Manager, Charging and Energy Business Development

What Makes a Honda, is Who makes a Honda
Honda has a clear vision for the future, and it’s a joyful one.  We are looking for individuals with the skills, courage, persistence, and dreams that will help us reach our future-focused goals. At our core is innovation. Honda is constantly innovating and developing solutions to drive our business with record success.  We strive to be a company that serves as a source of “power” that supports people around the world who are trying to do things based on their own initiative and that helps people expand their own potential. To this end, Honda strives to realize “the joy and freedom of mobility” by developing new technologies and an innovative approach to achieve a “zero environmental footprint.”

We are looking for qualified individuals with diverse backgrounds, experiences, continuous improvement values, and a strong work ethic to join our team.

If your goals and values align with Honda’s, we want you to join our team to Bring the Future!

Job Purpose: 

Honda’s Sustainability and Business Development Business Unit is responsible for delivering Honda’s Triple Zero goals of zero carbon emitted from products and operations, zero carbon emitted from energy used throughout the entire value chain including product in-use, and zero use of raw resources by recycling and sourcing sustainable materials for all new products. Electric vehicles are key to achieving this vision, and the switch to electric vehicles opens up the opportunity for Honda to create new value for our customers by creating new products and services with EV charging and home energy management. The Department Lead of Charging and Energy Business Development will lead the teams who identify those new customer values and develop and execute strategies to deliver those new values, leading two units - Home Energy Business Development and Energy Service Business Development.

One of Honda's hypothesis about the business opportunity is that the flexibility of EV charging and the energy stored in the vehicle's battery provide opportunity to create new value, and Honda is conducting research and development and deployment of hardware and software solutions for controlled charging (V1G), Vehicle-to-Home (V2H), and Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G), and Home Energy Management (HEMS), as well as the installation and support services required to succeed in this new field. In addition, it is Honda's desire to eliminate CO2 emissions related to vehicle charging by matching renewable energy generation to vehicle charging and develop customer-facing solutions to deliver renewable energy to the customer.

There are many technical, economic, behavioral, societal, policy, political, legal, knowledge, and other barriers in place to executing on these home energy business opportunities, and Honda cannot solve all of them alone. This Department will oversee Honda's interaction with external parties such as our joint ventures ChargeScape and Ionna, our partnerships with Emporia surrounding home energy management, and with Electrum for sales and home installation. This Department will also oversee our strategy for our policy work with the Vehicle-Grid Integration Council (VGIC) and Alliance for Transportation Electrification (ATE) and other policy partners.

The Department Lead is responsible for maintaining the product and service and policy strategies, roadmap, and development plans and is accountable for the quality of the work produced by the teams. The Department will utilize effective cross-departmental communication to facilitate cross functional work. The Department Lead will be accountable for the company's KPIs related to success with home energy business, and for aligning strategies with product planners, HM, EVD, and HDMA, and for gaining approval of feature roadmaps and strategies including resource requests through applicable internal channels.

The Department Lead is responsible for the career growth and development and training of the team, providing people leadership towards successful execution of the business plan, and creating and maintaining a positive and productive working environment.

Key Accountabilities:

• EV Charging and Energy Business - Strategy Development and Execution:
  • Keep current with and understand the social, technological, and business trends impacting the EV Charging and Energy domain. Develop and maintain the business, technology, and policy roadmaps that will inform the strategy.
  • Through the business planning process, establish and align the objectives that need to be met by the EV Charging and Energy products and services offered by Honda in North America.
  • Identify key initiatives to be undertaken to execute the long-term strategy and estimate the resources (budget, tools, personnel, etc.) necessary to execute those initiatives.
  • Develop deep business model expertise, technical understanding, and policy understanding of V1G (Controlled Charging), V2H (Vehicle-to-Home), V2G (Vehicle-to-Grid, V2B (Vehicle-to-Building), V2M (Vehicle-to-Microgrid), Home Energy Management Systems (HEMS), and any other permutation of exploiting vehicle energy storage, residential energy storage, energy flexibility, and load control for the benefit of the Customer, Honda, Utilities, and Society (CO2 reduction).
  • Align the roles and responsibilities of other departments throughout the company.
  • Identify the internal and external resources that are necessary to execute the strategy.
  • Select ecosystem partners and negotiate agreements with suppliers and vendors.
  • Globally correlate the strategy with senior AHM management, as well as HM, HG, HDMA executives.
  • Execute the strategy by managing Product Leads, Business Analysts, and others to develop, launch, market/advertise, and handoff continual operations work.

• EV Charging and Business - Correlation and Reporting:
  • Develop and maintain KPI reporting documents to ensure that stakeholders throughout the organization are informed of the progress of initiatives.
  • Proactively escalate issues requiring senior management support and manage issues through to successful resolution. Proactively inform senior management of material decisions and project status, seeking understanding, alignment, and approval.
  • Own Department's themes, KPI's, and PDCA efforts for BRM planning, presentations at conferences, and in communication with other groups and both American and Japanese executive leadership members.

• Department Leadership:
  • As a Department Lead, ensure the clear understanding of the Company and Department vision, mission, objectives, and strategy of the Department with associates.
  • Take care of associate and contingent human resource needs. Provide effective on-boarding, training, coaching, mentorship, and career development support to Department staff. Deal with issues promptly, appropriately, and effectively.
  • Develop effective headcount plans and skills assessments to achieve the strategy objectives, seek approval for those headcount plans, and facilitate hiring and/or training of key personnel.
  • Assist staff members to break down strategies into discrete tasks that can be accomplished by individuals and teams and empower those individuals and teams to act. Provide the necessary tools and training so that staff members are equipped to succeed.
  • Establish goals and business objectives for each associate that are linked to and will result in the achievement of the overall company goals and objectives. Monitor the progress of each associate towards their goals.
  • Manage multiple separate Units with unique Business, Strategic, and HR needs.
  • Effectively lead cross-functional collaborations with other Business Units and Departments.

• Budget Management:
  • Accurately plan, forecast, and report Department budgets, including human resource and project budgets, and revenues and expenses of operating businesses.
  • Facilitate purchase orders, and track spending plan vs actual.
  • Be accountable for expenditures and their results.
  • Maintain current records of Department assets, including vehicles, tools, and other assets.

Qualifications, Experience, and Skills:

• BS in Engineering with 5+ years of Business Leadership experience, or Business Management education with 5+ years of demonstrated experience in a technical field
• Formal leadership and management training
• 10+ years of related automotive industry experience, ideally in product, planning, connected technology, or engineering
• 5+ years of strategy and roadmap development in electric vehicle hardware and systems development
• 5+ years leading cross-functional teams
• 5+ years managing customer and technology research and development programs
• 5+ years of successful leadership of people
• Demonstrated track record of launching products or services in the market
• 5+ years of management of resources and budgets
• Deep understanding of electric grid ecosystem, generation, transmission, and distribution or electricity
• Deep understanding of electric vehicle hardware, vehicle charging systems and communications technology
• Deep understanding of residential and commercial EV charging barriers and the learnings from the industry's experience at attempting to overcome those barriers
• Function in an agile project team as an executive sponsor. Understand and support the roles of product owner/LPL, Scrum Master/ALPL, or person-in-charge of a functional area for the project.
• Strong enthusiasm for Kaizen.
• Deep knowledge of fundamental enabling technologies for EV charging business and energy businesses, such as vehicle connectivity and smartphone apps and home energy management devices and functions.
• Strong enthusiasm for, and knowledge of the automative and IT industry; including brands, products and technology and demonstrate excellent planning, negotiating, analytical and presentation skills.
• Knowledge of automotive development disciplines, especially in infotainment and telematics systems (R&D and Manufacturing) preferred.
• Strong proficiency with MS Office is required, especially PowerPoint and Excel.
• Strong presentation skills and confidence in interacting with all levels of management and executives.
• Driver's license required and ability to operate a diverse assortment of automobiles.
• Strong ability to coach, train, and lead people to achieve their goals.
• Ability to identify required development goals and training necessary to achieve strategic outcomes.

Working Conditions:

• 75% - Normal office conditions – desk job with laptop, meetings, conference calls
• 25% - Travel – Ohio, Japan, Denver, Austin, Silicon Valley, Partner offices as required
• 100% - Joy of Creating

What differentiates Honda and make us an employer of choice?

Total Rewards: 

• Competitive Base Salary (pay will be based on several variables that include, but not limited to geographic location, work experience, etc.)
• Regional Bonus (when applicable)
• Manager Lease Car Program (No Cost - Car, Maintenance, and Insurance included)
• Industry-leading Benefit Plans (Medical, Dental, Vision, Rx)
• Paid time off, including vacation, holidays, shutdown
• Company Paid Short-Term and Long-Term Disability 
• 401K Plan with company match + additional contribution
• Relocation assistance (if eligible)

Career Growth:

• Advancement Opportunities
• Career Mobility
• Education Reimbursement for Continued Learning
• Training and Development Programs 

Additional Offerings:

• Lifestyle Account
• Childcare Reimbursement Account
• Elder Care Support
• Tuition Assistance & Student Loan Repayment
• Wellbeing Program
• Community Service and Engagement Programs
• Product Programs
• Free Drinks Onsite

Honda is an equal opportunity employer and considers qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected factor.