Commercial Lead

ClimateDoor; Vancouver; Hybrid; CAD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

ClimateDoor seeks a Commercial Lead to own 3–5 client files, act as the founder's primary contact, and drive plans, outreach and results in a highly autonomous role. You will collaborate with a commercial team and sector experts while testing messaging with real buyers.

You will balance strategy with hands-on execution, lead calls, run campaigns, and report momentum to keep files moving across energy transition, agriculture or critical resources markets.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in B2B commercial roles with client ownership.
• Experience closing long-cycle contracts with multiple stakeholders.
• Deep knowledge in energy transition, agriculture or critical resources.
• Comfort with base plus success fees; not salary-first.

Responsibilities

• Own 3–5 client files and manage weekly pipeline reviews.
• Shape the go-to-market plan and plan outreach campaigns.
• Lead client calls, report results, and keep projects moving.
• Build campaigns and conduct outreach, meetings and next steps.
• Test messaging with real buyers before scaling.
• Run customer discovery to test hypotheses.
• Close commercial agreements including pilots and distribution.
• Provide clear briefs to the commercial team.
• Own reporting for each file to show momentum.

Skills

Client leadership

Sales instinct

Autonomy

Reporting discipline

Discovery interviewing

Credibility

Multi-file handling

Judgment in ambiguity

Tools

AI-enabled sales tools

Job description

Career

Commercial Lead

Posted Date: September 15, 2026

About the role

As Commercial Lead you own 3 to 5 client files at once. Each is a climate technology company that hired us to open markets and close contracts. You are the founder's main point of contact, the person accountable for the plan, the pipeline and the result, and the one who makes sure the file keeps moving.This is an autonomous role. You set the plan, you run the outreach, you lead the client calls and you report the results. You have the support of a commercial team and a sector expert on each file, so you do not need to be the authority on every market you touch. What you do need is the instinct to pick up the phone first, test the messaging and the offer with real buyers, and adjust based on what they say.What sets this role apart is the range. One week you are pricing a pilot for a grid intelligence company, working a distributor deal for a new battery chemistry, and mapping offtake buyers for a company turning wood residue into jet fuel. You get paid to learn how the most interesting climate technologies get to market, across sectors. If you have commercialized cleantech, deeptech or industrial hardware for industry, enterprise, utility or government buyers, you already know the shape of this job.How your week breaks down

• Strategy: 15%
• Campaign planning and review: 20%
• BD, sales and outreach: 30%
• Client communications: 10%
• Project management and reporting: 15%
• Consulting and sector work: 10%

What You'll Do

• Own 3 to 5 client files, ramping over the first 60 to 90 days, with weekly pipeline reviews and a direct line to each founder
• Shape the go-to-market plan for each file with the commercial team, then plan, run and review outreach campaigns in sprints
• Lead client calls: report results, flag challenges before the founder has to ask, and keep the project moving
• Build the campaigns and work them: outreach, follow-up, meetings, next steps. The number gets hit
• Test messaging and the offer with real buyers before scaling anything
• Run structured customer discovery on files where the segment, buyer, price or proof is still unknown: buyer interviews, evidence gathering, pilots designed to test a hypothesis
• Structure and close commercial agreements: pilots that convert, offtake, distribution, licensing, channel and enterprise procurement
• Brief the commercial team clearly when you need a deck, a list or collateral, so it comes back right the first time
• Own reporting for each file: show progress and momentum, and keep the founder and the CGO working from the same evidence

What We're Looking For

• 8 or more years in B2B commercial roles, with a number you have carried and client relationships you have owned
• Closed contracts with long cycles and many stakeholders: industrials, utilities, enterprise, governments, agri-corporates
• Deep knowledge of at least one of energy transition, agriculture or critical resources, and the ability to get up to speed on the others with an expert beside you
• Comfortable with a modest base plus meaningful participation in success fees, origination and renewals. If the largest possible salary is the priority, this is the wrong role

What You Bring

• Client leadership. You lead calls, report success, flag challenges early and keep everyone accountable to the plan without being asked
• A hands‑on sales instinct. You make the first ten calls yourself and would rather test a script than hand off an untested one
• Autonomy. You do not wait for a brief or a team to start. You figure out the next step and take it
• Reporting discipline. You know which metrics matter, how to show momentum, and you are at home in an evidence‑based environment
• Discovery before pitch. You know how to interview a buyer, separate what they said from what you hoped to hear, and change the plan when the evidence says so
• Credibility with a founder in the first meeting and with a procurement lead, plant manager or deputy minister in the second
• Comfort holding several unrelated files at once. Moving between a utility procurement call, a founder pricing debate and an agri‑distributor negotiation in one afternoon energizes you
• Judgment in ambiguity. No defined territory, no fixed playbook, no manager checking the work

Nice to Have

• Experience opening the Canadian market for an international company, or a foreign market for a Canadian one
• Based in Vancouver and within reasonable proximity to the office
• Existing relationships with utility, industrial or government buyers
• Agency, consultancy or fractional experience managing several client accounts at once
• Familiarity with AI-enabled sales and research tooling

About ClimateDoor

ClimateDoor is a venture growth partnership firm. Companies in energy transition, agriculture and critical resources hire us on retainer to do the commercial work their own teams cannot do yet: build pipeline, open new geographies and close industry, enterprise, utility and government buyers. We earn success fees on the outcomes.To date our portfolio has closed 150+ commercial contracts and raised $682M+ in capital. Our team is deep on the capital side. Where we need more horsepower is commercialization: owning client files and driving them to closed deals.We value people who are proactive, curious and committed to solving hard commercial problems while building trusted relationships with founders and buyers.

Accommodation

ClimateDoor is committed to providing an inclusive, accessible, and equitable recruitment process. Accommodations are available throughout every stage of the hiring process for candidates who require them. If you need accommodation, please let us know when you apply, and we will work with you to support your needs.

Role Details

Location: Hybrid Vancouver or remote, Western time zones (PT/MT)

Employment Type: Full-time

Compensation: Commensurate with experience