Head of Solutions - Power Markets, West

About the Position

The Head of Solutions, Power Markets (West Region) leads Energy Exemplar's presales Solutions team across the Western United States and Canada. The role owns the technical win for every opportunity in ERCOT, CAISO, SPP, WECC, AESO, and IESO. Accountability runs from first discovery through technical close and a signed handoff to Services. Scope covers new-logo pursuits and expansion within existing accounts across utilities, ISOs/RTOs, regulators, developers, traders, and consultancies.

This is the region's senior pre-sales leader and its engine of retention and growth. The role turns deployed software into measurable customer outcomes: calibrated models, trusted results, and repeatable decision workflows across resource adequacy, capacity expansion, transmission planning, and market operations. Working with the Regional VP of Sales under a shared handoff protocol, the Head of Solutions ensures every West Region account has a success plan, an executive sponsor, and a clear path to expansion.

Key Responsibilities

The role is accountable for five things: team leadership, technical presales execution, pipeline partnership with Sales, market expertise across six Western markets, and a clean handoff to Services.

• Lead, coach, and develop the West Region presales Solutions team of energy economists, power systems engineers, and modeling specialists; set goals and build succession depth.

• Own technical presales across the sales cycle - discovery, solution design, demonstrations, proofs of concept, and proposals - for PLEXOS, Aurora, and Adapt2 opportunities.

• Partner with the Regional VP of Sales on territory plans, account strategies, and pipeline reviews; align Solutions capacity to the highest-value pursuits.

• Lead discovery with prospects to map business problems - resource adequacy, capacity expansion, transmission planning, trading - to differentiated Energy Exemplar solutions.

• Design and deliver compelling, market-specific demonstrations and workshops that prove value quickly and advance opportunities toward technical close.

• Scope, govern, and execute proofs of concept and pilots with clear success criteria, timelines, and exit decisions tied to commercial outcomes.

• Lead technical responses to RFPs, RFIs, and security questionnaires; own solution architecture, pricing inputs, and statements of work for Services handoff.

• Operate the signed Presales-to-Services handoff protocol so every closed deal transfers with agreed scope, assumptions, model artifacts, and success criteria.

• Bring deep market expertise across ERCOT, CAISO, SPP, WECC, AESO, and IESO to position PLEXOS and Aurora against competitors credibly.

• Translate regulatory and market change (FERC Order 1920, WRAP, EDAM, SPP Markets+, ERCOT reliability standards) into use cases, campaigns, and pipeline.

• Drive expansion within existing accounts by identifying new use cases, additional modules, and AI-enabled upsell opportunities with Sales and Services.

• Build reusable demo environments, reference models, playbooks, and datasets for Western markets that shorten sales cycles and scale team capacity.

• Represent Energy Exemplar at ISO stakeholder forums, conferences, and webinars; channel competitive intelligence and prospect feedback to Product and Marketing.

• Track presales metrics - win rate, technical-close velocity, POC conversion, utilization - and report regional pipeline health monthly to leadership.

Candidate Requirements

The ideal candidate combines Western power-market depth, technical presales leadership, and hands-on modeling credibility.

• 10-15+ years of experience in power markets, energy consulting, or utility planning, including 5+ years leading technical presales or advisory teams.

• Proven record owning technical wins - discovery, demonstrations, proofs of concept, proposals - for enterprise software or analytics sales.

• Working knowledge of at least three of ERCOT, CAISO, SPP, WECC, AESO, and IESO market designs and planning processes.

• Hands-on experience with production cost, capacity expansion, or resource adequacy modeling; PLEXOS or Aurora proficiency strongly preferred.

• Demonstrated ability to run multiple concurrent pursuits, allocating specialists and managing scope, timelines, and quality of deliverables.

• Executive presence and credibility with utility, ISO, and regulatory leaders; comfortable presenting model results and recommendations to C-suite.

• Strong people leadership: hiring, coaching, performance management, and developing technical talent in a distributed team.

• Data fluency with Python, SQL, or similar tools, and familiarity with applying AI/ML to energy modeling workflows.

• Commercial acumen: able to qualify opportunities, shape deal strategy with Sales, and scope services for proposals.

Qualifications

• Master's or PhD in power systems engineering, energy economics, energy policy, or a related discipline.

• Professional Engineer (PE) license or an equivalent professional engineering credential.

• Formal training in a solution-selling or value-selling methodology (for example, MEDDICC, Challenger, or Command of the Message).

• Active membership in IEEE PES, IAEE, USAEE, ISO stakeholder committees or similar professional bodies..

• Prior presales or solutions engineering experience at an energy modeling, analytics, or enterprise software vendor serving utilities and grid operators.

• Published or presented work on electricity market design, resource adequacy, or transmission planning.

• PLEXOS or Aurora certification, or completion of Energy Exemplar's advanced training programs.