City of Austin - JOB DESCRIPTION

Key Account Manager

This position is responsible for managing Austin Energy's (AE) business relationships with Key Account commercial and industrial customers with technical and complex energy requirements. This position performs account management activities and acts as a resource and facilitator to resolve customer issues as they arise.

1. Acts as the trusted energy advisor, single point of contact, and customer liaison between the customer and utility, delivering excellent customer service. Builds and maintains excellent business relationships with multiple levels of contacts within assigned companies ranging from technical to the executive level.
2. Informs customers on AE's technical, engineering, and distributed energy resource products and services. Maintains a thorough understanding of service delivery configurations, rate structures, laws and policies, power quality and reliability, energy conservation, reliability, demand response, green building, renewable energy, and distributed energy resources.
3. Coordinates, assembles, and leads cross-functional teams to resolve customer issues. Makes recommendations to achieve bilateral goals and resolve problems between AE and customers.
4. Works with the Chamber of Commerce, Economic Development, and Key Account customers on new construction projects. Leads internal cross-functional efforts and effectively communicates with customers regarding AE’s new construction processes, timelines, and design criteria, as well as Green Building programs.
5. Provides detailed planning and follow up information for both scheduled and unscheduled outages. Keeps customers apprised during outages and energy emergencies. Participates in root cause analysis of outages and coordinates development of strategies to improve reliability.
6. Develops and implements account plans, communication plans, and outreach strategies to meet each customer’s needs and Austin Energy program and strategic goals.
7. Maintains customer account history in customer relationship management software.
8. Writes competitive proposals for the entire suite of AE products and services by negotiating agreements with legal, engineering, and financial officers.
9. Serves on cross-functional teams to ensure continuous improvement of internal processes and procedures. Leads, as necessary, the development of new or revised business processes, policies, or programs.
10. Follows all safety protocols and actively supports the safety of both customers and employees in the workplace and in the field.

May provide leadership, work assignments, evaluation, training, and guidance to others.

• Knowledge of utility industry functions such as rates, reliability, renewable energy, demand response including automation, and energy conservation.
• Knowledge of Microsoft Office, SalesForce, and customer relationship management software.
• Knowledge of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas and the nodal power market.
• Skill in leadership and project management to lead employees or groups who are not direct reports.
• Skill in communicating openly and freely with highly-specialized personnel regarding technical, engineering, and complex issues.
• Skill in organization and time management.
• Skill in oral and written communication and presentation.
• Ability to communicate associated technical concepts to non-industry individuals and executives at assigned companies.
• Ability to work various shifts, on-call and call back hours, typically in support of outages or energy emergencies.
• Ability to produce positive solutions for customer service in a challenging environment through negotiation or persuasion while balancing the needs of AE and the customer.
• Ability to use utility knowledge to develop creative solutions to address complex and technical customer issues.
• Ability to accurately calculate a commercial customer’s complex energy bill using meter or billing data and to recommend appropriate rate options.
• Ability to prepare, interpret, and negotiate complex energy and construction contracts.

• Graduation with a Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university with major course work in a field related to Business, Marketing, Engineering, or Liberal Arts, plus six (6) years of experience in account management, B2B sales, customer service, energy efficiency, corporate sustainability, project management, electrical design or facilities management, or other directly related experience, including at least two (2) years of utility experience.
• Experience may substitute for education up to four (4) years.
• Graduation with a Master’s degree in Business Administration from an accredited college or university or Professional Engineer (PE) license may substitute for up to two (2) years of experience.

• Must be able to bend, lift, walk, carry, or use a force equal to lifting up to ten (10) pounds frequently and greater than ten pounds of force occasionally.
• Must be able to view a computer screen and possess the manual dexterity required to operate a personal computer on a frequent basis.
• Must be able to climb ladders and traverse construction job sites with up to one (1) mile of walking over raw terrain.
• Must be able to endure frequent outdoor activity, sitting, standing, walking, squatting, bending.
• Must be able to endure occasional exposure to extreme heat, cold, inclement weather, noise, mechanical hazards, fume/odor/dust hazards, electrical hazards, kneeling, and crawling.
• Must be able to travel out of town for meetings or conferences, when necessary.