FLSA Classification: Exempt

Salary Range: $300,000 - $350,000 plus bonus and incentive stock options

Reports to: Chief Executive Officer

About The Company

NineDot’s name derives from the classic mathematical puzzle for sparking out-of-the-box solutions. As a leading community-scale, clean energy developer with a growing portfolio of projects across a range of technologies, NineDot Energy is creating innovative energy solutions that support a more resilient electric grid, deliver economic savings, address environmental justice and reduce carbon emissions. We plan to develop, build and operate more than 400 MW of clean energy systems by 2026 that will strengthen the local power grid infrastructure and provide clean, reliable and resilient power to tens of thousands of New York households and businesses. This is all in support of New York State’s mission to achieve 100% clean energy by 2040.

With the backing of Manulife Investment Management and The Carlyle Group - two of the world’s leading infrastructure investors - NineDot is continuing to expand its core battery energy storage pipeline, deliver enhanced products and services, explore new regions and consider potential acquisitions all to advance the decarbonization of New York’s grid. This is an exciting opportunity to build a platform from the ground-up with a world-class team of developers and innovators. NineDot is committed to building a company that exemplifies diversity, equity and inclusion values in its team culture, as well as business practices and community engagement.

Job Summary

In this role, you will provide strategic leadership for our Finance department including our Capital Markets & Project Finance, FP&A, and Administrative Accounting functions as well as managing our approach to raising capital and investor relations. The CFO will serve as a member of the Executive Team and will oversee all aspects of the Company’s structured finance, financial planning, cash management, tax and accounting, risk management, and financial reporting functions. This role will interact with the Board of Directors and be a highly visible leadership position within a growing renewable energy organization. The successful candidate will have a strong working knowledge of all aspects of financing a renewable energy project portfolio, including tax equity, project finance, cost of capital optimization, and the economics of asset management. Critically important to the success of the company is an ability to execute on project financing and tax equity. Therefore, it is expected that the CFO will have deep industry relationships in capital markets and an ability to drive successful financing outcomes. The CFO will act as the Executive Financial Leader across the organization working closely with the CEO on the organization’s operational and corporate finance strategy with a focus on initiatives for optimizing current energy storage assets and long-term growth goals. The CFO will have a strong eye for financially driven, risk-adjusted decision making. The candidate will need to demonstrate solid proficiency of optimizing project economics and keen understanding of optionality involved in developing projects and new product lines. This individual will be developing and executing strategy that will impact the company in the next stages of growth. This is a great opportunity for a nimble, bold, innovative financial leader to make a major impact in the fight against climate change. 

Responsibilities

• Provide strong leadership as a member of the executive team including strategic vision and tactical execution to drive revenue growth, profitability, and capital management in support of the growth and long-term sustainability of the company.
• Develop and leverage relationships with banks, financial institutions and other capital providers, as well as consultants to structure and raise funds from various financial institutions/banks/lease finance companies.
• Collaborate with the executive team to develop and execute the company’s overall strategy and goals.
• Act as a role model by embodying and advancing our company’s core values and culture, ensuring these principles are reflected across all aspects of operations.
• Foster an inclusive workplace where diversity is embraced, and all employees feel valued, supported, and integral to the company’s success.
• Manage and develop the finance team, made up of the corporate finance (controllership, treasury, FP&A, asset revenue) and project finance teams, including recruiting and hiring new team members, providing ongoing training and development, and conducting performance reviews.
• Ensure a governance structure is in place to achieve sustainably effective and efficient operational execution that increases shareholder value and facilitates employee and organizational well-being.
• Accountable for all finance and accounting activities in the organization including management reporting.
• Assess NineDot corporate capital needs and design the most efficient financing strategy.
• Oversee the Director, Project Finance’s efforts to coordinate due diligence, term sheet, negotiations, and documentation with finance providers.
• Leads and ensures all financial processes required to support performance management and effective execution are in place, including strategic planning, annual operating plans, rolling forecasts, sales & operations planning, and supporting models for revenue/pricing, margin analysis/control, and capital expenditure planning.
• Ensures the financial reporting and supporting processes provide profitability analyses that can be drilled down to the business unit to assess direct, indirect, and fully burdened.
• Oversee the VP, Corporate Finance’s implementation and/or maintenance of management control systems for other departments e.g. actual expenditure vs budget, product costing system, sales reporting and variance systems, and sales cost reporting, these reports will also be used by the Finance department to be informed of day-to-day trends and to suggest potential improvements when appropriate.
• Serve as a champion for enterprise excellence and maximizing value creation.
• Ensure all stakeholders, including lenders and financial institutions, are kept up to date on all relevant financial matters in a timely manner, ensuring the company is compliant with all financial regulations and reporting requirements.
• Ensure adequate cash flow to meet the organization’s liquidity needs.
• Develop and implement financial strategies to support the growth and sustainability of the company.
• Provide financial analysis and insights to guide decision-making across all areas of the business by identifying trends and opportunities for improvement and provide recommendations to the executive team.
• Develop and manage relationships with investors, lenders, and other stakeholders.
• Lead the financial due diligence process for potential acquisitions and partnerships.
• Manage financial risks associated with the business, such as currency risks, commodity price risks, and other financial risks.

Competencies for Success 

• Problem Solving - Uses rigorous logic and methods to solve difficult problems with effective solutions; conducts excellent and honest analysis; looks beyond the obvious and doesn’t stop at the first answer.
• Interpersonal Savvy - Able to relate well to all individuals within and beyond the organization; builds appropriate rapport along with constructive and effective relationships; uses diplomacy and tact.
• Perseverance -  Pursues everything with energy, drive, and a need to finish; seldom gives up before finishing, especially in the face of resistance or setbacks.
• Dealing With Ambiguity - Can effectively cope with change and shift gears comfortably; can decide and act without having the total picture.
• Creativity - Capable of coming up with new and unique ideas; easily makes connections among previously unrelated notions.
• Technical Learning - Picks up on technical things quickly, capable of learning new skills and knowledge, good at learning new industry, company, product, or technical knowledge.
• Intellectual Horsepower - Demonstrated ability to deal with concepts and complexity comfortably; described as intellectually sharp, capable, and agile.
• Developing Direct Reports and Others - Provides challenging and stretching tasks and assignments; holds frequent development discussions; cooperates with the developmental system in the organization; is a people builder.
• Building Effective Teams - Creates strong morale and spirit in his/her/their team; shares wins and successes; fosters open dialogue; lets people finish and be responsible for their work; creates a feeling of belonging in the team.
• Innovation Management - Is good at bringing the creative ideas of others to market; has good judgment about which creative ideas and suggestions will work; has a sense about managing the creative process of others; can project how potential ideas may play out in the real world.
• Planning - Accurately scopes out length and difficulty of tasks and projects; sets objectives and goals; breaks down work into the process steps; anticipates and adjusts for problems and roadblocks; measures performance against goals; evaluates results.
• Drive for Results - Can be counted on to exceed goals successfully; is constantly and consistently one of the top performers; very bottom-line oriented; steadfastly pushes self and others for results.
• Strategic Agility - Sees ahead clearly; can anticipate future consequences and trends accurately; has broad knowledge and perspective; is future oriented; can articulately and paint credible pictures and visions of possibilities and likelihoods; can create competitive and breakthrough strategies and plans.
• Managing Through Systems - Can design practices, processes, and procedures which allow managing from a distance; is comfortable letting things manage themselves without intervening; can make things work through others without being there; can impact people and results remotely.
• Managing Vision and Purpose - Communicates a compelling and inspired vision or sense of core purpose; talks beyond today; talks about possibilities; is optimistic; creates mileposts and symbols to rally support behind the vision; makes the vision sharable by everyone; can inspire and motivate entire units or organizations.

Required education and experience

• Bachelor’s in Accounting or Finance
• MBA, MFA and/or CPA highly desirable
• 5+ years of successful experience as a senior level executive
• 10+ years in a progressively responsible financial and operational leadership role, preferably in the energy sector.
• The ability to impact and collaboratively lead a diverse stakeholder group ranging from the executive team, internal teams, partners, vendors, and customers.
• Adept at building strong relationships and seamlessly able to partner with the current executive team.
• Initiative, persistence, an entrepreneurial spirit and energy with the desire to be part of a fast-growth start-up environment.
• Outstanding interpersonal, communication, and presentation skills with the ability to communicate solution value propositions to the executive team and the wider organization.
• Renewable energy capital markets background including financial partner relationships and transaction execution experience across the project and corporate capital stack.
• Prior experience with M&A transactions and post-acquisition integration will be a definite asset.
• Experience at small and rapidly growing platforms including early- to mid-stage funding strategy and employee compensation models.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these essential functions.

Affirmative Action/EEO statement

We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer and committed to leveraging the diverse backgrounds, perspectives and experience of our workforce to create opportunities for our colleagues and our business. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, gender expression, gender identity, sex, age, ancestry, marital status, protected veteran and military status, disability, medical condition, sexual orientation, genetic information, or any other status of an individual or that individual’s associates or relatives that is protected under applicable federal, state, or local law.