Senior Vice President of Strategic Partnerships

Together We Build – Partnership, Innovation, Excellence, and Safety At Kelso Industries, 4,000+ employees across 40+ companies work together to deliver exceptional HVAC, mechanical, plumbing, refrigeration, and electrical solutions nationwide. Join us to grow your career, make an impact, and be part of a team where innovation, excellence, and safety come first. Recruiter Notice: We respectfully ask external recruiters and staffing agencies not to submit candidates. We only accept direct applications. We are hiring a  Senior Vice President of Strategic Partnerships to build and maintain essential relationships with key national customers, especially in the Data Center/Mission Critical space, and work with our various Kelso Operating Companies to deliver solutions. You will report directly to the COO and operate as a senior member of the Operations Leadership Team. This is a new position that you will help define and build — working with key customers, you will seek to understand their needs, propose solutions and coordinate delivery and execution among the various Operating Companies that make up the Kelso family. What You'll Do Develop and Maintain Key Customer Relationships, especially with large-scale Data Center and other Mission Critical players. Create and maintain a list of decision-makers for key customers and cultivate relationships with them in order to understand their pain points Formulate solutions to their problems using the combined resources of the Kelso platform (including mechanical, electrical, plumbing, building automation, prefabrication, engineered solutions, retrofits, and service/preventive maintenance) Create strategies to increase Direct-to-Owner work with these customers Establish and maintain executive relationships with facility owners, developers, general contractors, construction managers, program managers, and multi-site end users Represent Kelso at the national level with strategic accounts, industry associations, and major market events Orchestrate the hand-off Match qualified opportunities to the operating company or companies best positioned to win and deliver them, based on geography, trade capability, capacity, and client fit Partner with operating company presidents and their preconstruction and estimating teams to transition pursuits cleanly, with full context and warm introductions Stay engaged throughout, acting as an executive sponsor and relationship owner Build multi-opco solutions where a single client need spans trades or regions Build the function Establish CRM discipline, pipeline reporting, and pursuit governance across the platform Define what a qualified opportunity looks like and hold the standard Provide market intelligence to executive leadership on demand trends, competitive positioning, and end-market shifts Partner with Kelso Leadership to identify where strategic acquisitions could accelerate access to a market or capability Recruit, develop, and lead a business development team as the function scales Act as a mentor and Subject Matter Expert to various Business Development personnel within Kelso Operating Companies What You Bring Required 12+ years in business development, sales, or preconstruction leadership within MEP, specialty trade, general contracting, or industrial services Demonstrated, existing relationships with key players in the Data Center space and the ability to cultivate new ones Demonstrated record of sourcing and influencing large, complex construction or facilities opportunities — the kind measured in tens and hundreds of millions, not thousands Executive-level relationships with owners, developers, GCs, or multi-site end users, and the credibility to open doors at that level Working fluency in MEP scopes, construction delivery methods, and the preconstruction process — enough to qualify an opportunity accurately and speak credibly with a client's technical team Experience operating in a decentralized or multi-entity organization, with the influence skills to get results from people who don't report to you Willingness to travel 50% Access to a major hub airport or willingness to relocate to Salt Lake City Preferred Experience in a private equity–backed platform, roll-up, or multi-brand operating environment Familiarity with design-build and design-assist delivery Experience selling recurring service and maintenance agreements alongside capital projects Prior experience building a business development function rather than inheriting one Who Succeeds Here The right person is a hunter who is genuinely comfortable handing the ball off. You will source opportunities that are often closed and delivered by someone else, and you will be measured on the platform’s win, not your own. If you need to own the signature, this is the wrong seat. If you want to build a national demand engine across a $2B+ platform and solve critical needs for major customers, this role is for you. Our Core Values Partnership — Partnerships drive success. True partnerships are mutually beneficial. We act like owners and build enduring relationships with customers, suppliers, team members, and shareholders. Innovation — Innovation changes the game. We stay agile, look for the better way, and experiment without fear of failure. Excellence — Excellence is intentional. We lead the pack by being extraordinary in our work, our service, and our continuous improvement. Safety — Safety is foundational. Safety is personal. Safety comes first — physical and psychological alike.  Why Join Kelso Industries?   Join us and be part of a team dedicated to creating efficient, sustainable, and high-performance environments that make a lasting impact across the industrial, commercial, and institutional sectors.    Here you will experience:    Growth Opportunities: Develop new skills, take on exciting challenges, and advance your career in meaningful ways.