Director, Environmental Compliance & Sustainability

Company Overview

Driven by our vision of the affordable, reliable, net-zero carbon grid of the future, Mainspring has developed a new category of power generation — the linear generator — that delivers local, scalable, and fuel-flexible power to help accelerate the transition to the net-zero carbon grid.

The unique combination of attributes offered by Mainspring’s linear generator enables applications on both the commercial and utility sides of the meter for the $816B global electricity equipment market. We serve a wide range of Fortune 500 customers across markets and industries as well as top-tier utilities and other gridside providers.

We are looking to build relationships with people who share our values:

• Pragmatic Optimism. Building a new category of world-class power generation requires the optimism of ambition and creativity, balanced with practicality to solve problems efficiently. The challenges that arise are opportunities for growth.
• Excellence without Ego. We bring expertise and commitment to creating the best customer experience, from sales to deployment and service, just as we apply deep technical rigor to building and delivering world-class products. We strive for excellence and behave as leaders with the humility to acknowledge our challenges, both collectively and as individual contributors.
• Proactive Collaboration. The integration and cross-disciplinary nature of Mainspring’s business requires intentionally seeking out others who bring different skills, perspectives, and priorities. Our culture of inclusion and respect extends beyond our team to interactions with our partners and customers.

Mainspring is based in Menlo Park and has partnered with top-tier investors and utilities such as Khosla Ventures, Bill Gates, NextEra, and American Electric Power. More information can be found at www.mainspringenergy.com.

Responsibilities

We are seeking a dynamic person who can manage and drive the environmental and sustainability strategy, execution, and compliance program across our expanding project portfolio. You will work cross functionally with our project delivery, legal, public affairs, operations, and product teams to ensure project success across the United States. As a key member of the team, you will be responsible for engaging with customers, environmental regulatory agencies, and other external entities as you lead the environmental policy and compliance function for the organization. You will have specific expertise with interpreting air permitting rules and policies, and the ability to meet with air permitting authorities to educate them on linear generator technology, as well as deep knowledge of relevant environmental regulations that could impact Mainspring’s business.

The Director of Environmental Compliance and Sustainability will:

• Provide overall leadership for Mainspring’s environmental strategy and compliance program
• Track national and international environmental policy and develop strategies to influence areas relevant to Mainspring
• Research and interpret permitting rules/policies to develop and manage internal strategies that streamline and best ensure successful execution of authorities to construct and permissions to operate
• Ability to manage complex projects with a broad range of stakeholders including regulators, customers, and industry groups
• A deep understanding of the environmental policy landscape in areas that could impact the company
• Navigate state agency and utility organizations to educate key stakeholders about the linear generator and its capabilities, attributes, and benefits
• Interview, select, and engage outside counsel and consultants to inform environmental strategy, including air permitting, and advocate to key stakeholders
• Collaborate with internal engineers and sales/business development stakeholders to develop internal testing programs that aid in permitting authority discussions

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required, and Juris Doctor (JD) preferred
• 15+ years of work experience with at least 10+ years of relevant environmental experience
• Ability to quickly understand existing permitting rules/policies and to develop and drive strategic action
• Comprehensive knowledge of local, state, and federal environmental laws (e.g., CERCLA, NEPA, CAA)
• Well versed with California-specific permitting rules and regulation (BAAQMD, SCAQMD, etc.)
• Ability to develop compelling arguments that support our permitting strategies and positions with a proven track record of successful negotiations
• Ability to select and manage outside counsel and consultants to support specific matters, including Mainspring’s permitting strategy development and state/local advocacy

The Bay Area salary for this role is $180k-205k base + pre-IPO stock options + benefits. This position can be hybrid. The salary will be adjusted to reflect local market conditions based on employee location as well as the experience of the employee.

Does your experience not meet all of our posted requirements? Studies have shown that some people are less likely to apply to positions unless they meet every listed requirement. At Mainspring, we are committed to building a diverse, inclusive, flexible, and collaborative environment, so if you want to help us transition the world to clean and affordable electricity, and don’t meet all posted requirements for a particular role, we’d still love to hear from you. Mainspring can sometimes be flexible enough to shift responsibilities for the right person, or otherwise identify open or upcoming roles that may better fit your professional background.

In more traditional words, Mainspring Energy, Inc is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.