Director of Development and Strategy - BESS

Tapio; United States; On-site; USD 200,000 - 320,000; Full time

Job summary

Tapio seeks a Director or Senior Director of Energy Storage Development & Strategy to build and lead its standalone storage development effort. This is not a traditional solar development role; standalone BESS requires distinct market selection, commercial strategy, interconnection, site origination, and revenue underwriting.

The successful candidate will establish a clear investment and development thesis, determine markets, identify interconnection points, originate projects, and advance top

Qualifications

• Understanding how storage development differs from traditional solar/wind.
• Deep knowledge of power markets, interconnection, and commercial structures.
• Experience originating projects from market fundamentals.
• Strong utility/ISO/RTO or commercial counterparties relationships.
• Experience taking BESS projects through advanced development.
• Familiarity with U.S. power markets across ISOs/RTOs.
• Ability to defend a market thesis using quantitative and qualitative analysis.
• Entrepreneurial and able to operate with limited team.

Responsibilities

• Develop and own the company’s utility-scale energy storage development strategy.
• Determine priority markets based on congestion, capacity needs, and market structures.
• Originate standalone battery storage projects.
• Build a repeatable framework for POIs and interconnection opportunities.
• Lead early-stage commercial strategy.
• Develop relationships with utilities and market participants.
• Evaluate potential revenue structures including tolls and contracts.
• Work with interconnection team to assess queue position and project viability.
• Partner with finance and M&A to develop project economics.
• Evaluate acquisitions in storage or broader portfolios.
• Lead diligence on storage opportunities in the M&A pipeline.
• Establish development processes and market-screening criteria.
• Provide leadership on where storage markets are heading.
• Help build and potentially lead a broader storage development organization.

Skills

Storage development

Power markets

Interconnection

Commercial structures

Market thesis

Project origination

Job description

Job Titles: Director, Energy Storage Development | Senior Director, Energy Storage | Head of Storage Strategy | Director, BESS Development

Compensation: Base + Bonus + Equity

The Company

Our client is a private equity-backed renewable energy independent power producer developing and owning utility-scale clean energy projects across the United States.

The business has an established utility-scale solar development platform, a substantial interconnection pipeline, and institutional capital available to support both greenfield development and acquisitions.

Energy storage is expected to become a meaningful part of the company's future portfolio, and leadership is looking for an experienced storage professional to define where and how the organization should compete.

The Role

The company is seeking a Director or Senior Director of Energy Storage Development & Strategy to build and lead its standalone storage development effort.

This is not a traditional solar development position with storage added to the title.

The successful candidate will understand that standalone BESS development requires a fundamentally different approach to market selection, commercial strategy, utility engagement, interconnection, site origination, and revenue underwriting.

The mandate is to establish a clear investment and development thesis for storage: determine the markets in which the company should participate, identify the right points of interconnection and commercial opportunities, originate projects, and move the most attractive opportunities toward investment and execution.

The individual will initially operate as a highly hands‑on leader, supported by existing development, interconnection, finance, and M&A resources.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and own the company's utility-scale energy storage development strategy
• Determine priority markets based on congestion, capacity needs, ancillary services, utility procurement activity, interconnection dynamics, and evolving market structures
• Originate standalone battery storage projects from concept through advanced development
• Build a repeatable framework for identifying attractive POIs, substations, utility territories, and commercial opportunities
• Lead early-stage commercial strategy rather than relying on land availability as the primary driver of project origination
• Develop relationships with utilities, load-serving entities, commercial counterparties, consultants, and other market participants
• Evaluate potential revenue structures including tolling arrangements, capacity contracts, utility procurements, and merchant or partially contracted strategies
• Work closely with the interconnection team to evaluate queue position, deliverability, upgrade exposure, and project viability
• Partner with finance and investment teams to develop project economics and support investment decisions
• Evaluate acquisition opportunities involving standalone storage or broader renewable portfolios
• Lead diligence on storage development opportunities presented through the company's M&A pipeline
• Establish development processes, market-screening criteria, and portfolio priorities as the storage platform scales
• Provide leadership with a clear point of view on where storage markets are heading and where the company should deploy capital
• Over time, help build and potentially lead a broader storage development organization

Candidate Profile

The strongest candidates will bring:

• A demonstrated understanding of how storage development differs from traditional solar or wind development
• Deep knowledge of power markets, storage economics, interconnection, and commercial structures
• Experience originating projects based on market fundamentals and commercial opportunity, not simply site control
• Strong utility, ISO/RTO, developer, consultant, or commercial counterparty relationships
• Experience taking BESS projects from market thesis and origination through advanced development
• Familiarity with major organized U.S. power markets; experience across multiple ISOs/RTOs is particularly valuable
• Ability to independently form and defend a market thesis using both quantitative and qualitative analysis
• Experience evaluating storage acquisitions or conducting development diligence is a plus
• Strong commercial instincts paired with practical development execution capabilities
• Comfort operating in an entrepreneurial environment without a large dedicated team from day one

This position offers the opportunity to build a storage platform rather than inherit one. For the right candidate, the role also provides a path toward broader development leadership as the company's operating portfolio and development organization expand.