Principal (Buildings & Construction)

The Company

ADL Ventures builds start-ups and new business units for incumbent companies - developing the next generation of businesses that will reinvent the construction industry. At ADL Ventures, you will work to develop and ultimately build profitable climate tech-enabled businesses for your corporate AEC clients, blending the strength of the intrapreneurship model with opportunities made available by non-dilutive funding to mature a venture before it takes venture capital. In so doing, we ensure that expensive venture capital is used in applications where it can be successful.

The Job

As a ADL'er you are one part technologist, one part consultant, one part entrepreneur and all parts ClimateTech leader. You will work with large companies to understand their businesses and help profitably modernize them. You will work with top innovative thought leaders across multiple fields who are passionate about reinventing the construction industry, breaking the business as usual mindset, and introducing technologies at scale that can help avert our national construction crisis and our climate catastrophe.

Expectations of a Principal

A rich understanding of the current state, language, trends, regulations, and leading-edge technology solutions in the Buildings/Construction sector will help you better ideate and craft solutions for our clients and work towards launching new lines of business that fit a defined market niche. Formal understanding of, or experience in, Industrialized Construction (Offsite) is needed.

While consulting experience is optional, experience leading projects with an internal team of 3-5 people (including Associates as direct reports and Partners offering strategic direction and client management leadership) is critical. ADL projects are fast-paced and require consistent progress on multiple investigative fronts in the face of shifting client priorities and needs.

ADL Principals have an entrepreneur’s knack for novel business model design, scenario planning, piloting/experimentation, and digitization - but can simultaneously apply sustained focus to create client-ready reports and slide decks on short notice.

Principal should have demonstrated success at work with both the staid AEC industry and start-ups.

Responsibilities will include:

• Lead week-to-week operations across a portfolio of projects as a coach, overseeing the preparation of client deliverables and strategically delegating to junior team members
• Lead client calls to review progress towards deliverables, test clients’ thinking, confirm project direction, and identify and set priorities for subsequent work
• Develop client relationships, identifying and nurturing project opportunities with client points of contact and leaders within prospective client organizations
• Leverage old and new relationships and project successes to build a “book of business” in your core areas of expertise and interest
• Mentor and develop junior ADL staff, providing guidance and feedback to help all project staff both improve work performance and progress toward career goals
• Support internal ADL initiatives as needed, including hiring efforts, marketing / business development initiatives, and other operational developments to help ADL scale as a business
• Bring to your everyday work an undying curiosity and enthusiasm for ADL’s projects and potential to create change in historically slow-to-evolve industries
• Maintain and demonstrate a high level of professionalism, integrity and work ethic as a role model for colleagues

Requirements

• 10+ years of relevant experience in the Buildings/Construction sector, preferably in residential real estate or hospitality
• Demonstrated area of expertise and a strong network that can be leveraged to build a “book of business”
• A dedicated commitment to asking the right questions as opposed to finding the right answers
• Self-starter who is highly motivated and responsive, and thrives under limited guidance in uncertain situations
• Passion for enacting innovation and positive societal change in the Buildings/Construction sector
• A strong and polished writing/communication style with an advanced command of the English language
• A strong curiosity and passion for technology commercialization in challenging settings, ideally demonstrated through past activities and employment
• Business case or consulting experience either through work or academic curriculum (preferred but not required)
• A strong balance of interpersonal skills with the ability to carefully research and synthesize findings with a high degree of organization
• Substantive community and extracurricular participation, including working effectively in challenging and diverse group / team settings
• Undergraduate degree and/or graduate degree 

Benefits

• Performance bonus (up to 15%)
• Additional incentives based on exceptional company and individual performance above plan
• Management carve-out (equity-like upside in the event of a company exit)
• Opportunity to earn equity in ADL-related start-ups on a case-by-case basis
• 401(k)
• Medical, dental, and vision benefits
• Life insurance
• Hybrid/remote work environment
• Unlimited vacation policy
• Telecommuter allowances