Sales and Business Development Manager_Italy

Fluence is the leading global energy storage technology and services company, created and backed by Siemens and AES, two industry powerhouses and pioneers in energy storage. Fluence unites the scale, experience, breadth, and financial backing of the two most experienced icons in energy storage.

Our mission is to create a more sustainable future by transforming the way we power our world. Energy storage is critical to this transformation, yet today the market is fragmented and customers face the challenge of finding a trusted technology partner amidst conflicting technical claims, inexperienced vendors and installers, and new market entrants with limited power sector knowledge.

Fluence brings the proven technology solutions and services that overcome the commercial and regulatory barriers that stand in the way of modernizing our energy networks. We are the partner that can deliver at a global scale with the most experienced and knowledgeable team in the world.

-        Identification of customers, applications, and segments that are an attractive fit for Fluence’s energy storage products and services.

-        Customer Segmentation: Identify and segment potential customers based on various criteria such as size, industry, potential pipeline and geography.

-        Strive to understand the customer’s needs inside and out. Build and maintain relationships with key customers. Assess and prioritize sales opportunities using strategic selling criteria.

-        Support customers with early stage support developing, with the support of the Growing Market team and the central organization, a BESS development package for the Italian market.

-        Serve and support  customers in understanding the full range of battery energy storage benefits and what is the detailed Fluence offering to serve Italy and Develop a clear value proposition for different customer segments.

-        Understanding of customer business case fundamental and how they change over time, assessing the most attractive fit for Fluence’s energy products, services and digital applications.

-        Identify any specific market needs or requirement which might have an impact in product development and compliance, proactively interface with the  product and regional sales team.

-        Develop the Italian Sales Strategy: Create a comprehensive sales strategy that includes target applications, key accounts, and sales channels and identify and plan potential local partnerships or alliances that could enhance market reach and capabilities.

-        Originate sales opportunities and identify and qualify potential leads through research, networking, and industry events.  Develop a process for nurturing leads through the sales funnel.

-        Build, nurture and develop relationships at multiple level with key stakeholders in the Italian industry, such as regulators, associations, EPC, BOP providers, owners engineering companies, local OEM vendors

-        Be the voice of our customers within Fluence, gather and disseminate competitive intelligence and bid feedback to improve Fluence offerings and go-to-market strategies.

-        Be the  Key Account Manager for the Italian based customers, pre and post sales activities.

-        Support the sales manager and the deal team during the bidding phase of storage projects in Italy region from early customer engagements, through to tender processes or bilateral offers, contract negotiations, and finally to successful closing, in close collaboration with the Growing Markets deal teams making sure that the offers reflects both customer and market needs and that relationship with customers are taken care of. 

-        Provide technical and commercial support during sales process – become a subject matter expert across all elements of Fluence’s technology and be able to answer a range of technical queries on our hardware, software, and services offerings.

-        Lead and collaborate with sales director, sales managers, commercial project management, legal, and sales engineering team members (“Deal Team”) to develop compelling offers for key customers.

-        Manage the negotiation and closing of transactions for energy storage products and services with the support of a Deal Team.

-        Deliver on quarterly and annual sales order intake and margin targets established in coordination with the Sales Director.

-        Support data driven decision making via Salesforce and other reporting/CRM tools including tracking customer interactions and opportunity pipeline management.

-        Collaborate with market applications and growth team to understand policy, regulatory and market opportunities that strengthen or weaken the business case with initial focus on Italy. Monitor the local competitive landscape and industry trends and proactively provide feedback to internal functions. Establish a feedback loop to communicate market insights and customer feedback internally.

-        Representation of Fluence at industry conferences and other events, Attend industry conferences, trade shows, and seminars to network with potential customers and partners.

-        Collaborate with Marketing team to develop or update sales materials such as brochures, presentations, and case studies that better fir the Italian BESS market.

-        Work closely with marketing, product development, and Growing Markets team to ensure alignment and support for sales initiatives.

-        Understand the regulatory environment and compliance requirements specific to the renewables sector and storage in Italy. 

-        Bachelor’s degree in a relevant subject (environmental studies, business, economics, engineering, sciences, computer science, mathematics, statistics, etc.) or equivalent demonstration through additional work experience.

-        3+ years of sales, technical or commercial experience in the renewable, power generation or a related industry (directly in energy storage would be a plus).

-        Demonstrated track record in building up sales pipelines successfully and driving contracts to efficient close as a deal team member.

-        Some direct experience on battery-based energy storage systems and contracting from a technical and commercial perspective.

-        Existing stakeholder relationships and network within Italian solar, wind or energy storage sector, including developers, IPPs and local EPCs.

-        Proficiency with MS Office (Excel, PowerPoint, Word). Experience with Salesforce, Klue, RFPio, PowerBI a plus.

-        Good verbal and written communication skills and high attention to detail.

-        Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work in a remote team environment, as well as good analytical skills and commercial acumen.

-        Strong verbal and written communication skills in English (in person and virtually). 

-        Fluency in Italian is a requirement, with proficiency in the other language being a valuable plus.

-        Ability to seek and give constructive feedback and advice.

-        Willing and able to travel, domestically and internationally (expected 30% of time).