About the Position:

Reporting to the VP of Incubation, the Director of Incubation drives investment activity across all technology disciplines to support the strategic and path finding activities for National Grid Ventures (NGV), IT, and the core businesses with a focus on pre-seed, seed, and series A investments. One quarter of our total investment dollars will be completed in these investments bands. Managing incubation facilities and/or incubator relationships (e.g., Powerhouse Solar, LACI, Elemental) and incubation projects is also required in this job scope. The candidate is part of a very small team who finds, develops, defines, and closes equity investments in order to meet the present and future strategic objectives of various technology sectors within National Grid. Specific activities include: 1) identifying and screening potential deals and equity investments, 2) advising management about the merits of potential deals, 3) obtaining internal agreement on investment negotiating positions and strategies, 4) championing an appropriate number of deals through the NGV investment process, 5) searching for and leading category defining deals that have substantial impact for a business unit or that lead National Grid into new investment areas, 6) providing strategic guidance, management insight, and funding round assistance to improve the likelihood of National Grid realizing the strategic and financial benefits from investments for companies in the investment portfolio, 7) developing investment strategies that support National Gridechnology and path finding vision, and 8) acting as part of the external negotiating team. The candidate is responsible for deals from initiation through closing, and post-closing management. This position requires a high degree of interaction with organizations inside and outside the company at the executive level.

The Incubation team is a global team but currently located in the US only where the incubation ecosystem is robust. It focuses on generating commercial opportunities through incubation and early stage venture investing, addressing end customer needs, and providing insight into innovative technologies by enabling partnerships between the business groups within National Grid and the technology ecosystem. The position is located in San Francisco, CA and has coverage across all of the regions. The successful candidate will be a trusted partner to National Gridusinesses, and their expertise, insights and thought leadership will be welcome and sought after.

Position Responsibilities (including but not limited to):

• Lead National Gridelationship with the entrepreneur and early stage venture capital ecosystems, including

• Sourcing incubation candidates and early stage entrepreneurial projects that align with National Gridurrent and future vision.
• Evaluating and conducting due diligence in potential investments and presenting investments to the NGV Investment Committee for approval.
• Closing relevant investments and producing strong financial returns for NGV as measured by net profit, and positive cash on cash returns, IRR, and realized/unrealized gains.
• Disseminating learnings from the marketplace, venture capitalists (VCs), and from portfolio companies throughout National Grid businesses.
• Collaborating with the business units to identify key areas and unmet needs that our Incubation pipeline companies could address.
• Partnering with the Group T&I Business Development team to conduct events for VCs and portfolio companies with National Grid and its partners for knowledge sharing and to identify customer/partner engagement opportunities.
• Manage activities associated with the incubation portfolio and VCs, including interfacing with legal, finance, marketing/PR, and accounting.
• Serve as the Incubation technology interface for National Grid Ventures:

• Represent NGV at and attend venture and entrepreneur forums (e.g., Y-Combinator Demo Day, Demo 20xx).
• Develop and manage relationships with other technology investors.
• Speak at external events/panels at industry conferences to highlight National Gridsnovation activities as a means of facilitating relationships with the technology community.
• Work closely with the broader Group T&I team to ensure seamless effective fulfillment of overall mission:

• Collaborate with Group T&I teams on identifying early stage ventures with promising technologies to meet key business needs for National Grid.
• Share developments and knowledge for inclusion in National Grid knowledge base and internal communication efforts.
• Contribute insights to Group T&I reporting activities to National Grid audiences and support bi-annual reporting on technology and innovation to National Grid senior leadership.

Qualifications

Knowledge & Experience Required:

• Undergraduate degree in Science, Math, or Engineering preferred, start-up entrepreneur experience required.
• Substantial and direct experience in energy, consumer, and IT investing within the incubation and early stage venture capital segment. tailed knowledge and understanding of strategic technology areas, related business models, and trends for energy, consumer, and IT products and solutions.
• Utility experience is a plus, with technology, business development, or alliance focused knowledge required.
• Understanding of financial concepts and ability to model business scenarios (including pro-forma financial statements and IRR analysis).
• Proven network of relationships in early stage venture capital and technology industries
• Self-starter and strategic thinker with a track record of working from a blank slate in creating strategies and plans for "greenfield" initiatives. perience interfacing with senior executives of large technology companies or end user customers.

Leadership Characteristics Required:

• Expert communication (written and spoken) and relationship-building skills are critical, as the person in this position will serve an important role for both VCs and entrepreneurs interfacing with senior executives externally and within National Gridusinesses.
• Ability to establish relationships at all levels within a global business and provide subject-matter expertise and advice relevant to specific business needs
• Strategic and entrepreneurial thinker with the ability to handle complexity and ambiguity, and correctly prioritize multiple deals and activities while focusing on achieving both short-term and long-term objectives.
• Demonstrated ability to constructively influence decisions and collaboratively evolve the status quo, requiring situational adaptability to act as a leader, a facilitator and a participant
• Drive for continuous development of both self and team members
• Comfortable working in a matrix organization and effectively engaging with multiple stakeholders at various levels in the organization

National Grid is an equal opportunity employer that values a broad diversity of talent, knowledge, experience and expertise. We foster a culture of inclusion that drives employee engagement to deliver superior performance to the communities we serve. National Grid is proud to be an affirmative action employer. We encourage minorities, women, individuals with disabilities and protected veterans to join the National Grid team.