New Leaf Energy (NLE) is a national leader in clean energy project development, with a long and successful history first as Borrego Energy’s project development division and then as a stand-alone company.  ECP, a leading energy transition focused private equity firm, bought Borrego’s development business in 2022 and founded NLE.  Since that time, the company’s product-market mix has grown and diversified, its capital needs have proliferated, and it has become more complex, financially and otherwise.

It is in this dynamic context that NLE seeks to hire a Senior Vice President, Finance and Capital (SVP). Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer, the SVP will carry responsibility for all the company’s finance and accounting needs, shaping the company’s financial strategy and execution and keeping the company flexible, dynamic, and growing.  The SVP will lead NLE’s financial operations, capital markets engagement, and financial planning and analysis.  They will partner closely with teams across the company to evaluate new business opportunities, support strategic decision-making, and build the financial infrastructure needed for the company to grow in service of its mission and financial performance.

The ideal candidate brings deep renewable energy finance experience, strong business judgment, and the ability to balance strategic vision with operational execution in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment.  Most importantly, our new SVP should be a paragon of the company’s three cultural pillars: transparency, respect, and humility.  This position is CFO-track; at the moment we believe SVP is the appropriate level, but you can be promoted to CFO with great performance and company growth that warrants executive team expansion.

Position responsibilities will include, but are not limited to: 

Strategic Leadership

• Partner with the CEO, Executive Team, and Board to shape and execute NLE’s strategy.
• Collaborate cross-functionally to evaluate business opportunities and market strategies.
• Provide financial insight and decision support for investments.
• Help the organization remain agile and financially disciplined amid evolving market conditions, policy changes, and industry disruption.

Team Leadership

• Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing team, fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration, continuous improvement, and business partnership.
• Oversee accounting, FP&A, treasury, tax, payroll, audit, and financial reporting functions.
• Drive process improvements and systems enhancements that increase efficiency, transparency, and analytical capability across Finance and Accounting operations.
• Ensure accurate and timely financial reporting, budgeting, forecasting, and cash flow management.
• Drive boundaryless improvements in financial literacy and the ways it can be used to aid operational decision-making across the business.
• Establish and maintain strong internal controls, financial policies, and governance practices that support a growing and increasingly complex organization.

Corporate Finance and Capital Strategy

• Lead the company’s overall capital strategy, ensuring the company has the money it needs to fuel operations and growth.
• Oversee capital markets activities, including acting as primary commercial lead on key transactions.  More than any other area, this is what has become more complex at NLE over the last year, with the company entering more capital-intensive business lines.
• Lead relationships with investors and lenders, helping position the company for continued growth and operational flexibility.

Risk Management, Compliance, and Governance

• Oversee enterprise risk management.
• Lead tax strategy.
• Ensure compliance with lender, investor, audit, tax, and regulatory requirements.
• Maintain strong relationships with external auditors, lenders, investors, and strategic partners.

Desired Qualifications 

While no one individual will possess them all, the successful candidate will bring many of the following experiences, skills, and attributes. If you’re unsure of whether you meet enough of the qualifications below but believe that your experience and skill set is a good match for this position, we invite you to apply!

• 12+ years of progressive finance leadership experience, ideally including experience as a senior finance leader in a growth-oriented renewables company.
• A track record of building and leading collaborative, engaged, and high-performing teams in fast-paced, entrepreneurial, and evolving organizations, and the ability to build scalable systems and processes that support sustainable growth.
• Ability to align financial strategy with long-term business objectives and evolving market conditions.
• Demonstrated success leading capital raises and capital markets activities, including experience with tax equity.
• Exceptional verbal, written, and interpersonal communication; the ability to communicate credibly with institutional investors, lenders, board members, and strategic partners.
• Strong project management skills and discipline.
• Sound and patient judgment.
• Passion for renewables and decarbonization.
• Maximum integrity and accountability, with affinity for NLE’s cultural pillars of transparency, respect, and humility.

Compensation

New Leaf Energy compensates all employees in three ways: market-competitive base salary, plus above-market variable compensation, plus an equity-like program such that all employees experience the benefits of ownership.  We use a data-driven and transparent methodology to calibrate compensation that is externally competitive and internally equitable, guided by the New Leaf Energy compensation manual, which is available to all employees.

New Leaf Energy benchmarks compensation to market data, but this is a new role for us, so we’re continuing to establish the base salary range. We expect it to fall between  $250,000-$300,000. Your actual salary may be above, in, or below this range, depending on your location and experience. Our office locations in Lowell, Boston, Oakland, and Chicago all carry geography-based upward adjustments to the base pay range. The on-target annual cash bonus associated with this position is an additional 40% of base salary. We value transparency and can share more during the interview process.