, pull the right internal expert or outside specialist, get a decision, and keep moving. Never let an open question sit.
• Be Planted in this market. You are the whole interface, in both directions. Represent us credibly in rooms where nobody has heard of us, and work the government bodies, trade agencies, and industry associations that open doors here. Send back what you learn on pricing, competitors, and regulation so our product and commercial model bend toward this market rather than assume the American one.

Qualifications

• Australian large‑scale solar background. 7+ years in commercial, business development, or delivery roles on Australian utility‑scale solar or adjacent infrastructure, on projects that actually got built. You know how these projects are procured, financed, contracted, and constructed here.
• Genuine autonomy. As our primary local leader, you will operate with high autonomy. You need to be comfortable setting your own priorities, working unsupervised, escalating at the right moment rather than every moment, and influencing a California‑based team you will rarely be in a room with.
• A robust network you can use. Existing relationships with Australian developers, IPPs, EPCs, owner's engineers, or industrial and mining energy teams. You can get the right meeting without an introduction chain.
• Channel and partner selling. You have won business through a contractor, integrator, or channel partner rather than only selling direct, and you understand how to make a partner's economics work so they choose you again.
• Quantitative rigour. Hands‑on experience with techno‑economic modelling, project estimating, or infrastructure deal structuring. You build the model yourself, ground your assumptions in real evidence, and defend them under a sophisticated counterparty's diligence.
• Challenging the incumbent. You have taken an unproven technology, delivery model, or commercial structure to buyers who already had a proven alternative, and moved sceptical financial and technical evaluators to sponsoring you.
• Willing to travel. Regional and interstate site and customer travel, plus periodic travel to the US.
• Right to work in Australia.

Preferred Qualifications

• Working familiarity with Australian EPC contracting mechanics: AS 4000 and AS 4902 contract suites, performance guarantees, liquidated damages, warranty terms, and capacity or supply reservation structures.
• Knowledge of AS/NZS standards applicable to solar, and how site‑specific structural certification works here.
• Off‑grid, remote, or mining power experience, including working with First Nations peoples and Traditional Owners on land access.
• Exposure to data centre or large industrial load customers as buyers of new generation.
• Experience with high‑density or fixed‑tilt systems, or selling tracker systems into the Australian market.
• Familiarity with the Capacity Investment Scheme, ARENA programs, state investment agencies, and local content requirements.
• Comfort representing an international company that does not yet have a large local presence or reference projects.

A note on qualifications: Many people only apply for jobs if they believe they can perform every task in the job description. We are most interested in finding the best candidate for the role and will consider equivalent combinations of knowledge, skills, education, and experience. If you are interested, we encourage you to think broadly about your background and skill set.

Planted is committed to growing inclusively. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and will provide reasonable adjustments through the recruitment process on request. However you identify, or whatever background you bring with you, please apply. We look forward to hearing from you.

What We Offer

• Share options in a venture‑backed company
• Home office setup and all business travel covered
• Direct access to our US engineering, supply chain, and commercial teams
• A chance to have an empowered, meaningful, and early role in climate, and to build a market rather than inherit one

This Will Be a Great Fit If

• You want to solve challenging problems
• You are biased towards action and focus on the vital work that drives the most impact
• You prioritise the physical and psychological safety of yourself and those around you
• You are humble, embrace change, and deliver and receive candid feedback
• You are optimistic about the future and can make tough decisions to help get there
• You have high expectations and coach, develop, and make time to help others