Director, Energy Management

We are currently seeking an innovative, analytical leader to join our Property Operations team as Director of Energy Management. Under the direction of the Vice President, Property Operations, the Director of Energy Management will serve as the leader responsible for the day-to-day operations of Equity Residential’s $85MM energy management program covering electric, gas, water sewer expenses, and heating oil. You will use your demonstrated expertise in energy management to drive the strategy and execution of five core areas: energy analytics and reporting; budgeting of all expense, measurement and verification of sustainability project results; expense reduction through a robust utility bill auditing process; gas and electric procurement in deregulated markets; and benchmarking energy data to maintain compliance with local municipalities. You will also leverage your strengths in relationship building on a daily basis, partnering with colleagues across all levels and departments of the organization (Facilities, Investments, Revenue Management, Operations, etc) with the shared goal of maximizing the potential of asset performance to deliver results.

As the Director of Energy Management, you will be a part of a hardworking and fun team who collectively manages over $200MM in company expenses and $80MM in revenue. Our team supports programs across all business segments from operations to new construction to renovation and capital expenditures. As this position grows, there may be an opportunity to manage some of the other 55 expense and income categories that we consult on for the business. 

WHO YOU ARE

• An Energy and Utilities Master. You are passionate about energy and sustainability. You have deep expertise in this topic area and you enjoy everything from digging through data to developing a strategy.
• A Leader. You enjoy being the leader of a small team or functional area. Teaching and coaching is something you really enjoy. You are comfortable making decisions and enjoy the opportunity to collaborate and influence others.
• A Strong Communicator. You are articulate, effective, and persuasive in your verbal and written communication, helping you connect well with others. You don’t mind being in front of a room presenting information.
• Analytical. You like crunching large sets of data and telling a story with numbers. You believe that numbers never lie and are always on a quest to understand the facts. You are good at summarizing complex analysis in slides to communicate the story.
• A Strategist. You like to balance the big picture with the details to come up with the best strategy. You’re constantly thinking about how we can do it better and you love the art of figuring things out. You also like to plan before acting to ensure you are making the right move.
• A Project Manager. Multitasking is fun for you. You enjoy managing a lot of things at once and you don’t mind jumping from one topic to the next. You are comfortable living in the gray and embrace change. You don’t get stressed easily when there is more to do than time allows — you like the challenge! You are process oriented and nothing slips through the cracks on your watch, no matter how big or small.
• A Relationship Builder. Networking is something you really enjoy. You ask great questions and get curious about what makes people and businesses tick. You are highly collaborative and really enjoy being part of a team.
• Tech Savvy. Tools like email and internet access start as basic necessities in your daily operation. You love all things Google. You are also an expert Microsoft Excel user and know how to leverage its extensive capabilities. To help effectively convey your analysis, findings, and results, you take pride in creating effective and aesthetically pleasing charts and graphs.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

• Develop a proactive and overarching strategy to measure and verify the success of our sustainability programs year over year including solar panels, common area lighting retrofits, cogen systems, smart irrigation controllers, etc.
• Design enterprise-wide energy reports, communications, and training to improve our company’s energy management practices and involvement resulting in reduction in energy use.
• Analyze complex energy data extracted from various software programs to draw conclusions on our expenses that drive business insights and results. Prepare summary reports for the executive team.
• Manage our third party consulting firm to procure electric and gas contracts from 3rd party suppliers in deregulated markets in alignment with our energy procurement policy. This includes the evaluation of supplier bids, supplier selection, and the execution of contracts as well as reporting on energy contract results for our executive team.
• Partner with our energy accounting team to improve our utility expense visibility and forecasting. Improve our  accounting accrual process by supplementing accounting’s intel with findings from energy audits and information obtained from day to day operations and projects. 
• Communicate with external industry professionals to actively monitor trends within energy and sustainability markets. Understand market specific changes in technology, regulation, disclosure, etc. and makes appropriate recommendations to Equity’s ongoing sustainability programs and initiatives.
• Collaborate regularly with Sustainability, Energy Accounting, Property Management, Facilities, Investments and Capital teams, Operations staff, vendors, consultants, utilities, etc.to identify and realize opportunities for energy usage savings.
• Manage the utility bill auditing function to ensure our price and use are accurately billed by our providers with the goal of savings at least $1M annually through audits. This includes deep collaboration with our onsite property management teams to resolve equipment issues that may be causing the spike in expenses.
• Ensure we are in compliance with the energy benchmarking requirements of various municipalities that we operate in. Create a strategic plan for managing the increasingly stringent requirements and assess how we can use this data to find and implement energy reduction opportunities.
• Manage and prepare the budgets for $85M in energy expense across the company. Create energy budget models for new acquisitions or new construction developments. Prepare our quarterly earnings summary on utility expenses highlighting key reasons for variances to budget and YOY.
• Manage the energy team which currently includes one business analyst, one part-time manager and various consulting relationships and 3rd party vendor partners.
• Collaborate with our Resident Utility Billing Team (RUBS) to recover resident energy expenses in compliance with all laws.

REQUIREMENTS & PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE

• Bachelor's Degree required, preferably in Business, Engineering, or Energy Management. MBA or other advanced degree preferred.
• Certified Energy Manager (CEM), and Professional Engineer (PE), desired, but not required. 
• Familiarity with commercial building systems is a plus. Significant (minimum 8-10 years) experience in the area of creating, implementing, and managing Energy Management programs is required.
• Must have experience managing and leading a team to deliver shared results.
• Must have excellent analytical and quantitative data skills including advanced knowledge of MS Excel, significant project management experience at an enterprise scale, experience developing and executing strategy across a large organization.
• Ability to influence others and make good business decisions, to think creatively when problem solving for new solutions, to work on numerous projects concurrently while effectively prioritizing workload for the team.
• Must have excellent communication skills both written and verbal. Strong presentation skills required.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, with the ability to build positive working relationships (both one-on-one as well as in a team setting).
• Must have strong skills in Microsoft Excel, plus familiarity with other Microsoft Office programs and Google applications.

We recognize everyone has different needs outside of work. That’s why, in addition to a competitive benefits package (medical, dental, vision and paid time off), we offer many unique options to employees, like pet insurance and paid time off for community service projects. To learn more, view our Total Wellbeing page here.