Not sure what type of roles are out there for MBAs interested in clean energy? Unlike more traditional MBA recruiting [insert investment bank/consulting firm/tech], roles within clean energy are more diverse. The following are the more common types of jobs posted I’ve seen and some thoughts on each:
Leadership Programs / Rotational Programs:
(typically large, established corporations)
Leadership programs are designed for recent graduates to gain expertise within a specific company, with the goal to eventually move on to a senior leadership position. Recent grads typically do two to four rotations over a two or three-year period, with the goal of transitioning into a more senior operating role into a business unit after. It’s often an excellent way to meet senior executives at the company and is often seen as an accelerated path towards the C-suite.
The good news about these types of programs is there’s no ‘required’ background, so if you’re not from a traditional pre-MBA background, you won’t get dinged. Furthermore, because you’re technically not part of a business unit’s P&L (i.e. you get allocated as a corporate expense) during the first couple of years, you’re essentially given two years to explore the company and decide what role you want to end up (e.g. retail energy operations vs M&A?).
These roles are common in oil & gas companies, but utilities and other large companies love MBAs for these positions on and often come on campus to recruit. Some well-known companies offering such programs include PG&E, Duke Energy, BP, Exelon, Chevron…etc. I’m sure there are a lot more, but these are the first few that come to mind. I think a number of ex-PG&E rotational alum have gone on to pretty interesting companies, so it’s worth to poking around on Linkedin to see where graduates have gone.
Project Development / Project Finance / Corporate Finance
(Large corporations, utilities, investment banks, development shops)
Finance is one of the more valued skills in energy, and many companies recruit specifically for project finance roles. Some companies will have finance leadership rotations (similar to above), whereas other companies will have specific project finance or structured finance openings.
An MBA internship or new grad program is likely the easiest way to break into project finance, since most of these companies are fine with teaching you the ropes. Companies that have these positions are large developers (e.g. SunPower, Invenergy, First Solar, Recurrent), or the development arm of large utility companies (e.g. Nextera Energy Resources). Some independent companies such as Bloom will post finance roles targeted towards MBA grads as well.
It’s better to come from some type of corporate finance, analytics, or (ideally) investment banking background, but I’ve seen friends and classmates successfully recruit for these roles from non-traditional backgrounds.
Business Development / Strategic Partnerships:
(Varies from large corporates to smaller startups)
Business development seems to be one of those catch all phrases and can mean everything from sales, strategy, M&A, strategic partnerships…etc. It’s up to you to find out what the exact nature of the role is, but most roles require some a set of client-facing and strategy skills, which make these great for those coming from sales, marketing, or consulting backgrounds.
I think these companies are usually pretty interesting and see value in having a structured go-to-market strategy and are often backed by high-profile investors. Some startups I’ve seen with interesting business development roles include Bloom, AMS, Stem, Chargepoint, EnerNOC…. pretty much every VC-backed small-mid-size company.
Product Marketing / Product Management
(Startups and mid-size companies):
You’ll notice both product marketing and product management roles are found in many consumer and B2B tech companies, so logically these roles are typically found in SV companies with a tech or software focus. The product can range from software (e.g. FirstFuel, Bidgely Networks, EnerNOC), hardware (e.g. Flex, Enphase), or financial products (e.g. Spruce, Mosaic, Renovate).
There’s a lot more that can be found online on product marketing and product management, and the required skillsets will vary between prior programming knowledge, previous marketing background …etc. Since these companies are typically smaller, they’re likely taking only 1 or 2 people for each role, so competition can be difficult.
Above are just some of the more common roles I’ve seen posted that suit MBA candidates, but there are dozens and dozens more (e.g. sales ops, supply chain). If you have a strong analytical background, maybe a sales ops, analytics, or data science gig might be more appealing. If you’re interested in operations, there are dozens of operations, procurement, and supply chain roles out there. The easiest way to find out what type of cleantech mba roles out there is just to go out and look for them.
PS: In addition, Taylor Sloane wrote a good article on MBA careers here, so definitely visit that blog post for some more ideas.
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