Counsel (Senior Counsel considered based on experience)

LYDIAN ENERGY; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 180,000 - 300,000; Full time

Job summary

Lydian Energy is seeking a Senior Counsel to lead legal work for solar and battery energy storage projects in North America. You will own M&A, project development, procurement, construction, project finance, and operational contracts, interfacing with internal teams and external counsel to close complex transactions.

Ideal candidates have 7–9 years of post-admission experience in renewables, deep contract fundamentals, and strong negotiation skills, with the ability to translate complex concepts

Qualifications

• 7–9 years of post‑admission experience in the renewable energy sector (solar or storage)
• Strong negotiation and advocacy skills with a deep understanding of contract fundamentals
• Commercially aware with intellectual curiosity and ability to explain complex concepts to non‑legal audiences

Responsibilities

• Lead M&A negotiation and due diligence
• Support development from acquisition through financial close
• Oversee procurement, EPC/ construction contracts, and project financing
• Manage operational-period contracts and asset-management agreements
• Drive project monetization and equity/debt transactions

Skills

Commercial mindset

Negotiation

Strategic thinking

Communication

Risk management

Job description

About Lydian Energy

Lydian is an established energy development company specializing in the development and construction of utility-scale solar and battery energy storage system (BESS) projects in North America. Lydian owns 14 assets in development, construction or under operation, consisting of both solar and storage, which reached or are expected to reach FNTP from 2024-2028.

Lydian is backed by Excelsior Energy Capital ("EEC"), a leading private equity fund manager with more than $1.5B in assets under management, that is exclusively focused on north American middle market renewables investing. Lydian’s relationship with EEC provides several critical advantages, including access to (i) a specialized team of value-add investor-operators with decades of renewables development, construction, and transaction experience and (ii) committed discretionary equity capital, strong relationships with debt and tax equity investors, and deep experience structuring tax equity and project financings.

Lydian has built a team of seasoned, passionate energy infrastructure professionals with deep expertise in project development, construction, financing, and M&A. This is an opportunity to join a fully capitalized development platform that is running at full capacity, but still at an early-enough stage for you to have a real impact on company culture and commercial outcomes.

The Role

You will be the lead lawyer for one or more portfolios of solar and/or BESS projects from the moment those projects enter the Lydian pipeline until those projects exit, paired with project team(s) comprised of highly-skilled leads from each of the development, construction and capital markets groups. Each project team is supported by a group of internal subject-matter experts (policy/regulatory, engineering, offtake origination, procurement, asset management, accounting and more), and a group of external consultants managed by the core project team (including local and national counsel, which you will manage).

For each of your projects, you will therefore be responsible for – you will “own”:

1. M&A - negotiation and diligence of the project acquisition, including:
   1. LOI drafting/negotiation
   2. Sourcing/engagement of local/specialist counsel
   3. Managing local and national counsel through the process, to a budget that you help determine
   4. MIPA/APA negotiation
   5. Oversight of all legal due diligence (mostly performed by outside counsel, but we expect you to get in the weeds and understand the issues – you’ll be the one answering questions at Investment Committee)
2. Development – support the development team from acquisition close until financial close, including:
   1. Revenue contract negotiation
   2. Material pre-operational regulatory filings
   3. Real estate/entitlement cleanup
3. Procurement – support the procurement team to execute POs for key equipment (typically based on extant MSAs that do not require heavy lift from legal to contract under)
4. Construction – support the execution team (we are our own EPC) to execute the prime engineering, procurement and construction agreement as well as key construction sub-contracts (typically based on templates and extant relationships)
5. Project Finance – lead the negotiation and execution of some/all of the following:
   1. Tax credit insurance
   2. Tax credit sale documentation
   3. Construction debt
   4. Permanent debt
   5. Traditional tax equity or preferred equity structures
6. Operational Period – support the asset management team to execute:
   1. Asset management agreements (we are our own AM provider)
   2. O&M agreements with repeat-play third-party providers
   3. Other key operational-period contracts
   4. Key regulatory filings/submissions (NERC, MBR, etc.)
7. Project Monetization – lead the negotiation and execution of some/all of the following:
   1. LOI drafting/negotiation
   2. MIPA negotiation
   3. Minority/majority equity sale documentation
   4. Back-leverage/portfolio/Holdco debt

In each case, Lydian expects you to act as the intermediary between internal commercial counterparts and outside legal, between external counterparts and internal leads, and among outside counsel. External counsel will do the heavy-lift drafting, especially for significant transactions under your purview, but you will be responsible for the outcome of their work and for all of the myriad day-to-day legal activities in support of each of your projects that do not rise to the level of engaging outside counsel.

This role reports to the General Counsel.

Who Will Excel in This Role

Put simply: Lydian wants someone who “wants the ball” in this role. Lydian wants someone with a commercial head on their shoulders who will help drive commercial activity and transaction closings, not someone who waits to be asked for “legal’s view”. If you want a seat at the table and responsibility, quickly, this job is for you. If you want to work with other skilled, motivated industry experts who will push you to grow and progress in your career, this job is for you. If you want to be on the cutting edge of energy development and finance in a highly complicated time for the industry, this job is for you.

Lydian wants someone who can come in and take on work immediately with limited oversight, but significant support. That means you need to have successfully performed and executed on much/most of the legal work listed above before you arrive. The right candidate should expect to learn a lot and significantly grow their career while here, but this is not the right time for the company or the role for you to learn on the job. You will have a highly skilled/experienced internal legal team, and a significant specialist/heavy-lift external team to support you, but no one to hold your hand.

Finally: Lydian needs someone with a high level of intellectual curiosity in this role, who is comfortable asking dumb questions in a crowded room if they aren’t sure of the answer. This industry is complex, this company is complex, and it doesn’t work for Lydian employees to just stare at what is on their desks. We need people who want to understand how the other business functions operate, what our counterparties care about, what drives our investors and lenders, what causes deals or projects to succeed or fail.

Qualifications

• 7-9 years (for Senior Counsel) or 5-6 years (for Counsel) of post admission experience working within the renewable industry coming from a law firm with an energy practice group and/or solar or energy storage development company;
• Deep expertise in most (for Senior Counsel) or many (for Counsel) of the key workstreams listed above;
• Sound understanding of the areas above which are not your “subject matter expertise” areas;
• Seasoned transactional lawyer and advocate with a deep understanding of contract fundamentals;
• Sound commercial awareness and desire to understand what drives commercial decisionmaking;
• Intellectual curiosity and interest in the energy industry;
• Comfortable with discomfort and ability to execute and protect the company in challenging circumstances (not every contract or deal is perfect, but we have to do deals to make money);
• Skilled at identifying and advising on risk mitigation strategies in energy projects;
• Robust awareness (albeit not expertise) of regulatory elements of US power markets (e.g. FERC, NERC, etc.);
• Experience in an in-house legal department in a company or organization is a significant plus;
• Persuasive and effective communicator and negotiator with internal and external business clients and, in particular, one who seamlessly translates complex concepts into compelling advocacy for non‑legal audiences.

Equal Employment Opportunity

We are committed to equal-employment principles and are dedicated to diversity and the strength it brings to the workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth or medical condition related to pregnancy or childbirth), gender identity or expression, religion, physical or mental disability, medical condition, legally protected genetic information, marital status, veteran status, military status, sexual orientation or any other protected category or class that may be applicable.