Senior Manager, Integrated DERs

Job Summary

The Senior Manager will serve as a senior subject matter expert (SPM) and program lead for integrated distributed energy resource (DER) initiatives, with particular emphasis on solar plus storage, resilience, customer economics, and grid value. The role requires technical, policy, and market depth to guide strategy, frame key questions, synthesize input from internal and external experts, and translate complex issues into practical program decisions.

For 25+ years, CSE has designed, implemented and administered governmental and utility energy incentive programs such as the California Self-Generation Incentive Program, the Solar on Multifamily Affordable Housing program, central California Equitable Building Decarbonization, and multiple electric vehicle and EVSE incentive programs across the United States. These programs are typically distinct, stand-alone incentive offerings. 

CSE is developing this position to help identify, design, and implement programs that coordinate previously siloed DERs into more valuable demand resources for customers, communities, utilities, and the grid. The position will turn emerging opportunities into clear recommendations, written materials, program designs, proposals, and implementation plans by working across program, policy, research, finance, data, legal, equity, business-development, and technical partners. Success requires strategic judgment and analytical approach, strong written and oral communication skills, team leadership, partner management, and the ability to help shape new opportunities into fundable, implementable projects. This position will focus more on playing a SME role, assessing opportunities within and across CSE DER programs and supporting research, analysis, program design and developing business opportunities. The role of program manager will likely be secondary to the role of SME. It is expected that this will change as new program management opportunities emerge.   

Essential Functions and Responsibilities:

Strategic Program Leadership and Integrated DER Expertise

• Help identify and shape new business opportunities by monitoring funding, policy, utility, regulatory, technology, customer, and market developments and contributing to viable concepts, proposals, scopes, partnerships, and implementation approaches.

• Develop clear written products, including research summaries, policy and technical briefs, strategy memos, proposal content, implementation plans, client recommendations, and executive presentations. Contribute to, and in some cases lead, solar and storage market research and policy analysis in collaboration with research team.

• Evaluate technology options, policy and regulatory conditions, customer economics, incentive structures, market trends, implementation risks, and organizational tradeoffs, using specialist input where deeper technical or analytical review is required.

• Lead integrated DER and solar plus storage programs from strategy and planning through design, launch, delivery, reporting, improvement, and closeout, coordinating with technical, policy, finance, data, and implementation specialists as needed.

• Convert ambiguous concepts into actionable program designs, workplans, decision points, accountabilities, timelines, budgets, compliance requirements, and measurable outcomes.

• Maintain ownership for program strategy, schedule, budget, quality, compliance, customer experience, subcontractor performance, and overall project results.

Client, Stakeholder, Project Design, and Partner Management

• Serve as a senior day-to-day program lead with clients, funders, utilities, agencies, community partners, contractors, technology providers, and other stakeholders, bringing in additional expertise when deeper technical review is needed.

• Design and manage partner roles, customer journeys, technical requirements, schedules, budgets, milestones, data flows, reporting expectations, quality standards, and performance measures.

• Prepare executive-level updates, decision memos, risk summaries, policy and market insights, research findings, forecasts, and recommendations with clear owners, decisions, and next steps.

• Manage structured follow-through across meetings, commitments, approvals, risks, open questions, corrective actions, and stakeholder communications.

• Coordinate legal, finance, procurement, accounting, policy, research, data, marketing, equity, platforms, business development, project management, subcontractor, community, and technology partners so delivery functions as an integrated system.

• Represent CSE externally in discussions where program leadership, policy awareness, market understanding, and partnership development are needed to shape future program work.

Team Leadership, Program Controls, and Outcomes

• Use data, research, operational evidence, policy analysis, market intelligence, customer economics, partner performance, and stakeholder feedback to diagnose gaps, improve delivery, strengthen outcomes, and inform future opportunities.

• Track outcomes such as customer acquisition, eligibility and enrollment, technical assessments, design quality, installation throughput, interconnection progress, participant experience, greenhouse-gas and resilience benefits, equitable community impact, and new business potential.

• Build a culture of ownership, proactive communication, strategic judgment, business awareness, and reliable execution.

• Maintain disciplined controls for schedules, budgets, forecasts, deliverables, dependencies, risks, decisions, action items, change control, documentation, dashboards, and long-running communications.

• Ensure program guidelines, contracts, funding-source rules, incentive requirements, utility and interconnection processes, reporting obligations, payment and invoicing requirements, compliance obligations, and document-retention requirements are understood and followed.

• Manage budget performance, forecasting, resource alignment, procurement coordination, invoicing, expense reporting, labor tracking, subcontractor invoices, and reimbursement requirements in partnership with finance, accounting, legal, and leadership.

• Lead, coach, and develop a core team of managers and staff with clear roles, decision rights, expectations, development goals, and accountability for results.

QUALIFICATIONS

Essential Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Subject matter expertise regarding the integration of solar and storage as the initial focus area. General expertise around DER integration broadly, as well as ancillary components: resilience, virtual power plants (VPP), incentive structures/customer economics/rate design, building decarbonization, residential retrofits, income-qualified programs, delivered through/with public agencies, utilities, subcontractors, community partners, and cross-functional teams. “Subject matter expertise” assumes practical, applied experience with system design/economics, interconnection considerations, rate structures, storage use cases and VPP/grid services.

• Strong ability to think strategically and critically, make sound decisions with incomplete information, anticipate technical, policy, economic, equity, operational, and commercial impacts, and convert ambiguity into executable plans.

• Strong research, writing, and verbal communication skills, including the ability to synthesize complex technology, policy, market, and economic information for executives, clients, funders, proposal reviewers, partners, and operational teams.

• Demonstrated success leading complex clean energy, distributed energy, solar plus storage, utility, public-sector, or customer-facing programs and teams with budgets, contractual requirements, concurrent workstreams, and external partners or subcontractors.

• Strong understanding of program management design, implementation, scheduling, budgeting, forecasting, procurement, contract administration, risk management, quality oversight, stakeholder coordination, proposal support, and executive reporting.

• Proven ability to build accountability systems, manage commitments, document decisions, sustain follow-through, use project-management and reporting systems, and contribute to new business development.

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in business, public administration, energy, environmental studies, economics, public policy, engineering, project management, or a related field; equivalent directly relevant experience may be considered. Advanced degree or specialized training in energy policy, distributed energy resources, solar plus storage, economics, engineering, or business development is preferred.

Experience:

• At least eight years of progressively responsible program, project, operations, implementation, policy, consulting, business-development, or client-management experience in clean energy, distributed energy resources, solar plus storage, utilities, public-sector programs, or related fields, including leadership of complex, multi-stakeholder initiatives. You must be able to hit the ground running, immediately serving as a senior internal subject matter resource, helping shape current programs and new opportunities from Day One.

• At least three years of people-management, project-team leadership, partner-management, or cross-functional delivery leadership experience, including management of professional staff, consultants, contractors, or implementation partners.

• Experience developing written technical, policy, proposal, or strategy products that influenced decisions, supported funding or business development, or guided implementation.