Growth Lead

The world needs 3 TW of new solar capacity every year. The legacy approach of developing and building infrastructure is mathematically incapable of catching up.

Planted is the autonomous power deployment company. We transform power plants from bespoke construction projects into manufactured products. By integrating planning software, high-density arrays, energy storage, and field robots, we deliver more power where it's needed most.

The physics are solved; what remains is relentless execution. Led by repeat founders and an engineering core from SpaceX and Tesla, we are backed by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Piva Capital, Google, Gigascale Capital, Khosla Ventures, and RA Capital Management.

We’re scaling fast and looking for operators and engineers who want to own real pieces of the system. You don't need a traditional energy background; we care whether you can finish hard things. Come build with us.

About The Role

We are hiring a Growth Lead to build Planted's business in Australia. You will be our first person in the market representing the company.

Australian owners already buy high-density solar. What no one has put in front of them is a high-density system that robots install, at our cost and schedule. Labour is expensive and scarce on regional sites, structural steel is expensive, and modules are a smaller share of installed cost than in the US, all of which reward putting more panels on less steel with fewer hours in the field. Mining and off-grid load in the west and the data centre buildout in the east both want power faster than conventional delivery can produce it.

We are not the EPC in Australia, and that defines the job. We supply the array layout and plant-level design support, the structural balance of system, the field robots, and the training that makes deployment more productive. The EPC designs and procures the electrical scope, builds the project, and holds the end-customer contract. The work is not only expanding the market and selling projects. It is building the channel that sells them, and the terms that help our partners come back with their next one.

You will report to our Director of Growth and Strategy in California, and in practice you will run the market. In your first week you pick up a live pipeline and active EPC, developer, and industrial conversations, while certification, steel supply, and machine compliance move in parallel. You will set your own priorities, pull in US support when a deal needs it, and make the final call without waiting on a time zone difference. You will not be starting from zero, and you will not be starting from finished. Once a deal is signed, you hand delivery to Planted's field technical advisors and the EPC, and go win the next portfolio.

Salary range for this position is AUD $200,000–$270,000 base, plus superannuation, performance incentive, and share options. Placement within the range depends on experience and skills. The target experience for the position is 7+ years. Sydney preferred. Melbourne or Brisbane considered.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Establish the Australian market. Build and work the target list across developers, IPPs, EPCs, and mining and industrial buyers, and own every opportunity from first conversation to signed agreement. Decide where our capacity goes. Be honest when the answer is no or not yet, and keep the relationship progressing towards more megawatts.

• Build the channel, then the portfolio. Our route to market today runs through local EPCs. Find them, train them on what our system does to their labour curve, and structure the pricing, scope splits, volume commitments, and machine allocation that enable them to bring us their next wave of projects rather than to their incumbent supplier. A first project is the entry point, not the outcome. Convert proven delivery into frameworks and capacity reservations.

• Techno-economic case. Build and defend the comparison that wins the project: our robot-installed, high-density fixed-tilt system against the legacy single-axis tracker their engineering team already trusts, and against the high-density systems already selling here. Yield, installed cost, labour hours, schedule, O&M, LCOE, grounded in Australian benchmarks and site conditions. Owner's engineers will take it apart, and it needs to hold.

• Clear the path. Every deal raises questions you will not personally answer: structural and civil sensitivities, electrical architecture, certification, local content, supply and logistics. Identify what the deal needs, pull the right internal expert or outside specialist, get a decision, and keep moving. Never let an open question sit.

• Be Planted in this market. You are the whole interface, in both directions. Represent us credibly in rooms where nobody has heard of us, and work the government bodies, trade agencies, and industry associations that open doors here. Send back what you learn on pricing, competitors, and regulation so our product and commercial model bend toward this market rather than assume the American one.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Australian large-scale solar background. 7+ years in commercial, business development, or delivery roles on Australian utility-scale solar or adjacent infrastructure, on projects that actually got built. You know how these projects are procured, financed, contracted, and constructed here.

• Genuine autonomy. As our primary local leader, you will operate with high autonomy. You need to be comfortable setting your own priorities, working unsupervised, escalating at the right moment rather than every moment, and influencing a California-based team you will rarely be in a room with.

• A robust network you can use. Existing relationships with Australian developers, IPPs, EPCs, owner's engineers, or industrial and mining energy teams. You can get the right meeting without an introduction chain.

• Channel and partner selling. You have won business through a contractor, integrator, or channel partner rather than only selling direct, and you understand how to make a partner's economics work so they choose you again.

• Quantitative rigour. Hands-on experience with techno-economic modelling, project estimating, or infrastructure deal structuring. You build the model yourself, ground your assumptions in real evidence, and defend them under a sophisticated counterparty's diligence.

• Challenging the incumbent. You have taken an unproven technology, delivery model, or commercial structure to buyers who already had a proven alternative, and moved sceptical financial and technical evaluators to sponsoring you.

• Willing to travel. Regional and interstate site and customer travel, plus periodic travel to the US.

• Right to work in Australia.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Working familiarity with Australian EPC contracting mechanics: AS 4000 and AS 4902 contract suites, performance guarantees, liquidated damages, warranty terms, and capacity or supply reservation structures.

• Knowledge of AS/NZS standards applicable to solar, and how site-specific structural certification works here.

• Off-grid, remote, or mining power experience, including working with First Nations peoples and Traditional Owners on land access.

• Exposure to data centre or large industrial load customers as buyers of new generation.

• Experience with high-density or fixed-tilt systems, or selling tracker systems into the Australian market.

• Familiarity with the Capacity Investment Scheme, ARENA programs, state investment agencies, and local content requirements.

• Comfort representing an international company that does not yet have a large local presence or reference projects.

Philosophy On Qualifications And Compensation

Many people only apply for jobs if they believe they can perform every task in the job description. We are most interested in finding the best candidate for the job and will consider equivalent combinations of knowledge, skills, education, and experience. If you are interested in applying, we encourage you to think broadly about your background and skill set for the role.

Additionally, we believe compensation should reflect the value people bring and give them a real stake in what we're building. Our total compensation package includes a base salary, meaningful equity through stock options, and benefits including company holidays, paid time off (PTO), and in-office lunches. Individual pay may vary within the posted range and is determined by a number of factors including relevant experience, skills, and location.

How We Work

We are using sunlight, software, and robots to power the world. It is historic work, and it is hard work. If you want a paved, predictable path, this isn't for you. If you'd rather invent the path, this is the best job you'll ever have.

• Call it out. We put big robots in the field alongside our crews and partners. Anyone can stop any operation at any time. The same trust runs everywhere: a bug in the code, a flaw in the plan, a risk in the dirt, a design that no longer makes sense. Say it while it's small and cheap to fix, directly to the person who can fix it. Sometimes that person is you.

• Commit and complete. We work problems, not tasks. A confident guess is not a commitment; “I'll find out by Thursday” is. If a date slips, say it early and bring the new plan. Every decision has one owner: bring data, argue hard, push back in the room, then the owner calls it and we lock arms. Execution compounds.

• Convention isn't evidence. “Industry standard” is a red flag. Most conventions were answers to constraints that no longer exist. We respect physics and obey the law. Everything else is a choice, and we get to make it.

• Let machines do the work. We are system builders: AI and robots do repetitive work in the field and in the office. Every task a machine takes over is a person out of harm's way or off the critical path. Solve a problem once, then build the tool, write the spec, and commit the doc so nobody has to solve it again. Doing it by hand once is fine. Twice means we need a tool.

Planted is an equal opportunity employer committed to growing inclusively, regardless of race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, medical condition, age, or veteran status. However you identify, or whatever background you bring with you, please apply. We look forward to hearing from you.