Director, Field Operations and Installer Network

Reporting to: Justin Bliffen, Chief Operating Officer

Location: Hybrid / Remote - Ideally Colorado home state, Multi-state travel required to CT, MA, ME, and CO initially; additional markets as the program expands

Employment: Full-time, Exempt

Start Target: As soon as possible; no later than April 30, 2026 

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About Emporia

Mission and Vision

Emporia was founded in 2018 with a clear purpose to revolutionize home energy, generate tangible customer savings, and accelerate the transition to a lower carbon future. We are striving to become the world's leading home energy management platform and build the largest virtual power plant.

Values:

• Customers First: We deliver exceptional service with empathy and responsiveness, building lasting trust in every interaction.
• Own the Outcome: We think like owners, taking responsibility for results and holding ourselves and each other accountable.
• Win Together: We succeed together through honesty, humility and humanity.
• Grit Gets it Done: We work hard, stay passionate, and persevere through challenges.
• Better Every Day: We challenge the status quo, take smart risks and aim to improve 1% every day.

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About the Role

We are standing up a high-growth residential energy and finance program inside Emporia, with a target of scaling to 300+ battery installations per month. Field Operations is the execution engine that makes this happen, and this is a key role that helps build it. The company is led by successful, proven entrepreneurs and operators who have rapidly scaled energy businesses in the past.

This is a high-impact, ground-floor operational leadership role in a program building from zero. You will be responsible for the end-to-end execution of Emporia’s battery installation program — developing the installer partner network, supporting the permitting and interconnection process, building the installation playbook, and delivering the quality field experience that defines Emporia’s brand in the home.

At launch, the scope is focused on Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, and Colorado, with a June 2026 target of approximately 50 installations. The growth expectation from there is aggressive — reaching 200 installs per month within four to six months. This role grows with that trajectory. We are looking for someone who can execute with urgency at a small scale today and demonstrate the operational judgment and leadership to take on a larger command as the program proves itself. The COO owns the program strategy and the overall deployment machine; this role owns the field execution layer that makes it run.

You will work directly with the COO on all key decisions, operating as the primary field-facing representative of Emporia’s installation program. As volume and geography expand, this role will likely build and deploy small regional teams of W-2 Emporia Field Project Managers — but in the near term, the priority is getting the right installer partners in place, the playbook built, and the first installations done right. You will have exposure to and occasionally work closely with other key business leaders including the CEO.

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Key Responsibilities

Installer Partner Network Development

• Recruit, evaluate, and onboard regional third-party electrical contractors as Emporia’s installer partners across the four launch markets
• Help or lead the design, negotiation and execution of contracts with installer partners, governing volume commitments, critical responsibilities, quality standards, payment terms, and liability provisions
• Validate that the installer economics work for both parties: confirm that partner pricing supports Emporia’s sub-$400/kWh total installed cost target while providing fair economics and exciting upside for the contractor
• Build and manage a performance tracking and job dispatch system, assigning installations to the installer network based on capacity, quality scores, and geography
• Manage ongoing commercial relationships with installer partners: performance conversations, escalations, renegotiations, and when necessary, terminations

Ideal Installer Partner Profile

Not every electrician is the right fit. The strongest installer partners will bring more than a license and a truck. When evaluating and recruiting partners, prioritize candidates who demonstrate several of the following characteristics:

• Permitting and AHJ fluency: partners who have navigated local building departments, fire marshals, and municipal inspections for residential energy systems and are not intimidated by the process. In states like Connecticut with elevated fire code complexity, this is a material differentiator.
• Utility interconnection experience: contractors who have submitted DER or solar interconnection applications, understand utility processing timelines, and have working relationships with utility DER teams in their territory
• Existing customer and sales relationships: partners who have been doing residential solar, generator installation, or EV charging — and who bring an existing book of homeowner relationships, referral networks, or local brand recognition. Partners with their own distribution channels can accelerate Emporia’s market reach.
• Business maturity: contractors with the organizational capacity to handle growing job volume, issue invoices, maintain insurance, and participate in a documented quality and payment process
• Complementary service lines: ideally, partners who see the Emporia battery program as additive to an existing energy services business — not their entire revenue base — which creates better alignment and resilience

Permitting, Interconnection & Program Enrollment Support

• Work alongside Emporia’s Permitting & Interconnection Manager to ensure that installer partner responsibilities are clearly defined for each market: who pulls the permits, who submits interconnection applications, and who manages AHJ relationships
• Ensure installer partners are equipped with the documentation, single-line diagram templates, and process knowledge they need to execute permitting efficiently in their jurisdiction
• Support the enrollment of each completed installation into the relevant state and utility VPP or demand response programs as a prerequisite to the system generating grid services revenue
• Flag permitting or interconnection risks that are emerging from the installer partner network before they become deployment blockers

Field Project Manager Team (Near-Term Build)

• As installation volume grows, this role will likely recruit and deploy a small number of regional W-2 Emporia Field Project Managers — on-site Emporia employees who greet customers, supervise third-party crews, capture TPO agreement signatures, commission systems to the Emporia cloud, and deliver the white-glove customer experience
• Define the Field PM role clearly: the electrician handles the electrical panel; the Field PM handles everything the customer sees and everything the Emporia platform needs to go live
• Build onboarding and training for Field PMs as that team is assembled

Installation Playbook & Quality Standards

• Develop Emporia’s national installation playbook: site assessment criteria, battery placement and mounting standards, electrical connection protocols, safety requirements, and system commissioning procedures
• Create market-specific adaptations for CT, MA, ME, and CO — reflecting local fire codes, AHJ requirements, and utility program enrollment workflows — in coordination with the Permitting & Interconnection Manager
• Define quality inspection standards that Field PMs apply on every install and that are used to audit and score installer partner performance
• Help build all the necessary components of battery install, ie: laborer delivery and platform placement
• Build the installer training and certification program to be delivered before each market launch
• Develop the warranty and defect reporting process for Emporia-owned equipment installed in customer homes

Deployment Execution

• Own deployment readiness gate assessments: confirming that equipment certification, utility interconnection, installer agreements, and VPP program enrollment are all in place before each market launch
• Drive first installations in CT, MA, ME, and CO beginning June 1, 2026, and own the ramp to 200+ installs per month within four to six month
• Build the scheduling, dispatch, and QA photo audit infrastructure to support a growing installation program without proportional headcount growth

AI-Native Operations Expectations

Emporia is transitioning to an AI-engineer model. This role is expected to build and supervise AI-assisted agent workflows — not just execute tasks.

• Experienced and/or willing to adapt AI skills in everyday workflow
• Build AI-assisted workflows for installer candidate research, vetting, and scorecard generation across target markets
• Use AI tooling to draft playbook content, training materials, market-specific adaptations, and contract templates — then own the review and finalization
• Implement agent-assisted job dispatch and quality monitoring that allows one person to manage volume that would traditionally require two or three operations coordinators
• Design the workflows you build today to scale with AI assistance, so the operational model does not require proportional headcount growth as installation volume increases

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Required Skills & Experience

• 5–10 years in residential distributed energy — solar, battery storage, or EV charging — with hands-on experience building or managing subcontractor installer networks, contractor relationships, or field operations
• Direct experience negotiating labor or service contracts with independent electrical contractors, including pricing, scope, and quality accountability
• Working knowledge of the residential battery or solar installation process: panel configurations, interconnection types, commissioning, and safety protocols
• Operational discipline: you can manage multiple open workstreams, meet hard deadlines, and surface risks before they become crises
• Strong commercial instincts with an understanding of installer economics and installed-cost drivers in home energy storage
• Genuine comfort with AI productivity tools and a track record of adopting technology to extend your individual capacity

Strongly Preferred

• New England market experience — ideally Connecticut — including familiarity with state fire codes, AHJ permitting processes, and utility interconnection in the region
• Existing relationships with regional electrical contractors, solar installers, or EV charging contractors who could become Emporia installer partners
• Experience with residential battery storage product installation: EG4, Tesla Powerwall, Enphase, SunPower, or comparable
• Familiarity with VPP, demand response, or utility DER program enrollment workflows
• Experience working alongside or coordinating with a permitting and interconnection function — understanding where the electrical contractor’s responsibility ends and the regulatory process begins
• Experience building small field teams: hiring, training, deploying, and managing W-2 employees in a field operations context

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What We Offer

💰 Compensation:  The expected base salary range is $140,000 - $190,000, plus stock options. The offered salary will depend on numerous factors, including but not limited to work experience, skills, location and internal equity considerations. The base salary does not include benefits or other incentives.

🏥 Benefits: medical/dental/vision insurance, 401(k), employee stock option program, paid holidays plus unlimited PTO, discounts on Emporia products and partner offerings.

📈 Career Growth: Be part of a fast-growing company at the forefront of home energy innovation.

Emporia Energy is an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, color, ancestry, national origin, sex, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, religion, age, disability, gender identity, results of genetic testing, service in the military, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local laws. We will make reasonable accommodations for any qualified applicant with a disability, provided that the individual is otherwise qualified to safely perform the essential functions of the job with or without accommodation and that the accommodation would not impose an undue hardship on the operation of our business. Please let us know if you believe you require reasonable accommodation, or if you would like assistance to complete an application or to participate in an interview at the company.

New employees will be required to successfully complete a background check.

Any communication to applicants relating to the Emporia Energy hiring process will only come from email addresses with the domains emporiaenergy.com or no-reply@us.greenhouse-mail.io. If in the course of the application or hiring process with Emporia Energy you are contacted through another domain, are requested to provide banking or other sensitive information, or you note any other suspicious activity, please contact cybersecurity@emporiaenergy.com.