Business Development Executive

CEC ENERGY; Houston (TX); On-site; USD 130,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

CEC Energy in Houston seeks a senior business development professional to originate capital projects and maintenance work across the Texas Gulf Coast. You will build relationships with industrial accounts to secure multi-year opportunities and guide them from qualification through award.

This hunting role emphasizes pipeline development, strategic account management, and proactive engagement before solicitations.

Qualifications

• Seven or more years of business development, sales or account management in industrial construction.
• Established relationships in Gulf Coast industrial accounts.
• Proven record of originating new accounts rather than managing existing ones.
• Working understanding of electrical and instrumentation scope to qualify opportunities.
• Comfort with CRM discipline and forecasting reviewed by management.
• Bachelor's degree preferred; equivalent industry experience considered.
• Valid driver's license and ability to meet site access and safety requirements.

Responsibilities

• Originate opportunities and build a qualified pipeline across the territory.
• Develop and maintain customer relationships at decision-making levels.
• Position CEC ahead of solicitation to influence scope development.
• Support pricing strategy, proposals and negotiations through award.
• Track market intelligence and competitor activity to guide planning.
• Maintain accurate CRM records and participate in reviews with leadership.

Skills

Business Development

Sales

Account Management

CRM & Forecasting

Gulf Coast Relationships

Driver's License

Education

Bachelor's degree preferred

Tools

CRM software

Job description

Reports To

Executive Vice President, Commercial

Location

Houston Regional Headquarters, 15995 North Barkers Landing Road, Houston, TX

Territory

Texas Gulf Coast, including the Houston ship channel, the energy corridor and the coastal plants

Classification

Exempt

Travel

Up to 50%, predominantly day travel within the territory

Position Summary

This position originates and closes both capital project and maintenance work for CEC across the Texas Gulf Coast. It is accountable for building a qualified pipeline in the industrial accounts that make up the company's base load of business, and for holding the customer relationships that cause CEC to be invited early rather than at bid list assembly.

The role is a hunting role. It exists to decide what shows up rather than to respond to what does, and it is measured on originated opportunity, conversion and the durability of the accounts it opens. It carries no direct reports and works closely with estimating, project delivery and commercial administration to convert opportunity into contract.

Target Market

The work this position sells spans both capital projects and ongoing maintenance, sold into the same industrial accounts.

• Capital electrical and instrumentation construction, including plant expansions, unit additions and electrical infrastructure work.
• Maintenance, outage and turnaround scopes, including segmented and annuity work.
• Time and material and unit rate delivery where obtainable, and lump sum where it fits CEC's risk profile.
• Refining, petrochemical, midstream, terminals and industrial manufacturing accounts along the coast.

Principal Accountabilities

Origination and Pipeline Development

• Identify and develop new industrial accounts across the territory, with priority on customers positioned to award repeat and multi-year work.
• Originate opportunities directly through account development rather than through inbound invitation, and build a qualified pipeline sufficient to support the assigned revenue target.
• Expand scope within existing accounts, including moving from single awards into maintenance agreements, alliances and master service arrangements.

Customer Relationships

• Build and hold relationships at the levels that control award, including maintenance and reliability leadership, plant engineering, procurement and contract administration.
• Position CEC ahead of solicitation so the company is engaged during scope development rather than at bid list assembly.
• Maintain presence on active jobs and with operating crews so that performance on current work converts into the next award.

Pursuit Strategy and Bid Support

• Qualify opportunities against CEC's capability, capacity and risk profile, and make the bid and no-bid recommendation.
• Hand qualified pursuits to estimating with the scope definition, schedule expectation and commercial terms required to price the work.
• Support pricing strategy, proposal positioning and negotiation through award and turnover to project delivery.

Qualification and Commercial Agreements

• Originate prequalification and vendor registration with target accounts, and work with commercial administration to keep CEC in good standing.
• Support negotiation of master service agreements, rate schedules and terms, working with commercial administration and executive management on risk positions.

Market Intelligence

• Track capital plans, turnaround schedules, competitor activity and pricing conditions across the territory, and bring that intelligence into planning and forecasting.
• Recommend where CEC should concentrate and where it should decline, based on account quality rather than opportunity count.

Pipeline Discipline and Reporting

• Own the accuracy of all assigned records in the CRM, including stage, value, dates and the scoring inputs behind weighted pipeline.
• Participate in weekly business development and estimating reviews and in periodic pipeline reviews with executive management.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Seven or more years of business development, sales or account management in industrial construction, electrical and instrumentation, industrial services or a closely related field.
• Established relationships in Gulf Coast industrial accounts, and working knowledge of how maintenance and capital work is scoped, bid and awarded in those facilities.
• Demonstrated record of originating new accounts rather than managing assigned ones.
• Working understanding of electrical and instrumentation scope sufficient to qualify opportunity and communicate credibly with plant technical staff.
• Comfort with CRM discipline and with forecasting that will be reviewed by executive management.
• Bachelor's degree preferred. Equivalent industry experience will be considered in place of a degree.
• Valid driver's license and the ability to meet customer site access, safety and background requirements.

Working Conditions

Office and field environment. Regular travel within the territory, including plant and jobsite visits requiring personal protective equipment and compliance with customer safety programs. Occasional evening and weekend activity in support of customer events, turnarounds and proposal deadlines.

CEC Energy provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.