Go-to-Market & Growth Strategy Lead

Avalanche is a Seattle-based start-up developing compact fusion machines for clean, energy-dense power generation at a scale you can hold in your hands.  Our unique approach allows us to build, test, break, learn and iterate in days.  The modular design is designed to provide power to applications from austere environments to deep sea vehicles and maritime transport to lunar power. 

We know we have an incredibly ambitious mission, and that it requires a wide combination of skills, attitude, and grit to make it happen. If you have a passion for abundant energy, and how we can improve life with it, we want to have a chat with you.

Avalanche might be fit for you if: You are self-motivated, energized by problem solving and working closely with hardware. You enjoy hands-on, creative collaboration with a small, tight-knit team you can work with, laugh with, and learn with on a wide variety of topics.  You can learn and pivot between priorities when necessary and you can slide the headphones on, focus, and auger deep into a single topic as needed.  You thrive in an atmosphere of development, and you are an ardent learner who’s always looking for ways to grow and improve.

We are seeking a Go-to-Market & Growth Strategy Lead to identify, evaluate, and develop the markets and business models that will turn Avalanche Energy's technology portfolio into scalable government and commercial businesses. This role sits at the front end of growth, combining market intelligence, customer discovery, commercialization strategy, business case development, and financial modeling to determine where the company should invest, which opportunities warrant pursuit, and how products and services should be positioned, priced, partnered, and brought to market.

You will report to the Director of Strategy and work closely with business development, executive leadership, science & engineering, finance, regulatory, and program teams to connect customer needs and market evidence to product strategy, R&D priorities, investment decisions, and go-to-market plans. You will size opportunities, build decision-grade financial models, test commercialization hypotheses with customers and partners, assess technical and economic feasibility, and develop the analyses and executive materials required to move new concepts from promising technology to validated business opportunity. As opportunities mature, you will help define the customer value proposition, solution concept, commercial model, and pursuit rationale before qualified opportunities are transitioned into capture and proposal execution.

Key Responsibilities:

GTM Strategy, Market Intelligence, and Business Cases

• Support the definition and activation of go-to-market strategies for Avalanche technologies, including priority use cases, market segments, target accounts, key buyers, acquisition pathways, route-to-market, partner strategy, and commercialization sequencing.

• Conduct federal and commercial market research, market sizing, customer and competitor analysis, policy and budget analysis, and pricing research to identify attractive markets and synchronize growth activities.

• Build decision-grade business cases and financial models for new products, services, partnerships, demonstrations, and programs, including revenue, margin, cost, pricing, capital requirements, unit economics, ROI, NPV, and sensitivity or scenario analyses.

• Translate market evidence and customer demand into clear recommendations for R&D priorities, product roadmaps, investment decisions, make-buy-partner choices, and commercialization plans.

• Develop market theses, growth plans, account strategies, and executive decision materials that connect long-term company strategy to near-term actions and measurable outcomes.

• Evaluate alternative commercialization and business-model pathways and recommend the path that best balances speed, capital efficiency, risk, and long-term value.

Customer Discovery and Technical Solutioning

• Serve as a bridge between customers, business development, finance, regulatory, and Avalanche's science & engineering teams during early-stage engagements.

• Translate customer mission needs, performance objectives, interfaces, constraints, schedules, budgets, and acquisition requirements into clear internal requirements, assumptions, trade studies, and decision points.

• Collaborate with scientists and engineers to investigate feasibility, assess technical approaches, identify development gaps and risks, and formulate solutions for government customers, commercial prime contractors, and strategic partners.

• Develop and communicate recommended solution concepts, configurations, development plans, prototyping, demonstrations, trials/pilots, and proof-of-capability activities, clearly distinguishing current capability from proposed development and future commitments.

• Capture customer feedback, technical observations, and competitive insights and convert them into actionable inputs for product development, R&D, positioning, and pursuit strategy.

• Conduct structured customer-discovery efforts that test market hypotheses, quantify customer value, validate willingness to pay, and identify barriers to adoption or deployment.

• Synthesize customer, technical, regulatory, competitive, and financial evidence into executive-ready commercialization recommendations and investment decisions.

Pricing, Commercial Structuring, and Growth Decisions

• Support pricing and negotiation activities by integrating business-case assumptions, technical inputs, cost and schedule estimates, bases of estimate, risk positions, and expected value with finance and technical teams.

• Develop pricing architectures, deal economics, revenue models, and scenario analyses for products, services, demonstrations, licensing structures, and strategic partnerships.

• Assess capital requirements, development funding needs, production economics, and commercialization risk to support internal investment decisions and external negotiations.

• Provide market, technical, and financial analysis to business development and capture teams for customer engagements, pricing decisions, teaming discussions, and pursuit strategies.

Required Qualifications:

• 10+ years of experience in defense, space, or energy growth strategy, management consulting, technical business development, or a related role in a technology sector.

• Bachelor's degree in engineering, science, economics, finance, business, or a related field.

• Demonstrated ability to take ambiguous technical or market opportunities from initial hypothesis through research, customer discovery, business case, financial model, solution narrative, proposal, and executable plan.

• Very strong financial and analytical skills, including market sizing, pricing, revenue and margin modeling, unit economics, ROI, scenario analysis, and clear presentation of assumptions and sensitivities.

• Experience working with the DoW, DOE, NNSA, NASA, Intelligence Community, national laboratories, or regulated commercial customers.

• Demonstrated ability to translate customer needs into technical solution concepts in collaboration with scientists and engineers and explain complex technologies to executive and non-technical audiences.

• Demonstrated experience building decision-grade business cases, investment models, market-entry analyses, or commercialization plans for complex hardware, energy, aerospace, defense, or other deep-technology products.

• Ability to independently structure ambiguous analytical problems, identify the critical assumptions and data needed to resolve them, and communicate recommendations clearly to executive and technical stakeholders.

• Startup “builder” mindset: comfortable moving between strategy and execution, creating new processes, working through ambiguity, and managing multiple high-priority workstreams.

• Ability to obtain and maintain a TS/SCI clearance.

Preferred / Bonus:

• MBA, advanced technical degree, or equivalent experience.

• Direct experience with fusion, nuclear, isotopes, radiation systems, high-voltage tech, semiconductors, aerospace, defense tech, or an adjacent deep-technology sector.

• Experience evaluating business models for capital-intensive or regulated technologies, including product, service, licensing, infrastructure, or public-private partnership models.

• Experience supporting corporate strategy, strategic finance, management consulting, investment analysis, or new-venture commercialization in an R&D-intensive company.

• Experience developing cost and schedule estimates, bases of estimate, pricing strategies, and price-to-win analyses for proposals.

• Working knowledge of nuclear or fusion regulatory frameworks.

• Experience with CRM software, business-intelligence, financial-modeling, and data-visualization tools.

• Active DoW security clearance.

Benefits:

• Excellent medical, dental and vision benefits: We pay 100% of your premiums

• 10 paid holidays and company-wide December holiday break

• Generous paid vacation and sick time

• Small, tight-knit team with low barriers to action

• Exposure to a wide variety of problems for unparalleled, hands-on professional growth

• Weekly employer provided team meals, a well-stocked kitchen, and employee events on and off-site

• Opportunity for Equity

Avalanche values people of all races, ethnicities, genders, ages, religions, and sexual orientations. We also acknowledge the value that different life experiences bring to our organization. Avalanche is an equal opportunity employer, and you do not need to match every listed expectation to apply for this position. We encourage all individuals who are excited about delivering fusion energy to the world to apply.

Notice to Recruitment Agencies

Avalanche Energy does not accept unsolicited resumes or candidate submissions from staffing agencies, search firms, or third-party recruiters. Agencies should not submit candidate information through our careers site or directly to hiring managers or employees without prior authorization from our Talent Acquisition team.

Avalanche Energy will not be responsible for placement fees or other charges associated with unsolicited submissions. Agency partnerships and candidate submissions must be authorized in advance and supported by a signed agreement with Avalanche Energy.