Tantalus - Chief Marketing Officer

Connecticut Innovations

Location
Norwalk, CT
Arrangement
On-site
Type
Full-time
Posted
Closes

Come join Home - Tantalus!

The Opportunity

Tantalus is seeking a strategic, commercially minded marketing executive to build and lead a high-performing marketing function during a critical period of growth. Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer and serving as a member of the executive leadership team, the Vice President, Marketing / Chief Marketing Officer will be responsible for establishing the strategy, organizational capabilities, operating model, and execution discipline required to support Tantalus' revenue growth.

This leader will transition key marketing capabilities in-house, building the talent, processes, systems, and accountability necessary to create a scalable, results-driven marketing organization. The successful candidate will combine strategic leadership with a hands-on, entrepreneurial approach, ensuring marketing investments translate into stronger market positioning, customer engagement, pipeline development, and measurable commercial outcomes.

Working closely with Sales, Product Management, Customer Success, and executive leadership, this individual will strengthen Tantalus' position as a trusted and innovative partner to utilities across North America. The role will develop and communicate a compelling corporate narrative demonstrating how Tantalus helps utilities address their most pressing challenges, including reliability, resiliency, affordability, security, flexibility, and sustainability.

The ideal candidate will bring a builder's mentality, strong commercial judgment, and the ability to establish a differentiated market presence that enables Tantalus to compete effectively against larger industry players.

Executive & Marketing Strategy Leadership

  • Develop and execute a multi-year marketing strategy aligned with Tantalus' growth objectives, revenue targets, and long-term corporate vision.
  • Serve as a strategic advisor to the CEO and executive leadership team on market positioning, corporate communications, brand strategy, and commercial growth opportunities.
  • Contribute to enterprise strategy, annual business planning, and executive decision-making, ensuring marketing priorities support broader organizational objectives.
  • Establish clear marketing priorities, investment frameworks, and performance expectations that balance long-term brand development with near-term commercial results.
  • Develop differentiated market positioning that strengthens Tantalus' competitive advantage and reinforces its value as a trusted partner to utilities.
  • Identify opportunities to expand market presence, strengthen customer relationships, and accelerate growth through targeted, commercially focused marketing initiatives.
  • Partner with Sales, Product Management, and Customer Success to align marketing strategy with go-to-market priorities, product commercialization, and customer needs.

Marketing Organization & Operating Model

  • Lead the transition of key marketing capabilities in-house, establishing a phased approach to organizational design, talent acquisition, capability development, and knowledge transfer.
  • Build, lead, and mentor a high-performing marketing organization with the structure, skills, and capacity required to support Tantalus' growth.
  • Define and implement the marketing operating model, including strategic planning, prioritization, governance, budgeting, execution cadence, and performance reporting.
  • Establish clear roles, accountabilities, and decision-making processes within Marketing and across its key functional partnerships.
  • Develop organizational capability through coaching, talent development, performance management, succession planning, and the establishment of best practices.
  • Evaluate and optimize external agency and partner relationships, determining which capabilities should be developed internally versus externally to maximize quality, efficiency, and business value.
  • Establish scalable marketing systems, processes, and technology that improve execution, collaboration, measurement, and accountability.
  • Foster a culture of creativity, commercial accountability, continuous improvement, and results-driven execution.

Brand Strategy, Corporate Communications & Market Positioning

  • Define and strengthen Tantalus' brand identity and corporate narrative, reflecting its commitment to helping utilities modernize the distribution grid and serve their communities.
  • Serve as the executive owner of corporate messaging, brand standards, marketing communications, and external positioning, ensuring clarity and consistency across audiences.
  • Lead corporate communications, public relations, media relations, executive communications, and thought leadership initiatives.
  • Partner with the CEO and Finance leadership on investor communications and external corporate positioning, ensuring alignment with corporate strategy and applicable disclosure requirements.
  • Develop and execute an integrated content strategy that includes customer success stories, case studies, industry insights, executive perspectives, and other materials that demonstrate measurable customer value.
  • Lead Tantalus' digital marketing and social media strategy, including its website, LinkedIn presence, and other relevant channels, to strengthen visibility, credibility, and engagement.
  • Build relationships with industry media, analysts, associations, and other influential stakeholders to elevate Tantalus' market presence.
  • Partner with People & Culture to support internal communications, employer branding, and the Employee Value Proposition, ensuring consistency between Tantalus' external brand and employee experience.
  • Establish clear measures of brand effectiveness, market visibility, and communications impact.

Commercial Marketing, Demand Generation & Revenue Growth

  • Develop and execute marketing programs that contribute to qualified pipeline generation, customer acquisition, account expansion, and revenue growth.
  • Partner with Sales to establish integrated go-to-market strategies, account-based marketing programs, and targeted campaigns aligned with priority market segments and growth opportunities.
  • Develop market segmentation and customer targeting strategies that reflect the complex buying cycles, operational priorities, and decision-making structures of electric utilities.
  • Partner with Product Management to develop go-to-market plans, value propositions, competitive positioning, product launches, and commercialization strategies.
  • Strengthen sales enablement capabilities by developing effective collateral, presentations, competitive intelligence, customer references, and other resources that support commercial execution.
  • Establish a disciplined approach to marketing performance measurement, including marketing-sourced and influenced pipeline, campaign effectiveness, conversion rates, customer engagement, and return on investment.
  • Work closely with Sales and Finance to ensure marketing investments, priorities, and performance expectations are aligned with commercial objectives.
  • Continuously assess market opportunities, competitive dynamics, and campaign performance to optimize marketing effectiveness and resource allocation.
  • Ensure marketing programs support the customer lifecycle, from awareness and acquisition through adoption, expansion, and advocacy.

Market Intelligence, Customer Insights & Commercial Alignment

  • Establish a structured approach to gathering and translating customer insights, competitive intelligence, and market feedback into differentiated positioning and go-to-market strategies.
  • Partner with Product Management and Sales to identify and address gaps between internally perceived product differentiation and the capabilities, outcomes, and value propositions customers actually prioritize.
  • Develop a shared understanding of Tantalus' competitive advantages, grounded in customer feedback, buying behaviour, win/loss analysis, and market research.
  • Establish regular cross-functional forums with Product Management, Sales, and Customer Success to align product positioning, customer value propositions, and commercial priorities.
  • Translate technical capabilities into compelling, customer-focused value propositions that clearly articulate why utilities should choose Tantalus over competing solutions.
  • Ensure insights from customer engagements, competitive activity, and commercial opportunities inform product strategy, roadmap priorities, and marketing investments.
  • Establish mechanisms to measure whether Tantalus' positioning and differentiation resonate with target customers and influence commercial outcomes.

Utility, Customer & Industry Engagement

  • Strengthen Tantalus' relationships with utility customers, industry partners, and key stakeholders through strategic engagement initiatives.
  • Develop programs that showcase customer success, measurable outcomes, and the value Tantalus delivers in addressing utility challenges.
  • Partner with Customer Success and Sales to identify opportunities for customer advocacy, references, testimonials, and account expansion.
  • Establish and support customer engagement platforms, including advisory boards, user groups, executive forums, and industry events.
  • Develop an integrated industry events and conference strategy that strengthens Tantalus' visibility, customer relationships, and commercial opportunities.
  • Leverage customer insights, market intelligence, and industry trends to inform marketing priorities, positioning, and growth opportunities.
  • Represent Tantalus externally at relevant industry events and forums, strengthening its reputation as an innovative and trusted partner to utilities.

Required Qualifications

  • 15+ years of progressive marketing experience, including at least five years in a senior leadership or executive capacity.
  • Demonstrated success building, scaling, or transforming high-performing marketing organizations, including organizational design, talent development, and the establishment of effective operating models.
  • Experience developing internal marketing capabilities and managing transitions from agency-led or outsourced marketing models.
  • Proven track record of developing and executing marketing strategies that generate measurable pipeline, customer engagement, and commercial growth.
  • Experience marketing complex B2B technology solutions, including software, hardware, integrated technology platforms, or enterprise solutions.
  • Strong understanding of B2B commercial models, complex sales cycles, account-based marketing, demand generation, and product commercialization.
  • Demonstrated success establishing marketing governance, performance metrics, budgeting practices, and resource allocation processes.
  • Experience working closely with executive leadership, Sales, Product Management, and Customer Success to align marketing strategy with business objectives.
  • Proven ability to build, lead, coach, and develop teams while establishing clear performance expectations and accountability.
  • Strong executive communication, storytelling, stakeholder management, and relationship-building capabilities.
  • Experience developing market positioning and differentiated go-to-market strategies in competitive markets.
  • Demonstrated ability to align Product Management, Sales, and Marketing around customer-validated differentiation, competitive positioning, and go-to-market strategy.
  • Experience establishing customer insight, competitive intelligence, and win/loss analysis programs that inform both commercial execution and product strategy.
  • Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business, Communications, or a related field.

Preferred Qualifications

  • Experience within the electric utility, energy technology, grid modernization, smart infrastructure, or cleantech sectors.
  • Understanding of electric utility operations, distribution grid technologies, and the operational and regulatory challenges facing utilities.
  • Experience marketing integrated hardware and software solutions to utility or other regulated enterprise customers.
  • Experience scaling marketing organizations within high-growth, resource-conscious, or challenger-company environments.
  • Familiarity with investor communications and external positioning within a publicly traded organization.
  • Experience working with industry analysts, associations, strategic partners, and senior utility executives.

Personal Attributes

  • Strategic and commercially minded: Connects marketing strategy to enterprise objectives, customer value, and measurable business outcomes.
  • Organizational builder: Demonstrates the ability to establish teams, operating models, processes, and capabilities that scale with the business.
  • Entrepreneurial and hands-on: Comfortable operating in a growing organization, balancing strategic leadership with practical execution and disciplined resource management.
  • Strong executive presence: Communicates with clarity, exercises sound judgment, and contributes meaningfully to enterprise-level decisions.
  • Collaborative leader: Builds alignment and productive relationships across Sales, Product Management, Customer Success, Finance, and other functions.
  • Customer-focused: Understands customer challenges and translates market insights into compelling positioning and commercial opportunities.
  • Results-driven and accountable: Establishes clear expectations, measures performance, and takes ownership of outcomes.
  • Creative and forward-looking: Challenges conventional approaches, identifies opportunities for differentiation, and brings fresh perspectives to complex business challenges.
  • Adaptable and resilient: Thrives in an evolving, fast-paced environment and can lead effectively through growth and organizational change.

Tantalus is committed to employment equity and building a diverse workforce. We welcome and encourage Indigenous applicants, people of color, all genders, 2SLGBTQ+ and persons with disabilities to apply. Accommodations are available on request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process.

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