Business Development Director - Utilities

Responsibilities

Develop new utility relationships and qualified opportunities across investor-owned utilities, municipal utilities, and electric cooperatives, with a focus on priority accounts and sustainable growth. Coordinate technical and commercial teams through opportunity qualification and pursuit, maintain accurate CRM and forecasts, and transition developing relationships to strategic account management when appropriate.

Requirements

Requires 8 or more years of business development, strategic account, utility, engineering, construction, or related experience, with direct utility-market experience and established industry relationships strongly preferred. Candidates should understand utility procurement and power infrastructure, communicate effectively with senior and technical stakeholders, use CRM systems, and be able to travel regularly; a bachelor's degree is preferred.

Skills

• Utility Business Development
• Strategic Account Development
• Relationship Building
• Executive Access
• Account-Entry Planning
• Opportunity Qualification
• Sales Forecasting
• CRM Management
• Utility Procurement
• Vendor Qualification
• Master Service Agreements
• Power Infrastructure
• Transmission
• Substations
• Distribution
• Cross-Functional Collaboration

Benefits

• Paid Time Off
• Paid Parental Leave
• Flexible Work Schedules
• Tenure Awards
• Annual Bonuses
• Spot Bonuses
• Peer Recognition Awards
• 401(k) Match
• Tuition Assistance
• Student Loan Repayment
• Paid Licensing and Certification Fees
• Employee Referral Rewards
• Annual Wellness Reimbursement
• Medical Insurance
• Dental Insurance
• Vision Insurance
• Family Planning and IVF Benefits
• Pet Insurance
• Health Savings Account
• Flexible Spending Account
• Long-Term Disability Insurance
• Short-Term Disability Insurance
• Life Insurance
• Supplemental Accident, Hospitalization, and Critical Illness Benefits
• Counseling Services
• Legal Benefits
• Financial Consultations
• Work-Life Referral Services

About this role

Who We Are
Atwell, LLC is a bold leader in the consulting, engineering, and construction services industry, delivering a broad range of creative solutions to clients in the real estate & land development, and energy markets. We have a strong national presence and a diverse, award-winning project portfolio. Atwell is a privately owned company, with 2,000+ passionate team members across 75+ locations and growing!
Atwell, LLC is a proud recipient of the following 2025 awards:
Ten consecutive years in a row as a “Best Place to Work” by Zweig Group (#11)
Recognized as #70 in the ENR Top 500 Design Firms, ranked in every region
Recognized in Crain's “Fast 50” as one of the fastest-growing companies (#14)
Recognized as the 2025 ENR Design Firm of the year for the Southeastern US
About the Position
The Business Development Director - Utilities is responsible for opening and developing priority utility relationships that create sustainable growth for the Power & Energy business. The role is primarily a new-logo and early-stage relationship-development position: building access to targeted investor-owned utilities, municipal utilities, and electric cooperatives; understanding how each client buys; identifying the right entry point; and creating qualified opportunities that can grow into long-term strategic accounts.
This role works as part of a coordinated commercial team. The Business Development Director leads relationship creation and early opportunity development, while Strategic Account Management focuses on expanding established strategic accounts. Seller-doers, technical leaders, executive sponsors, estimating, and Sales Operations are brought into pursuits at the right time. Success requires disciplined prioritization - focusing resources on the utility accounts where Atwell and NEI have an attractive market opportunity, a credible right to win, and a clear path to meaningful work.
Salary Range: $175,000-$225,000 / year
The salary range above is based upon the Denver, Colorado labor market. NEI bases salaries on the Denver, Colorado labor market for both local and remote team members.
Essential Responsibilities
Meet or exceed assigned order intake targets while supporting appropriate profitability and pursuit discipline.
Build meaningful relationships and executive access within a defined portfolio of priority utility targets rather than broadly pursuing every available opportunity.
Create and execute account-entry plans for assigned targets, including relationship maps, buying centers, procurement pathways, incumbent providers, likely entry points, and clear 30/60/90-day actions.
Identify the most credible initial opportunity to open a relationship, then coordinate the appropriate technical and commercial resources to pursue it.
Develop relationships across multiple levels of the client organization, including business leaders, engineering, project/program leadership, procurement, and other key influencers.
Use existing Atwell and NEI relationships, referrals, executive sponsors, seller-doers, industry contacts, and market networks to accelerate access to target accounts.
Qualify opportunities before significant pursuit resources are committed, considering strategic fit, relationship strength, client need, funding, timing, competitive position, delivery capacity, profitability, and probability of win.
Coordinate with Strategic Account Managers when a developing relationship reaches the point where the primary growth motion shifts from market entry to systematic account expansion.
Partner with utility technical leaders and seller-doers to establish technical credibility and translate client needs into solutions across transmission, substations, distribution, system studies, field services, land, environmental, permitting, and other relevant Atwell capabilities.
Identify opportunities to bring multiple Atwell capabilities to the client while maintaining one coordinated client experience.
Maintain an accurate, current view of assigned accounts, relationships, opportunities, next actions, and expected timing in the CRM.
Provide realistic pipeline and order intake forecasts and proactively communicate changes, risks, and resource needs.
Capture market intelligence including capital programs, procurement cycles, MSAs and vendor qualification requirements, competitive dynamics, client priorities, and emerging utility needs.
Represent the organization at targeted industry events and client meetings where participation directly supports priority-account development.
Work with Sales Operations, estimating, pursuit support, and marketing to ensure opportunities move through a consistent commercial process from qualification through proposal and handoff.
How Success Will Be Measured
Order intake and qualified pipeline created from assigned utility targets.
Progress penetrating priority new-logo accounts, including meaningful relationships, executive access, vendor/MSA qualification, and first opportunities.
Quality and depth of relationship coverage within assigned accounts, not simply number of contacts or meetings.
Conversion of early-stage targets into qualified pursuits, first wins, and ultimately strategic accounts.
Forecast accuracy, CRM discipline, and clear next actions across the assigned portfolio.
Pursuit selectivity and efficient use of technical and estimating resources.
Collaboration across Power & Energy and the broader Atwell platform, including successful cross-service opportunities
Requirements
Demonstrated success developing business with electric utilities, preferably investor-owned utilities, municipal utilities, and/or electric cooperatives.
Established utility-industry relationships and the ability to create credible access to senior decision-makers are strongly preferred.
Working knowledge of how utilities plan, procure, qualify vendors, establish MSAs, fund capital programs, and award engineering or construction-related work.
Ability to understand client needs and credibly co...

About Atwell, LLC

Professional Services · 1,001-5,000 employees · headquartered in Southfield, MI