Jeff Jack · Program Manager, Virtual Power Plants · Req 277446
What follows is a working artifact — a VPP program operations suite built to demonstrate how I'd approach enrollment growth, utility program management, and performance tracking. Not described. Running.
The Brief
Finding obstacles that block growth and removing them. Looking at the big picture across customer experience, marketing, and implementation. That's not an aspiration — it's the work I've already done inside Tesla Energy.
01
From December 2019 through April 2021, I was a solar roofer — did everything that entailed being a strong member of those teams. I learned the product from the roof deck and helped put into place methods and methodologies that significantly improved installation timelines and helped scale the operation. From April 2021 through August 2025, I was a Design & Engineering PM Lead for Residential Energy across California, sometimes parts of Texas, Colorado, and the Pacific Northwest.
As a PM for preconstruction, I worked directly with PG&E, SCE, SDG&E, and municipal agencies on thousands of residential and escalated cases. I know how utility programs work, where they break down, and what it takes to navigate them.
02
When I took over preconstruction in California, the pipeline was stuck. Projects were taking well over 90 days from sale to install-ready. I mapped the entire system, found the bottlenecks, and rebuilt the process. 90 days became 1 day.
I also joined a division that was a cost burden. We restructured the team, reset the performance culture, and rebuilt the KPI framework. That division became profitable. We went from being a team that Elon was eagerly trying to unload, to a group that became a touchstone for “getting it done right, right now.”
03
The job description calls for someone who can "identify opportunities to use AI and automation to improve workflows." I don't just identify those opportunities — I build the systems. I ship production applications using Claude, LangGraph, MCP, and modern AI infrastructure as my daily practice.
What follows is proof. A VPP program dashboard, an enrollment funnel analyzer, a utility program matrix — the kinds of tools I'd build on the job. Not mockups. Working software.
This is the operating view I'd build on day one. Eight KPIs, enrollment trajectory, revenue by ISO, program-level performance, and dispatch response rate — all in a single screen. The program manager who owns VPP growth needs to see the full picture without switching tools. This dashboard demonstrates the KPI framework, tracking architecture, and reporting model I would implement for Tesla VPP. Data is simulated, modeled on realistic distributed energy benchmarks.
Every VPP program has a funnel. At 10x scale, a 15% drop between stages doesn't just cost enrollments — it costs your entire growth trajectory.
The biggest lever is at the top. 38,000 Powerwall owners never engage with VPP information. That's not a product problem — it's a communication problem. AI-personalized outreach based on actual usage data and earnings potential is the single highest-impact automation opportunity in this funnel.
The program manager's single source of truth for enrollment status, performance, and growth opportunity across the portfolio.
| Program | Utility | ISO/RTO | Status | Enrolled | Revenue | CSAT | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emergency Load Reduction | PG&E | CAISO | Active | 12,400 | $4.1M | 89% | ▲ 28% |
| Demand Response | SCE | CAISO | Active | 9,800 | $3.2M | 88% | ▲ 22% |
| Grid Services | SDG&E | CAISO | Active | 6,200 | $2.1M | 84% | ▲ 18% |
| Connected Solutions | National Grid | ISO-NE | Active | 8,400 | $2.6M | 91% | ▲ 35% |
| Peak Reduction | Green Mountain | ERCOT | Growing | 5,800 | $1.4M | 86% | ▲ 42% |
| Frequency Response | Multi-utility | CAISO | Pilot | 5,600 | $0.8M | 85% | ▲ 15% |
| Capacity Reserve | ConEd | NYISO | Growing | 3,200 | $0.6M | 87% | ▲ 55% |
| Solar + Storage DR | Hawaiian Electric | HECO | Pilot | 1,800 | $0.3M | 82% | New |
| Winter Peak Program | Eversource | ISO-NE | Growing | 2,400 | $0.4M | 88% | ▲ 38% |
| Residential Battery DR | Duke Energy | PJM | Planned | — | — | — | Q4 launch |
| Grid Edge Pilot | APS | WECC | Planned | — | — | — | Q1 '27 |
| V2G Integration | PG&E | CAISO | Planned | — | — | — | Q2 '27 |
The program manager's job is to make this matrix grow — right and down. More programs, more utilities, more enrollments per program. This view is the governance artifact that drives weekly reviews, quarterly planning, and the conversation with leadership about where to invest next.
Every VPP enrollment is a micro-campaign. At Sprokkit I managed hundreds of concurrent franchise campaigns for Carl's Jr, Hardee's, Del Taco, La Salsa, Il Fornaio. Same playbook, different product: identify the segment, map the journey, choose the channel, craft the message, measure the conversion.
| # | Segment | Category | Est. Size | Priority | Primary Channel | Touch Points | Conv. Est. |
|---|
This is how I ran campaigns at Sprokkit. Every franchise brand — Carl's Jr, Hardee's, Del Taco, La Salsa, Il Fornaio — had dozens of concurrent campaigns, each with unique targeting, channels, and messaging. VPP enrollment is the same problem at a different scale. Segment precisely, message personally, measure relentlessly, optimize continuously.
Tesla's Virtual Power Plant programs are already proving the model works. Powerwall owners earn money, utilities get grid services, and Tesla builds a distributed energy asset that compounds in value with every enrollment. The product-market fit isn't the question. The question is: what's blocking the next 10x?
From my six years inside Tesla Energy, I can tell you that the answer is almost never the technology. It's the friction between systems — the places where utility programs, internal processes, customer communication, and operational handoffs create drag that slows growth to a crawl.
The pattern I saw at Tesla: Brilliant engineering, world-class hardware, massive customer demand — and growth bottlenecked by process friction, utility coordination complexity, and customer experience gaps in the middle of the journey. The product was never the problem. The plumbing was.
10x VPP growth means 10x enrollments, 10x dispatch events, 10x utility partner interactions, and 10x customer communications. Based on my experience with the utility landscape and Tesla's operational patterns, here's where I expect the friction concentrates:
The job description specifically calls for identifying "opportunities to use AI and automation to improve workflows, data collection to improve decision-making, and test new strategies to increase program growth." This is where my current work becomes directly relevant.
This isn't speculative. I build these kinds of systems today. My current projects involve AI-powered workflow automation, data aggregation, and decision-support tools — the same patterns VPP needs. The difference is I'd be building them inside an organization I already know, for a product I already understand.
I know Tesla. I know the utilities. I know the product. But I don't know VPP's specific programs, partners, and pain points yet. The first 90 days are about earning context, then using it.
My approach: Ship something useful quickly, measure it honestly, and let the results inform the next step. At Tesla I learned that the people who earn trust fastest are the ones who find the thing that's actually stuck and unstick it — not the ones who arrive with a 100-slide deck.
Most candidates for this role will need months to learn how Tesla operates, how utility programs work, and how to navigate the relationships that make programs succeed. I already have that context. Six years of it.
I know what it's like to inherit a broken process at Tesla and rebuild it. I know what it takes to get PG&E to move on an interconnection issue. I know how Tesla's internal teams coordinate — and where that coordination breaks down. And I know how to build AI-powered tools that automate the repetitive work so the program manager can focus on relationships, strategy, and growth.
John described looking for someone who "finds obstacles blocking our success and removes them." That's not a skill I need to develop. It's the pattern of my entire career.
Let's Talk
I'm ready to talk about how I'd approach this role, what I'd build first, and what 10x VPP growth actually requires.