VP, Field Operations

The way we heat and cool our homes is antiquated—we take for granted that we pump fossil fuels into our homes in order to keep them warm.  There is a better way. Spun out of Google X, Dandelion has developed a residential geothermal solution that is clean, safe, and affordable to the masses. Dandelion’s proprietary technology, world-class team, and access to capital gives it the advantage to dominate this huge market. 

About the Role

The VP of Field Operations will be responsible for leading the field operations strategy of the company to ensure we can meet our overall strategic and growth goals. You will take responsibility for the leadership and rapid scale up of our trenching and drilling crews, subcontractors, and support crews, and collaborate with sales and marketing to ensure operational capacity is tightly linked to growth plans. You will drive continuous improvement in our  field operations processes to reduce operational cost and maintain a flawless safety record. And you will work as a member of our senior leadership to build and iterate on a scalable business strategy.  A successful applicant will be equally comfortable discussing the technical intricacies of drilling and trenching, managing and predicting the profitability of our performance, and leading regional managers and their teams. In the first year you will be expected to deliver tens of millions of dollars of projects, scaling over several years to hundreds of millions. This role reports to the SVP of Operations.

 Responsibilities

Lead a critical pillar of our business

• Own the strategic growth plan for field operations  to support our business goals
• Define the roadmap for process and technology improvements in drilling and trenching
• Establish team culture through work ethic, insistence on quality, and strong communication with others
• Demonstrate excellent business acumen on a daily basis
• Demand and drive for continuous improvement

Drive efficiency through our field operations

• Insure safe work practices are achieved through proper training, policies and procedures
• Work with our engineering team to evaluate various drilling and trenching technologies for efficiency, customer experience, and cost improvements
• Define technical rig requirements.
• Define technical services and third party requirements.
• Define and track appropriate drilling and trenching KPIs 
• Prepare operational time and cost estimates.
• Ensure all drilling and trenching activities are in line with Dandelion policies and procedures, and drive Dandelion culture by setting an example through safe work practices.

Manage internal and external teams

• Manage Dandelion field operations including
• Dandelion rigs and crews
• Drilling subcontractors
• Trenching operations
• Environmental drilling operations
• Prepare, participate and lead peer reviews, peer assists and other quality assurance activities related to the project.
• Monitor regular progress of jobs or projects and monitor operations expenditure
• Evaluate and implement best practices in our operations

Qualifications/Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree preferably in Mechanical or Chemical Engineering, with MBA a plus
• 10 years of relevant work experience in high growth field or logistics operations such as  construction, last mile logistics , completion or intervention with integrated projects 
• Competences should include, field operations, financial planning, logistics operations
• Excellent interpersonal skills to work closely with drill crews while also establishing credibility with senior leaders.
• Excellent analytics and problem-solving, including acting without complete information
• Excellent English oral and written communication skills

You’ll love working at Dandelion because:

We’re solving the world’s hardest problems. You’ll have the opportunity to pioneer renewable heating and cooling from the ground-up (literally). There’s no established playbook for fighting climate change, so your work will be messy, challenging, and build a better, cleaner world.

We’re good people. It sounds simple, and it is. We are passionate, vision-driven, low-ego, and treat one another with kindness and respect. We challenge ideas here, not people.

We hold each other accountable. We celebrate our wins and learn from our losses. We’re honest, realistic, and transparent across all areas of the business, every day -- not just at our monthly all-hands meeting.