The posting
Summary
As the Business Development Manager for Engineered Enclosures and Power Infrastructure, you will build Crenlo's position in three markets where we do not have a meaningful presence today: power generation, utility and grid infrastructure, and data center power infrastructure. This is a new-logo hunting role. You will open doors with OEMs, packagers, EPCs, developers, and integrators, qualify the work that fits Crenlo's fabrication, welding, and finishing capability, and close awarded programs that put new volume into our plants, starting with Greeneville, Tennessee.
What we sell into these markets is one product family across three buying centers: engineered steel enclosures, control and relay houses, e-house and switchgear structures, genset and turbine packaging enclosures, and related heavy weldments. Crenlo already builds sealed, welded, painted, and wired steel structures to tight tolerances for the leading off-highway OEMs. A control house is a cab that does not move. Your job is to make that case to buyers who have never heard of us, and to win.
We are looking for someone who already knows the buyers. You arrive with active relationships in power generation, utility and infrastructure, or data center markets and put them to work in your first 90 days. You build your own pipeline, set your own pace, and do not wait for marketing leads or a finished product catalog. You will report directly to the Vice President of Sales and have direct access to plant leadership and engineering.
Crenlo is an AI-forward organization and has incorporated AI into how we operate. You are expected to use these tools in the daily work of prospecting, research, and pursuit preparation, and to adopt new ones quickly as they are introduced.
Key Responsibilities:
Prospecting and New Account Development
- Build and work a prioritized target list of OEMs, packagers, EPCs, developers, and integrators across power generation, utility and grid infrastructure, and data center power, ranked by fit, size, and time to award.
- Open new accounts through your existing network and disciplined, weekly outbound prospecting. Set the meetings, lead discovery, and get Crenlo qualified and onto approved vendor lists.
- Build and maintain a pipeline large enough to deliver the annual awarded-value target through long sourcing and supplier qualification cycles.
- Map each target account's decision makers, influencers, and sourcing authority, and build relationships across engineering, sourcing, project, and executive levels.
Market Intelligence and Events
- Track demand, capacity, and sourcing trends in all three markets, including where OEMs are insourcing enclosure and packaging work and where they need outside capacity.
- Maintain a current view of the competitive landscape, including enclosure and e-house builders and contract fabricators, and where Crenlo can win on capability, lead time, and cost.
- Bring customer requirements back to leadership, engineering, and operations in clear terms: what the market is asking for, the certifications and standards it expects, and what it would take for Crenlo to compete.
- Plan and lead Crenlo's presence at industry events such as POWERGEN International, DistribuTECH, and Data Center World, and convert those events into qualified meetings and RFQs.
Quoting, Pricing, and Deal Strategy
- Lead the RFQ process for your pursuits in partnership with estimating, engineering, and the plants, from drawing review through submitted quote.
- Set the pricing strategy for each pursuit and screen every opportunity against Crenlo's revenue and gross profit per square foot benchmarks and margin floor before it is quoted.
- Make go / no-go calls early and defend them. Walking away from work that does not fit is part of the job.
- Negotiate commercial terms within approved authority, and escalate to the Vice President of Sales on tooling amortization, margin or policy deviation, price or effectivity changes, no-quote decisions, and volume or terms commitments.
Channel Partners
- Build relationships with EPCs, manufacturers' representatives, integrators, and developers who can specify Crenlo or pull Crenlo into projects.
- Structure partner arrangements within approved terms and hold partners to clear pipeline and activity expectations.
Internal Alignment, Handoff, and Visibility
- Secure plant and engineering buy-in on each pursuit before it is quoted, including capacity, finishing, and lead time commitments. This role carries no direct authority over the plants and succeeds through clarity, credibility, and relationships.
- Lead a clean handoff from award to launch, with program requirements, customer contacts, and commitments documented so the receiving plant and account team can execute.
- Report pipeline, forecast, and pursuit status to the Vice President of Sales on a weekly cadence, raising risks to the plan early.
- Keep target lists, contact maps, opportunities, quotes, and forecast current in Salesforce so market knowledge belongs to Crenlo rather than to an individual.
- Use Crenlo's AI and analytics tools to accelerate account research, market analysis, and preparation of customer-facing material, verifying output before it is used or shared.
Role Success:
First 90 Days
- Go-to-market plan reviewed and agreed with the Vice President of Sales: priority accounts by market, events calendar, and channel partner targets.
- Prioritized target list across all three markets loaded in Salesforce, with contact maps on the top 20 accounts.
- 25 or more first meetings held with decision makers or influencers at target accounts.
- First RFQs in hand, at least three quotes submitted, and supplier qualification under way at five or more target accounts.
First Six Months
- Qualified pipeline of at least two times the annual awarded-value target, documented in Salesforce.
- First program awarded.
- Approved vendor status secured at three or more target accounts, and at least two channel partners actively bringing opportunities.
First Year (2027)
- $30M of new business awarded, measured as awarded peak annual value: Power Generation $12M, Utility and Infrastructure $15M, Data Center Infrastructure $3M.
- Awarded work at or above the approved margin floor [25% standard gross margin - confirm] and the revenue per production square foot screen.
- Quote win rate tracked and improving quarter over quarter.
- A clean award-to-launch handoff on every awarded program, with no commitments made outside approved authority.
- CRM discipline: target lists, contact maps, opportunities, quotes, and forecast maintained in Salesforce.
Requirements:
- Bachelor's degree in Business, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
- 7+ years of B2B sales or business development in power generation, utility and grid infrastructure, or data center markets, with a hunter's record of opening new accounts.
- Background with one or more of: an enclosure, e-house, control house, or modular power building manufacturer; a contract fabricator or manufacturer serving power and electrical equipment OEMs; or an EPC, developer, or manufacturers' representative firm in these markets.
- An active network of decision makers and influencers at OEMs, packagers, EPCs, utilities, or data center developers that can be put to work immediately.
- Track record of meeting or exceeding new business quotas, with awarded programs you can name and size.
- Experience selling engineered-to-order or custom-fabricated steel products, with the ability to read drawings, specifications, and cost breakdowns.
- Experience navigating approved vendor lists, supplier qualification, and long sourcing cycles.
- Working knowledge of UL 508A, NEMA enclosure ratings, IEEE standards, and utility or data center specification practices preferred.
- Familiarity with a value-based selling methodology, such as Force Management Command of the Message, preferred.
- Experience using Salesforce CRM for pipeline management, forecasting, and reporting.
- Excellent written and verbal communication, presentation, and negotiation skills, including at the executive level.
- Demonstrated use of AI tools in a commercial or business setting, or clear evidence of rapid, self-directed learning of new technology.
- Based in, or willing to relocate to, the Bentonville, Arkansas area.
- Ability to travel 60 to 80% of the time.
Key Competencies:
- Hunter Mentality: Builds pipeline from a standing start, prospects every week, and treats a no as information rather than a stopping point.
- Self-Starter and Self-Motivated: Sets their own targets and pace, and sustains momentum without management oversight, a built-out playbook, or inbound leads.
- Network Leverage: Turns existing relationships into meetings, RFQs, and introductions quickly, and keeps building the network once here.
- Commercial Judgment: Understands how Crenlo makes money on fabricated work, knows which opportunities fit, and walks away from the ones that do not.
- Influence Without Authority: Moves plant leadership, engineering, and estimating toward a pursuit through clarity, credibility, and relationships rather than reporting lines.
- Executive Communication: Frames Crenlo's capability in terms a customer's sourcing and engineering leadership find credible, and frames customer needs in terms the plants can act on.
- AI Fluency and Adaptability: Treats AI as a standard part of the toolkit for research, analysis, and preparation. Evaluates output critically rather than accepting it at face value, and picks up new tools quickly.
- Exemplify and Embrace Crenlo's Values and Principles
This position description is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities and competencies required of this position. Employees are held accountable for all aspects of the job, which are subject to change at any time. An individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed are representative of the knowledge, skill and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
Requirements:
- Bachelor's degree in Business, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
- 7+ years of B2B sales or business development in power generation, utility and grid infrastructure, or data center markets, with a hunter's record of opening new accounts.
- Background with one or more of: an enclosure, e-house, control house, or modular power building manufacturer; a contract fabricator or manufacturer serving power and electrical equipment OEMs; or an EPC, developer, or manufacturers' representative firm in these markets.
- An active network of decision makers and influencers at OEMs, packagers, EPCs, utilities, or data center developers that can be put to work immediately.
- Track record of meeting or exceeding new business quotas, with awarded programs you can name and size.
- Experience selling engineered-to-order or custom-fabricated steel products, with the ability to read drawings, specifications, and cost breakdowns.
- Experience navigating approved vendor lists, supplier qualification, and long sourcing cycles.
- Working knowledge of UL 508A, NEMA enclosure ratings, IEEE standards, and utility or data center specification practices preferred.
- Familiarity with a value-based selling methodology, such as Force Management Command of the Message, preferred.
- Experience using Salesforce CRM for pipeline management, forecasting, and reporting.
- Excellent written and verbal communication, presentation, and negotiation skills, including at the executive level.
- Demonstrated use of AI tools in a commercial or business setting, or clear evidence of rapid, self-directed learning of new technology.
- Based in, or willing to relocate to, the Bentonville, Arkansas area.
- Ability to travel 60 to 80% of the time.
