Commercialization Lead

Standard Thermal; Woodinville (WA); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Benefits

Job summary

Standard Thermal is building and deploying the world’s lowest-cost thermal energy storage technology, using earth as a thermal battery. This role sits at the intersection of customers, commercial strategy, and engineering, guiding deployment in early markets and partnerships.

You will identify markets, develop a customer pipeline, and refine models and terms to move projects from engagement to deployment, while partnering closely with engineering to align product decisions with customer needs.

Qualifications

• Experience developing commercialization strategy for complex technology, energy, or hardware businesses.
• Able to engage credibly with customers, partners, and investors; strong verbal and written communication.
• Strong commercial judgement to distinguish scalable opportunities from distractions.
• Ability to balance long-term strategy with immediate customer project progress.
• Willingness to travel domestically and internationally.
• Experience in industrial energy, thermal systems, or related sectors is valuable but not required.

Responsibilities

• Develop commercialization strategy: identify and prioritize markets, geographies, customer segments, sequencing, and scale-up strategy.
• Build customer pipeline: identify, develop, and advance relationships with industrial customers and strategic partners.
• Develop and refine commercial models: evaluate ownership, financing pathways, and partnership structures for different segments.
• Advance projects: move engagements to aligned commercial terms and deployment planning.
• Build the ecosystem: develop relationships with partners, EPCs, equipment suppliers, utilities, financiers.
• Represent the voice of the customer to define requirements for product decisions.
• Partner with engineering: ensure market requirements inform engineering tradeoffs.
• Understand the economics: use techno-economic models to explain project economics to stakeholders.

Skills

Commercial strategy

Technical fluency

Commercial judgement

Strategic balance

Communication skills

Travel willingness

Ownership

Job description

Standard Thermal is developing and deploying the world’s lowest-cost thermal energy storage technology, using earth as a thermal battery. We deliver a year-round steady supply of thermal energy to industrial consumers by buffering solar PV energy through a large thermal battery. To do this, we are building and field-testing thermal systems that combine mechanical hardware, heat transfer, electrical power, instrumentation, controls, and standard heavy construction methods.

You will be a load-bearing member of a small, fast-moving team, with substantial influence over how Standard Thermal advances technology and commercial deployment in parallel. This role operates at the intersection of customers, commercial strategy, and engineering. You will help focus the company on the highest-leverage markets, customers, deployment pathways, and partnerships.

This is not a conventional business development role. We are looking for someone who can combine commercial judgement, technical curiosity, and strategic thinking to help turn a broadly applicable technology into a large-scale business.

What you will do

• Develop commercialization strategy: Identify and prioritize markets, geographies, customer segments, sequencing, and scale-up strategy that create the strongest path to large-scale adoption.
• Build customer pipeline: Identify, develop, and advance relationships with industrial customers and strategic partners.
• Develop and refine commercial models: Evaluate alternative business models, ownership models, financing pathways, and partnership structures for different customer segments and stages of deployment.
• Advance projects: Work with customers, vendors, and internal team to move projects from initial engagement to aligned commercial terms and to deployment planning.
• Build the ecosystem: Develop relationships with relevant industrial partners, project developers, EPCs, equipment suppliers, energy companies, utilities, financiers, and other organizations that can accelerate deployment.
• Represent the voice of the customer: Develop a deep understanding of customer use cases, economics, site constraints, and procurement processes to define requirements and priorities that inform product decisions.
• Partner deeply with engineering: Work directly with the technical team to understand system capabilities and tradeoffs, communicate market requirements, and ensure that engineering decisions are informed by customer use cases.
• Understand the economics: Leverage techno-economic models to understand project economics and cost sensitivities from first principles, and accurately communicate the relevant economics to customers and partners.

What we are looking for

• Demonstrated ability to develop and execute commercialization strategy for complex technology, energy, infrastructure, or other hardware businesses.
• Technical fluency. Able to develop a working understanding of engineering tradeoffs, energy flows, project economics, and technical constraints to engage credibly with customers, partners, and investors.
• Strong commercial judgement. Able to distinguish genuine scalable opportunities from distractions.
• Strategic/tactical balance. Equally comfortable developing a multi-year, multi-region commercialization strategy and advancing an immediate customer project.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills; able to communicate effectively with customers, partners, investors, and technical teams.
• Low ego, high ownership. Comfortable rapidly changing paths when evidence indicates, and asking for help or input when needed.
• Willingness to travel as needed to customer, partner, and project sites domestically and internationally.

Experience in industrial energy, thermal systems, industrial construction, project development, or related sectors is valuable but not required. We care more about a demonstrated track record of solving difficult commercial problems than about a particular career path.

Details: Competitive salary, equity, and benefits.