Customer Engagement Manager

About us: OPTERRA is a national energy services organization that partners with public sector stakeholders to meet the unique goals of communities across the U.S. Our team customizes energy projects with top-tier technology to deliver lasting impact, enhancing fiscal savings and community engagement.

With over 50 years of experience, we ensure our customers' long-term success through tailored solutions that support their vision. By deeply engaging and understanding specific goals, we deliver on the mission our customers envision.

From 2016 -- 2025, OPTERRA Energy Services was previously owned by global energy company ENGIE, doing business as ENGIE Services U.S. In June 2025, national energy giant LS Power acquired the former ENGIE Services U.S. team and OPTERRA returned to its legacy name in the market.

Purpose

The Senior Customer Engagement Manager is responsible to create a relationship with the customer and deliver the customer centric programs.  The Sr. CEM. works in multiple markets; K12, Community Colleges, Universities, Cities, Special Districts, Airports, Waste Water Treatment Facilities and Municipal Facilities, requiring the employee to stay abreast of trends in the marketplace, continuing education to maintain credibility with the customer base while vetting and building relationships with best in class vendors and programs related to education, community engagement, internships, research and workforce development. The CES supports the team on grant submissions and awards related to the customer engagement programs and managing the relationship with the customer for the length of the customer engagement program.  This customer relationship, post construction, is important for maintaining positive references, continued collaboration and insight to further business opportunities

Reports to

Director of Customer Engagement

Location/Department

Eastern US; Can be remote

Vacancy Status

Local contract only

Status

Exempt (salaried)

Essential Job Functions

• Manage the customer relationships.
• Work in various markets; K12, Community Colleges, Universities, Cities, Special Districts, Airports, Waste Water Treatment Facilities and Municipal Facilities.
• Support the development of customer engagement programs with our customers, internal sales, operations and EMG staff to fulfill the requests.
• Develop the scope of work and cost for the customer program.
• Be the trainer for customer workshops during delivery portions of the program.
• Provide customer with communication platforms they request.
• Maintain the customer engagement budget for the customer program.
• Keep track of deadlines, training timelines, numerous accounts and specifics for each account.
• Remain in regular contact with the different accounts for the duration of the contract.
• Maintain reports for all project impacts, pictures and stories.
• Watch and vet trends in our various markets for growth of the program.
• Manage different regional partners for local programs.
• Carries out other duties as assigned.

Requirements

• Strategic Thinking to develop and deliver complex programs to complex customers in a multitude of markets.
• Emotional Intelligence - part of customer engagement is to determine, through conversations, the pain points that OPTERRA can support with the project. Utilizing high gain questions, empathy and the ability to quickly gain trust with customers is a must. 
• Self-Awareness - as customer engagement is building customer centric programs that meet the needs of the customer, the employee must remain objective while listening and developing the customer centric program.
• Social Awareness - have a deep understanding of how the organization operates and must build social capital to influence the stakeholders, from obtaining budget and resources to delivering the customer engagement program.
• Self-Management - manage deadlines, budgets, prioritized projects, and resource constraints with minimal daily feedback from your supervisor.
• Must have created lessons and/or led successful community engagement activities. Lessons and educational materials must have been tied to standards or relevant key performance indicators using an existing educational model; understanding by design, Stanford design model, 5 E or other relevant educational models.
• Delivery of educational materials and community engagement activities to K12, Community Colleges, Universities, Cities, Special Districts, Airports, Waste Water Treatment Facilities and Municipal Facilities.
• Working knowledge of conservation practices and trending environmental and human behavioral impact calculations.
• Must have experience in existing K12 state standards, Common Core and Next Generation State Standards or have relevant expertise in community engagement programming or have executed workforce development programming.
• Simultaneously track multiple customer engagement customers through deadlines, meetings, training timelines, and other activities.
• For this position, you must have evidence of right to work in the U.S. There is no employer sponsorship of U.S. residency or work authorization with this role.

Essential Physical Abilities

• Ability to meet highest attendance requirements.
• Ability to communicate effectively, both written and verbally.
• Ability to handle multiple assignments on a timely basis with a high degree of accuracy.
• Ability to use personal computer, calculator, etc.
• Ability to Travel up to 50% of the time.
• Occasionally move about inside the office to access file cabinets, office machinery, etc.
• Ability to get from office to off site customer meetings and events with materials.
• Could involve some lifting.

Education/Experience

• Minimum 5- 7 years of experience in energy, education, environmental, community engagement or workforce development programming
• Bachelor’s Degree, preferably in education or environmental fields 

Working Environment

Work environment characteristics described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.  

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is not exposed to weather conditions.

The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.