Founding Commercial Lead

Build Energy Infrastructure Faster

Location: San Francisco Bay Area

Role Type:
Full-Time, Contract-to-Hire

Compensation: Meaningful equity, market-rate salary as funding progresses

Sector: Energy Infrastructure / Climate Tech / Enterprise Software / Artificial Intelligence / Industrials / Finance

• Lead Offtake & Power Purchase Agreement Strategy
  Own strategy and execution for corporate offtake agreements, fuel contracts, and innovative procurement structures—bridging the gap between early buyer conversations and contract-ready deal terms, timelines, and requirements.

• Shape GTM Strategy, Originate & Close Deals
  Build relationships with sustainability teams, project developers, and investors. Bring deals from sourcing to signature.

• Standardize Project Diligence
  Help define the templates, data rooms, and commercial terms that unlock bankability for new tech.

• Bridge Commercial Background and Product Management
  Translate buyer pain points into product requirements that streamline contracting and de-risk transactions. Stay plugged into product management and operations work so we ship what customers need and execute reliably.

• Be a Founding Operator
  Exhibit an 'owner's mindset', ready to pivot quickly from executive-level strategy to granular operational tasks or customer-facing support in a fast-paced environment.

• Have led or supported PPA, offtake, or long-term fuel contract negotiations (corporate or developer side)

• Bring commercial structuring experience, including shaping terms, risk allocation, and bankability for complex deals

• Understand the building blocks of project finance and how investors evaluate risk

• Have worked at the intersection of commercial strategy and energy project development

• Have an investment and/or operations background (e.g., infra investing, project development ops, strategy & ops) that helps you execute end-to-end

• Thrive in ambiguous, early-stage environments and want to build something from scratch

• Excited to be a founding member or very early team member at a mission-driven startup

• Maintain a ‘player-coach’ mindset, balancing high-level strategic leadership with a willingness to execute day-to-day operations and resolve customer escalations as needed to ensure team and customer success.

• Strong network in the decarbonization ecosystem (corporate buyers, project developers, infrastructure funds)

• Experience on the legal or commercial side of large, complex transactions; if legal, experience working with or across from top-tier firms (e.g., Orrick) and/or hyperscaler counter parties

• Strong product instincts (especially helpful if the technical lead is more engineering-first)

• Understanding of marketplace infrastructure and business models

We’re looking for someone who is deeply motivated by climate impact and energized by the challenge of building from zero to one. You might be a fit if you are:

• Wildly driven and curious, and excited to throw yourself into the fire of an early-stage startup.

• The kind of person who keeps building and learning outside of work because you genuinely cannot help it.

• Someone with deep, niche intellectual obsessions. You love going down rabbit holes until you understand the thing better than almost anyone else.

You will thrive at Daylight if you:

• Exhibit high agency and take ownership end-to-end.

• Are highly collaborative and bring a low-ego, team-first approach.

• Bring compassion and deep care for the people you work with, and help create a supportive, high-trust community.

• Have real comfort with ambiguity, and can create structure where none exists.