Head of Corporate Partnerships

Background for this Role

Uptake Alliance is an intersectional community of corporates, startups, policymakers, investors and academics built to create the market conditions for frontier climate ventures to thrive. Supported by NYSERDA and launched in September 2023, Uptake is grounded in the problems worth solving - therefore, a central pillar of our work is to facilitate the development, creation, and articulation of problem statements from incumbents and corporate partners to guide our climate solutions. Everything we do, from the startup participants that we select to the projects that we fund, depends on this tight feedback loop between corporates and startups. Uptake is looking for a Head of Partnerships to identify and engage innovation leaders from across the corporate landscape to help build the innovation ecosystem for climate technologies to achieve market adoption.

The ideal Uptake Alliance teammate gets fired up about applying technology to make the world more sustainable, and believes that better leveraging the power of entrepreneurship can change the world. At the same time, Uptake’s work is grounded in an appreciation for the necessity - and complexity - of corporate adoption of new technologies to drive industry transformation. Our core areas of focus include infrastructure-heavy sectors such as energy (utilities, distributed energy), buildings (building materials, advanced construction, prefab/offsite), transportation (EVs, public transit), and other industries (manufacturing, processing, etc.).

Expectations of the Head of Corporate Partnerships

As the Head of Corporate Partnerships, you are a corporate confidant, sales engineer, technologist, business model developer and unapologetic out of the box thinker all wrapped in one. You are able to earn the confidence of corporations around New York state by understanding their specific challenges and in confidence imagining how they might provide solutions to current ClimateTech problems to improve its margins or expand its offerings. Armed with this information you will collaborate closely with Your Uptake teammates and subject matter experts at ADL to develop a set of potentially achievable breakthrough product/service specifications and ultimately for enticing corporate partners to help us find the notional solution we have crafted together.

This begins with solution architecture, continues with engagement modeling, and finishes with partnerships development and execution. You will be expected to form and own Uptake’s relationships with corporate sponsors, while in turn ensuring that Uptake consistently delivers value to corporates through their inclusion and participation in ongoing Uptake programming.

Responsibilities

• Drawing upon - but fearlessly expanding - your existing network, identify, prospect, engage and build relationships with target corporate partners in the energy, construction, transportation and industrial sectors
• Design and develop a set of solution offerings based on corporate interests and needs that is synergistic with Uptake Alliance’s programming for startups and its corporate engagement models
• Map and navigate corporate targets to get the right subject matter experts and decision makers in the room
• Effectively close deals for sponsorships, with accountability to achieve sponsorship funding goals
• Build and standardize a process by which Uptake can systematically elicit technological problem statements from corporate sponsors, and tighten the feedback loop between startup participants and corporate innovation groups
• Ensure customer success by keeping a closer ear to partners’ engagement preferences to continuously refine and improve upon the team’s solution set and value proposition
• Work closely with the various ADL Ventures practice areas to deliver value to corporate partners using learnings from Uptake Alliance operations
• Explore transformational partnership pathways with corporations to facilitate decarbonization via innovation
• Attend external events on behalf of Uptake Alliance whenever feasible
• Keep up to date with industry trends and emerging technologies in the energy, buildings and transportation industries

Requirements

• 8+ years of experience in customer-facing roles, ideally within a services organization
• Prior business development or sales experience in the energy, buildings, transportation and/or industrial sectors
• Preferably 2+ years of experience in a corporate environment, within or adjacent to an innovation or corporate venturing group
• Disciplined, fearless and proactive bias towards action and “just picking up the phone”
• Strong, disciplined ability to set a process and tirelessly execute
• An articulate and polished writing/communication style with an advanced command of the English language
• Self-starter who is highly motivated and responsive, and thrives under limited guidance in uncertain situations
• Team player who enjoys working with and managing stakeholders toward common goals
• Demonstrated passion for effecting innovative, sustainable and equitable evolutions in the energy, transportation, and buildings sectors
• Strong balance of interpersonal skills with the ability to build presentable work products with a high degree of organization
• Ability to travel up to 25% of the time
• Bachelor’s degree 

Benefits

• Salary range: $130,000 - $140,000 base  + commission

• Performance bonus
• Other benefits: 
• Management carve-out (similar to equity)
• 401(k)
• Medical, dental, and vision benefits
• Life insurance
• Hybrid/remote work environment
• Unlimited vacation policy
• Telecommuter allowances