Everyone has seen a list of “5 expert tips” for executive search. Most of them say the same thing: hire fast, be clear, offer equity. These generic suggestions are often assumed to apply to cleantech too, but founders, boards, and executives in this space know the reality is messier, more nuanced, and far more consequential. Cleantech isn’t neatly predictable – it’s an industry in flux, facing tight regulation, a unique set of headwinds, and uneven capitalization. Every executive hire carries significant weight.
Global investment in the energy transition reached $2.1 trillion in 2024, and in Canada, cleantech has outpaced the broader economy for the last decade. This rapid growth brings huge opportunities but intensifies competition for skilled executives, amplifying the need for precise and strategic hiring.
At Bedford Group, we’ve witnessed these stakes firsthand. From our lived experience helping cleantech and energy transition companies navigate high-stakes hires – across growth, turnaround, and scale-up stages – here’s what actually matters:
1. Start with the Business Inflection Point, Not the Job Title
Client Perspective: Leadership needs don’t start with job titles; they start with business challenges. Are you pre-revenue, looking to commercialize? Mid-scale and drowning in complexity? Post-funding and under pressure to deliver? The best searches begin with clarity on the strategic inflection point you face over the next 12–18 months.
If you can’t succinctly answer “What is the primary problem we need this leader to solve?”, then the role definition is fuzzy – and so will be the search mandate and eventual executive’s focus. Defining roles based on business context, not just hierarchy, ensures the mandate is focused and the hire aligned to company trajectory. When a search starts with strategic clarity, it ends with higher-impact hires.
Candidate Perspective: When assessing a new executive role, ask directly: “What core problem am I here to solve?” If leadership can’t answer this clearly, the role may lack definition – or internal alignment. Your interview questions may actually help the hiring committee clarify the mandate. Top-performing leaders want to know what transformation they’re responsible for.
2. Sector Knowledge is a Proxy; Pattern Recognition is the Prize
Client Perspective: It’s common to seek candidates “from the industry.” But that’s often shorthand for comfort, not competence. In cleantech, turbulence is the norm: capital constraints, regulatory friction, long development timelines, complex go-to-market strategies. Leaders who have built in similar conditions, regardless of sector, regularly outperform those who simply tick the industry box.
With skilled talent shortages increasingly common, limiting your pool to exact industry experience unnecessarily narrows your options. Leaders who can apply relevant pattern recognition from other challenging environments offer significant strategic advantages.
Candidate Perspective: Don’t disqualify yourself if your experience isn’t in hydrogen, solar, or carbon capture specifically. Your broader experience leading through uncertainty, scaling operations, or overcoming similar obstacles can translate powerfully. Focus on your adaptability and highlight transferable skills and experiences.
3. Cultural Shape > Culture Fit
Client Perspective: Too often, “culture fit” becomes code for sameness – bringing on people who think and act like your existing team. In a young industry driving innovation, that can be a fatal mistake.
Instead, consider the cultural dimensions your organization needs to develop. Does your organization need more operational discipline, innovation, or commercial aggression? Hiring executives who bring these new dimensions intentionally stretches and evolves your culture. Diverse management teams are statistically more innovative, driving significantly higher revenue from new ideas and products. This intentional approach to hiring ensures your leadership structure can handle future challenges.
This doesn’t mean “fit” isn’t important. It means redefining what fit actually means – not “they’re like us,” but “their strengths complement where we need to go.”
Candidate Perspective: Clearly understand and articulate the cultural dimension you offer. Are you a stabilizer who thrives in order? A disrupter who injects energy? A builder who creates systems, or a scaler who expands them? Choose companies ready to evolve with your influence, not merely absorb you into existing norms. The best hires succeed when both the individual and the organization adapt together.
4. Tie Compensation to Trajectory, Not Just Market Data
Client Perspective: The best candidates in cleantech aren’t merely looking for a paycheque – they care about your company’s growth potential. Yes, you need to offer a competitive base salary, but don’t stop at “market rate” thinking. Use equity and incentives to tell a story: how will value be created here, and how can this leader share in the upside?
In a sector defined by rapid scaling and long-term impact, top executives expect their rewards to reflect that journey. Equity and performance incentives should align with the company’s stage and value creation plan, not just market benchmarks. Tailor packages with milestone-based equity, vesting schedules, or performance kickers to reflect strategic goals.
Candidate Perspective: Thoroughly understand your equity compensation. Ask detailed questions about the valuation, dilution risks, and exit scenarios. Request modelled outcomes and clear insight into how success directly benefits you. Companies that confidently provide this transparency have generally done thorough strategic planning.
5. Search Partners Should Act Like Operators, Not Brokers
Client Perspective: If your executive search partner merely forwards resumes, you’re missing essential strategic value. You need a partner who thoroughly understands your business model, strategic goals, and the specific challenges your company faces.
An effective search consultant acts as an extension of your leadership team, challenging assumptions and advising strategically, rather than simply brokering introductions. They bring insight into organizational structure, compensation strategy, and candidate suitability, significantly improving your executive hiring outcomes.
Candidate Perspective: Evaluate search consultants based on their grasp of your potential role’s context and impact. A good search partner should be able to articulate the opportunity in business terms, not just recruiter platitudes, clearly communicating the strategic rationale behind the role and providing detailed insights into the company’s priorities and challenges. They should prepare you as if you’re stepping into a board meeting – because soon, you will be.
Final Thought
Cleantech and energy transition companies operate in highly dynamic markets facing rapid growth, tight regulation, and uneven investment flows. Every executive hire is a pivotal decision shaping company trajectory, competitiveness, and long-term viability.
In such high-stakes scenarios, superficial hiring formulas are insufficient. Sustainable growth depends on strategic hiring grounded in clear business contexts, flexible talent strategies, intentional cultural evolution, aligned incentives, and expert support from search partners who truly understand your business.
Move beyond the standard playbook. Look for leaders (and partners) who understand the nuance.