Sales Manager - Data Center

About the Role

Responsible for leading new business development across Texas and adjacent U.S. markets. This hands-on, strategic hunter role requires creating opportunities from the ground up, building trusted relationships with data center developers and power-generation partners, and translating complex customer requirements into profitable equipment and service solutions.

Responsibilities

• Identify projects before equipment specifications, fuel strategies, and vendor decisions are finalized.
• Build relationships with data center developers, hyperscalers, colocation providers, utilities, behind-the-meter power providers, EPCs, OEMs, engineering firms, and equipment integrators.
• Map the Texas data center and power-generation ecosystem, prioritizing Houston, Central Texas, East Texas, and other high-growth markets.
• Generate new opportunities through disciplined outbound prospecting, referrals, industry relationships, customer visits, conferences, and trade shows.
• Develop account plans for priority targets and maintain regular activity against each plan.
• Monitor market trends, project announcements, permitting activity, power constraints, competitor moves, and customer requirements to inform territory strategy.
• Lead discovery with technical and commercial stakeholders to understand site requirements, project timing, gas supply, pressure and temperature requirements, redundancy expectations, telemetry needs, logistics, and operating constraints.
• Translate customer needs into fit-for-purpose Plum solutions involving pressure regulation systems, heaters, manifolds, filtration, conditioning, compression, telemetry, backup CNG supply, and related services.
• Present Plum’s value proposition clearly to executives, engineers, procurement teams, project managers, and site operators.
• Coordinate with engineering and operations to validate feasibility, scope, lead times, equipment availability, risk, and execution requirements before commercial commitments are made.
• Support customer education and early-stage solution development so Plum is positioned before formal RFP activity begins.
• Own the full sales process from initial contact through qualification, proposal, negotiation, award, and handoff.
• Develop proposals, pricing inputs, business cases, and commercial recommendations in partnership with internal stakeholders.
• Negotiate commercial terms within approved authority and protect revenue, margin, risk position, and long-term customer value.
• Manage complex, multi-stakeholder sales cycles with long lead times and significant technical, capital, and operational considerations.
• Identify opportunities to expand equipment sales into service, monitoring, maintenance, spare parts, mobilization, and other recurring-revenue offerings.
• Maintain clear opportunity documentation, close plans, decision criteria, competitive positioning, and next actions in the CRM.
• Serve as a visible, credible representative of Plum in the Texas market and at customer sites.
• Build long-term, trust-based relationships and act as a reliable point of contact throughout the commercial process.
• Work closely with the COO and data-center leadership on named-account strategy, executive relationships, pipeline reviews, and go/no-go decisions.
• Partner with marketing on campaigns, events, customer education, case studies, and market messaging.
• Provide feedback to engineering, manufacturing, operations, and leadership on product requirements, pricing, delivery expectations, competitor activity, and customer experience.
• Support a smooth transition from sales award to project execution, ensuring scope, assumptions, customer commitments, and commercial terms are understood by the delivery team.
• Deliver regular pipeline, forecast, activity, win/loss, and market updates to the COO and leadership team.
• Track performance against revenue, gross margin, new-account, pipeline coverage, conversion, sales-cycle, and customer-retention objectives.
• Use CRM and sales analytics to prioritize accounts, identify gaps, and improve forecast reliability.
• Maintain high standards for data quality, follow-through, responsiveness, and accountability.

Required Qualifications

• 8+ years of progressive B2B sales or business development experience, with a strong record of personally winning new business.
• Experience selling engineered equipment, capital equipment, energy infrastructure, power-generation solutions, gas equipment, or other technical industrial products.
• Demonstrated success selling to data centers, power-generation companies, utilities, EPCs, OEMs, developers, or comparable industrial customers.
• Established network across Texas and/or the broader U.S. data center, power, energy, industrial, or infrastructure market.
• Proven ability to manage complex sales cycles involving technical discovery, multiple decision-makers, proposals, negotiations, and contract awards.
• Strong understanding of consultative selling, account planning, pipeline management, forecasting, and CRM discipline.
• Ability to read and discuss technical concepts related to gas supply, pressure regulation, temperature control, filtration, conditioning, compression, manifolds, telemetry, and site operations.
• Willingness and ability to travel regularly to customer sites, project locations, Plum facilities, and industry events.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience selling natural gas equipment or solutions for data center, temporary power, behind-the-meter generation, microgrid, or remote industrial applications.
• Existing relationships with hyperscale or colocation data center developers, power providers, turbine or engine OEMs, EPCs, and engineering firms.
• Experience with engineered-to-order products, project-based sales, equipment rental or sale, or long-term service agreements.
• Bachelor’s degree in business, engineering, sales, marketing, energy, or a related field.
• Experience in a growth-stage, entrepreneurial, or highly technical operating environment.

Physical Demands

• Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
• Must be able to lift 15 pounds at times.
• Must be able to access and navigate each department at the organization’s facilities.

Travel Required: 50%