Finding and Filling Jobs in Cleantech (part 1 of 2)
Work on Climate interviews cleantech recruiter Sabrina Dove-Petrigh
Sabrina Dove-Petrigh is the founder and principal of Pacific Search Firm, a San Francisco Bay Area–based recruitment firm specializing in cleantech and sustainable technologies. She sat down for a chat with Sam Steyer and Richard Kim to share her thoughts and experiences with the Work on Climate community.
We’ve split this interview into two parts. In this Part 1, Sabrina introduces herself and discusses the cleantech industry and job market generally. In Part 2, she’ll discuss networking, transitioning into clean tech, and her advice for founders looking to hire.
SS: Sabrina, thank you so much for making the time to do this with us. I know the Work on Climate community is really excited to hear about your path and your company.
To start with, could you just tell us about Pacific Search Firm?
I began working in the cleantech recruitment space twelve years ago and never stopped! I decided to launch my own cleantech recruitment company, Pacific Search Firm, about five years ago. Pacific Search Firm is a recruitment partner and advisor to early-stage cleantech and sustainability startups. We source and recruit critical senior technical and leadership roles.
It has been a fantastic experience to have started working with clients when they were at a very early stage — oftentimes, under ten employees — and to grow alongside them by helping them to build entire teams. It’s also very satisfying to work with brilliant individuals who are committed to the space, understand what really inspires them, and then match them with some of my (also) brilliant clients!
The cleantech industry and job market
RK: What is cleantech generally? For people in our community who don’t necessarily know.
Cleantech is any technology that reduces greenhouse gas emissions or negative environmental impacts, or increases efficiencies by using natural resources that are not harmful to the planet. It’s helping the planet, creating more sustainability, creating more sustainable products.
SS: You know, I think for people who are new to clean energy, oftentimes solar comes to mind first. But you were touching on that there’s lots of other kinds of solutions. What are some interesting clean energy companies beyond solar?
People do think of solar first, but it’s getting to be quite broader. There’s also batteries, carbon removal technologies, energy storage, advanced materials, climate monitoring and sensors, sustainable fashion and e-commerce, alternative meats, etc. All sorts of transportation. Most of my clients have a hardware component, but some are software only.
RK: So what kind of positions do you primarily recruit for?
Technical and senior leadership roles. Software engineers, embedded software engineers, lead mechanical design engineers, systems engineers, senior process engineers, software engineering managers, to Directors of Engineering, VP of Manufacturing, VP of Product, VP of Business Development, etc. So a variety of positions.
A lot of the companies are early-stage startups in the research or R&D stage. Typically, they’re looking for strong, hands-on, multi-disciplinary technical engineers and scientists to begin with.
And then, as the technology matures and they scale, they tend to build their manufacturing capacity, sales, product management, and marketing teams. They scale up, they need these VP of manufacturing and VP of sales kind of roles.
RK: If someone is reading this interview right now, who should call you up in order to find a job? Who are the candidates that you want to be finding the most right now?
Senior leaders and individual contributors in systems engineering, business development, electrical engineering, software engineering, process engineers and chemical engineers, controls engineers, mechanical design engineers, etc…. Individuals who have taken a product from 0 to 1 and who are open to being individual contributors or team leads. People who are very scrappy and hands-on, and also have strong fundamentals in their field are always in demand. Of course, you should be interested in the technology — or have experience with the specific technology. I’m willing to talk to a wide variety of people.
Sometimes I know that people get frustrated because they want to find their role in cleantech, and sometimes I’ve had people call me who are in, say, marketing, and they say “Well, we have this climate catastrophe. Why is it so hard for me to find a role? There should be thousands of jobs.”
A lot of these companies are early-stage. They’re trying hard, and the bulk of the people they need right now are hands-on individual contributor scientists and engineers, or technical directors, or VPs.
As they grow— the startups that are succeeding, that are getting past a certain point — then they need all the other people. They get to the point where they need a VP of marketing, and a product management team, and marketing and all that. They have to reach a certain point of success, I’m seeing, in order for them to need those kinds of roles.
“Some things I look for: if there’s a real excitement — the attitude about working for this company is there, … they ask excellent questions, they have done their research, they have a flexible curious attitude … .”
RK: What makes a good candidate for the kinds of roles that you’re looking for?
I’ll have a deep conversation with the founder of the company and the hiring manager, and I probe them with questions. One question I like to ask is, “One year into the job, what does this person have to achieve, such that you will feel confident this was a good hire?”
And so, it’s not things that the candidate has, it’s what can they do. What can they do? How can they achieve those kinds of milestones? And then I look for that, through the conversations that I have with candidates.
It’s kind of a broad question. But you know, some things I look for: if there’s a real excitement — the attitude about working for this company is there, they’re willing to be an individual contributor and do whatever it takes, if they really are excited about the mission of the company, they ask excellent questions, they have done their research, they have a flexible curious attitude — and that comes through in addition to their skills and their ability to be able to perform on these expectations.
RK: You mentioned related fields. Are there people in related fields to the companies that you work with who would be qualified for these jobs, but who might not think they are qualified? Like, what are some fields that people transition into cleantech from?
Absolutely. Oftentimes my clients are trying to do something that has never been done before. No one knows the answer. It’s helpful to have folks from a variety of different industries bring their backgrounds and approaches to try to solve a multidisciplinary tough problem.
For example, I could see how a carbon removal company could benefit from someone with batteries, consumer electronics, medical device, or aerospace industry experience. Or, there could be someone from a more established chemical company who could bring a lot of relevant experience to an early-stage battery startup. These are just a few examples.
RK: Are there other centers where you see a lot of these roles, other than the Bay Area?
Yes. For the U.S., Boston, NYC, Seattle, and Austin come to mind, but there are others. Some companies, of course, are allowing roles to be permanently remote, too, but they generally are software roles.
But I would say that the Bay Area with Stanford and Berkeley is a natural hub for this, with the Bay Area’s progressive adoption of a lot of environmental ideas — and with Google and the larger companies, like Apple, having these ambitious renewable goals, lends itself to this area being a hub.
But then overseas there’s Germany, and there’s of course China, Australia. So it’s not just the Bay Area, but there’s a lot here.
SS: I know you’ve said it’s easier to find a role for people who are an engineer or an operations person in a specific domain. But where have you seen people succeed in finding business roles, or policy roles, or non-technical roles in clean energy?
Yes, it definitely is possible for non-technical folks to get into clean energy. For example, I’ve placed business development leaders, technical writers, accountants, CFOs, HR managers, salespeople, marketing managers, product managers without technical backgrounds, for many of my cleantech clients. Of course, I should probably include myself there!
So for the non-technical people, you know what you do best, and there is a role for you to find your way, but it may not be what you think. It also may not start off as being a job immediately. There are a lot of different ways that you can contribute.
Our interview with Sabrina Dove-Petrigh will continue in Part 2, where she discusses networking, transitioning into clean tech, and her advice for founders looking to hire. Coming soon!
