Head of Business Development

Commercial Austin, Texas, with regular travel to customers and industry events. Relocation within a few months is required if not already local; relocation assistance is available. Full-time

The Head of Business Development is a senior, hands-on seller and early commercial leader responsible for turning market demand into qualified customer commitments. This is initially an individual-contributor role. This person will inherit Terminus’s active pipeline and personally originate, qualify, advance, and negotiate opportunities while building the foundation for a future commercial team. The role covers account development and technical discovery through proposals, Production Slot Reservation Agreements, customer qualification, commercial negotiation, and eventual definitive purchase agreements.

Working across engineering, manufacturing, finance, legal, and partnerships, this person will build customer trust, align demand with product and future capacity, and establish a repeatable sales process. Success will be measured by qualified pipeline created, customer-backed commitments, signed reservations, forecast accuracy, and credible conversion paths to definitive orders.

• Commercial Strategy & Pipeline Ownership:
  Own the commercial plan, account priorities, and full opportunity pipeline; establish clear stage and qualification standards; maintain a forecast by units, GVA, indicative value, delivery need, probability, and next action; and remain accountable for qualified demand, signed reservations, and eventual orders.
• Account Origination & Executive Relationships:
  Build senior relationships across investor-owned and public utilities, cooperatives, power producers and developers, data centers and other large-load customers, EPCs, and engineering firms; originate business through direct outreach, referrals, conferences, RFQs, representatives, and strategic partners.
• Technical Discovery, Qualification & Market Entry:
  Lead early requirements capture for application, voltage, MVA, quantity, configuration, delivery window, standards, site, and transportation constraints; partner with engineering on product fit; and navigate approved-vendor, factory-audit, testing, and new-manufacturer qualification processes.
• RFQs, Proposals & Commercial Execution:
  Own bid/no-bid decisions and coordinate RFI, RFQ, RFP, indicative-pricing, and proposal responses; convert qualified interest into technically supportable Production Slot Reservation Agreements; lead commercial and legal negotiations; and drive the path toward definitive purchase agreements as Terminus becomes ready.
• Customer Stewardship & Cross-Functional Alignment:
  Remain the executive commercial owner after signature; coordinate progress updates, technical reviews, facility diligence, and qualification-readiness evidence; communicate milestones and risk candidly; and translate customer demand into product, pricing, capacity, factory-planning, and financing decisions.
• Commercial Systems, Market Presence & Team Building:
  Build disciplined CRM, forecasting, follow-up, proposal, pricing-approval, and account-review processes; maintain accurate customer data and competitive intelligence; represent Terminus at industry events; manage external representatives; personally run the commercial cadence today; and help recruit and lead a lean commercial team as demand and capacity justify it.

• Typically 8+ years of customer-facing sales or business development experience involving complex, engineered, capital-intensive products or infrastructure. Demonstrated sales results matter more than employer pedigree or a rigid tenure requirement.
• A record of personally originating, qualifying, advancing, and winning multi-million-dollar, long-cycle opportunities. Candidates should be able to explain their individual role, deal size, sales cycle, obstacles, and outcome.
• Customer-facing sales or business development experience in the power or electrical industry, including utility power-delivery equipment, substations, EPC services, or power development.
• An existing, active network of relationships with utility, power-producer, EPC, and data-center buyers in the U.S., built through personal selling;
  Texas and Southeast relationships are especially valuable.
• Strong consultative selling ability, including gaining access to senior and technical stakeholders, uncovering customer requirements, building internal champions, and keeping complex opportunities moving…