Director, Field Service & Utility Deployments
The Company
SPAN invented the smart electric panel. We transformed a century-old appliance into an intelligent device that can sense and control the sources and uses of electricity in your home. This makes going solar simpler, adding battery-based backup more valuable, gas appliances dispensable, EV fast-charging possible, appliance breakdowns preventable, and helps consumers save money on their energy bill.
Our mission is to enable electrification for all. We are working to design, build, and deploy products that electrify our built environment, decarbonize our world, and slow the effects of climate change.
The Role
SPAN is hiring a Director or Senior Manager of Field Service & Utility Deployments to lead all activities related to the physical and in-person servicing of our growing fleet of products as well as oversee the deployment of products with our utility partners. Sitting within SPAN’s highly collaborative Support & Services group, you will be the first dedicated individual in the Field Service function and have the opportunity to build it from the ground up. As such, you’ll own all things field service from the strategic to the tactical with the objective to determine SPAN’s approach to field service. In the near term this may involve rolling up your sleeves to do a lot of the work yourself as we work to build out the function. In this highly cross-functional role you will partner closely with the Customer Support, Service Engineering, Supply Chain/Fulfillment, Accounting, Quality, and Commercial (distribution) teams to ensure that product issues requiring physical remediation are taken care of expeditiously and with the customer in mind.
Responsibilities
Partner with your manager to develop a vision for SPAN’s future approach to field service for all of our sales channels (solar and storage, new homes, utilities, etc.) by evaluating approaches for a third-party, field service network. Then, bring your vision to life by creating that network, including partner sourcing, diligence, and evaluation. Build out your team (internal and outsourced) as necessary to support this vision. You and/or your team will manage these partner relationships, including ongoing operational coordination.
Envision and then oversee the logistics program for product deployment with utilities from the end of the sales process to the point where the products are ready to transition into “support mode.” This may include utility onboarding, training, hardware deployment, and software set up.
Collaborate with key internal cross-functional partners to drive field service and service parts strategy, decisions, processes, and tooling, especially, but not exclusively, related to the launch of new products and the sunset of products that are being retired.
Oversee the development, maintenance, and continuous improvement of our field service documentation and standard operating procedures (SOPs), including but not limited to external resources for service parts replacement, SOPs for 3rd parties, and internal processes/policies.
Build playbooks for - and manage - recall events and field investigations or part replacement activities if necessary.
Oversee the handling of customers’ field service requests. Be an escalation point for advice and decisions as needed as the team corresponds with installers, homeowners, and distributors by phone and email, creating and managing field service cases and orders, identifying service contractors, processing invoices, and managing reverse logistics for failed products. Manage these activities to ensure we consistently delivery an excellent customer experience.
Judiciously administer warranty claims and advise Customer Support agents on warranty questions/concerns.
Manage inventory of service parts, including projecting inventory needs and then collaborating cross functionally on packaging development, procurement, and setting up parts with our third party fulfillment center and internal/external systems.
Build deep knowledge of all SPAN products, their evolution over time, and their field applications, ensuring you and/or your team are expert resource for Customer Support and Service Engineering on product installation questions as well as service parts compatibility.
Develop a suite of key success metrics for the Field Service function. Monitor, measure, and improve those metrics over time. Analyze data related to field service activities to drive key decisions.
Collaborate closely with your Customer Support and Service Engineering management peers to ensure alignment in process and philosophy of handling customer issues.
About You
We are looking for someone with the following experience.
You have…
15-20+ years of experience in field service or field operations roles
Experience building and managing external partnerships or vendor relationships, including business development of those relationships and diligence of the parties.
Technical knowledge and experience in electrical systems (e.g. electrical panels, solar and storage systems, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, home appliances, automotive equipment, or similar)
Experience managing a field operations and/or have fleet management function including people management, process development and optimization, tooling implementation and integrations, and more
Experience managing work within a ticketing tool (e.g. Zendesk, JIRA, Salesforce, etc.)
Other attributes:
Are a structured and analytical thinker
Are highly collaborative and can work toward and negotiate shared outcomes with both internal and external parties whether customers or partners
Bring both a sense of urgency and a strong customer orientation to your work and understand the importance of being an escalation point for customer issues
Have strong judgment and a keen eye for risk and safety issues
Enjoy being a generalist and having your hands in a bit of everything
Bring an entrepreneurial spirit and a love of problem solving to every challenge you encounter
Are detail oriented, organized, efficient, and reliable. You do what you say you’re going to do with a strong sense of urgency
Are a strong communicator, both written and verbally, and easily adapt your communication for different audiences (technical vs not technical)
Have a continuous improvement mindset
Are scrappy and have a knack for excelling in complex and ambiguous situations
Have a strong sense of ownership
Have a track record of building high performance teams with a strong culture
Life at SPAN
SPAN embraces diversity and equal opportunity in a serious way. We are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills.
Headquartered in San Francisco’s vibrant SoMa neighborhood, we are an eclectic group of creative thinkers who value open communication, teamwork, and a ‘make it happen’ approach to addressing complex challenges.
We’re hiring talented individuals who are driven by success and are passionate about shaping the future of renewable energy. If that sounds like you, we’d love for you to consider joining the rapidly growing team at SPAN.
The Perks:
⚡ Competitive compensation + equity grants at a well-funded, venture-backed company
⚡ Comprehensive benefits (including medical; dental, vision, life and disability insurance)
⚡ Comfortable, sunny office space located near BART and Caltrain public transit
⚡ Strong focus on teambuilding and company culture (events, meet-ups, clubs)
⚡ Flexible hours and unlimited PTO
Interested in joining our team? Submit an application today and we’ll be in touch with next steps!