Utility Commercial Operations

Position Overview

The Commercial Operations (ComOps) Leader is responsible for the management of risk processes in the commercial phase, including risk review and approval, and overall engagement with the proposal generation process and commercial negotiations, to ensure commercial intensity & compliance to the Risk Management process is utilized. This role ensures proper risk management throughout the deal lifecycle, while closely aligning to customer CTQs. 

Duties and Responsibilities

• Build & operate Risk Review sessions to drive early engagement, strategy development and approvals with region & product teams as well as Operations, and supporting functions (legal, finance, tax, supply chain, etc), ensuring leadership alignment at all levels to obtain necessary decisions timely 
• Review and redline customer terms and conditions (T&Cs) and other commercial documents while working with Legal and other functions to understand and mitigate risks associated with opportunities. 

• Lead customer negotiations from Commercial Standpoint, ensuring an acceptable risk profile for HUS, given the specific scope of supply and deal dynamics; engage with approvers and subject-matter experts as necessary 
• Own the ComOps and respective risk process, including the use of tools and ensuring development of consistent Risk register both Commercial & Technical as necessary and drives mitigation Plan strategies with the different steak holders. 
• Steer sales and tendering teams in quality assurance of proposal build including risk and approval management as well as a proper transition to Order management team. 
• Work closely with the Sales teams as a key partner in the strategy development to create winning proposals and meeting or exceeding the business’ plan for orders, and financial KPIs 
• Ensure seamless hand-over of POs/signed contracts to Order management 
• Drive empowerment through localization of T&Cs, functional expertise across region, and people capability development 
• Support design and drive implementation of proposal standards and use of CRM tools to better track performance of team. 
• Support and drive change management process to challenge current commercial processes, in order to reduce cycle times & costs, improve service quality & mitigation plans and define the appropriate pricing and commercial strategy 
• Interface with all functions across regions and products such as Sales, Legal, Finance professional Services, etc to enhance successful commercial strategies and solutions 
• Maintain knowledge of market trends, customer requirements, competitor actions and customer base; interface with internal and external customers, identify customer needs
    

Required Qualifications 

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Legal, Engineering or related area from an accredited university or college 
• Minimum of 7 years of experience in Commercial Operations, contract management, sales, tendering, bid management and/or project management role Strong team player, results driven, customer focused. 
• Excellent communication, influence, and presentation skills. 

• Is well organized, structured and methodical. 
• Proficient in MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Adobe Acrobat as they relate to job usage. 
• Ability to navigate and manipulate CRMs (SFDC, SAP, JD Edwards, etc) 

Desired Characteristics 

• Strong didactical contractual & negotiation skills 

• Knowledge of utilities, electrical & water meter data transmission and distribution projects or utilities projects 
• Ability to influence and lead cross functional teams 
• Previous experience in the Utilities industry 
• Experience in developing complex proposals or structuring complex deals 
• In-depth knowledge of contractual terms and conditions; experience in structuring and negotiating contracts to minimize business risk 
• Strong oral and written communication and presentation skills 
• Strong interpersonal and leadership skills 
• Self-sufficiency and ability to program manage 
• Ability to think strategically and be operationally rigorous 
• Change agent with strong business acumen 

Education

• Bachelors Degree in Business or Finance