Jeff Jack · Program Manager, Virtual Power Plants · Req 277446

Instead of a slide deck,
I built the operating system.

This is a working VPP program operations suite — the same kind of tools I'd build on the job for enrollment growth, utility program management, and performance tracking. Go ahead and explore it.

6
Years inside Tesla Energy
90→1
Days. Preconstruction compressed.
3
California IOUs navigated
6
Live surfaces in this suite

The Brief

Your posting described the work I've been doing at Tesla.

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

I started on the roof deck and worked my way up.

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

I find bottlenecks and fix them. Here's one story.

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

I build with AI and automation every day.

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.

Take a look at what I built. A VPP program dashboard, an enrollment funnel analyzer, a utility program matrix — the kinds of tools I'd build on the job. All working, all interactive.

VPP Program Performance Dashboard
Rolling 12 months ending July 2026
Simulated data · Dashboard architecture demonstration · Built by Jeff Jack
Total Enrollments
48,200
▲ 12,400 Target: 55,000
Active Devices
41,800
▲ 8,200 86.7% activation
Dispatch Events
1,247
▲ 340 Target: 1,500
Revenue Generated
$14.2M
▲ $3.8M Target: $18M
Customer Satisfaction
87%
▲ 4pts Target: 90%
Avg Earnings / Customer
$340
▲ $52 /year
Response Rate
94.2%
▲ 1.8% Target: 95%
Utility Programs
12
▲ 3 new 6 states
Enrollment Growth — Monthly
0 2K 4K 6K Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul
Revenue by Program — Quarterly
$0 $2M $4M $6M Q4 '25 Q1 '26 Q2 '26 Q3 '26 CAISO ERCOT ISO-NE
Program Performance by Utility
Emergency Load Reduction
PG&E · CAISO
Enrolled12,400
Active11,200
Dispatches342
Revenue$4.1M
CSAT89%
Demand Response
SCE · CAISO
Enrolled9,800
Active8,600
Dispatches285
Revenue$3.2M
CSAT88%
Grid Services
SDG&E · CAISO
Enrolled6,200
Active5,400
Dispatches180
Revenue$2.1M
CSAT84%
Connected Solutions
National Grid · ISO-NE
Enrolled8,400
Active7,200
Dispatches220
Revenue$2.6M
CSAT91%
Peak Reduction
Green Mountain · ERCOT
Enrolled5,800
Active4,900
Dispatches145
Revenue$1.4M
CSAT86%
Frequency Response
Multi-utility · Pilot
Enrolled5,600
Active4,500
Dispatches75
Revenue$0.8M
CSAT85%
Dispatch Response Rate — Monthly
80% 90% 100% Target 95% Aug Oct Dec Feb Apr Jun Jul

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.

Enrollment Funnel Analyzer

Where customers drop off — and what to do about it

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.

Awareness
100,000
Powerwall owners in active programs
100%
AI Opportunity
Targeted push notifications via Tesla app based on grid conditions and time-of-use rates. Personalize the value proposition by region and rate plan.
Education
62,000
Engaged with VPP information
62%
▼ 38% drop — 38,000 never engage
AI Opportunity
AI-generated earnings estimator using customer's actual usage data, rate plan, and local grid conditions. Show them what they'd earn before they decide.
Sign-up
48,200
Opted into VPP program
48.2%
▼ 22.3% drop — 13,800 educated but didn't sign up
AI Opportunity
Conversational AI in Tesla app answering enrollment questions. Automated follow-up sequences for customers who viewed VPP info but didn't complete sign-up.
Utility Verification
45,100
Utility enrollment confirmed
45.1%
▼ 6.4% drop — 3,100 stuck in utility process
AI Opportunity
Automated utility enrollment status tracking. Proactive customer communication when verification stalls. Escalation triggers when a case exceeds SLA.
Activation
41,800
Device active in VPP fleet
41.8%
▼ 7.3% drop — 3,300 enrolled but not activated
AI Opportunity
Automated device configuration checks. AI-driven diagnosis of activation failures. Proactive outreach with step-by-step resolution for stuck activations.
Retention
39,500
Active 12+ months
39.5%
▼ 5.5% drop — 2,300 churned within 12 months
AI Opportunity
Personalized earnings reports after each dispatch event. Churn prediction model flagging at-risk customers. Community features showing aggregate grid impact.

The biggest lever is at the top. 38,000 Powerwall owners never engage with VPP information. That tells me it's a communication gap, not a product gap. AI-personalized outreach based on actual usage data and earnings potential could be the highest-impact automation opportunity in this funnel.

Utility Program Matrix

All programs, all utilities, one place.

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.

Campaign Targeting Engine

75 target segments. Mapped, prioritized, ready to execute.

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.

75
Target Segments
~412K
Total Addressable
28
High Priority
6
Channels
12
Categories
Click any row to expand touch point details, messaging strategy, and conversion path · Simulated data
# 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 — tight segmentation, personal messaging, constant measurement, and fast iteration.

Jeff Jack
Program Management & Energy Operations
Inglewood, CA jeff@stjack.com 888.679.0888 linkedin.com/in/stjack
Program manager and operational leader with deep Tesla Energy experience (2019–2025) and 25+ years of program, product, and project management across high-growth companies. Started as a solar roofer, then became D&E PM Lead for Residential Energy across California, sometimes parts of Texas, Colorado, and the Pacific Northwest. Transformed a cost-burdened division into a profitable operation and compressed preconstruction timelines from 90 days to 1. Deep working relationships with PG&E, SCE, SDG&E. Currently building AI-powered automation tools — shipping production applications using the same approach VPP needs to scale enrollment and accelerate program growth.
Experience
Tesla, Inc. Dec 2019 – Aug 2025
Design & Engineering PM Lead, Residential Energy — Apr 2021 – Aug 2025
  • Rebuilt a cost-burdened division into a profitable operation — restructured team, processes, KPIs, and performance culture across California, sometimes parts of Texas, Colorado, and the Pacific Northwest
  • Compressed preconstruction timelines from 90 days to 1 day by identifying and eliminating systemic bottlenecks
  • Managed thousands of residential and escalated cases across PG&E, SCE, SDG&E and municipal agencies as PM for preconstruction
  • Cross-functional coordination across engineering, design, operations, field teams, and support
  • Built field readiness programs, training methodologies, and operational playbooks that scaled regionally
  • Maintained consistent communication with utility stakeholders, internal leadership, and cross-functional teams
Tesla, Inc. Dec 2019 – Apr 2021
Solar Roofer
  • Did everything that entailed being a strong member of those teams — learned the product from the roof deck
  • Helped put into place methods and methodologies that significantly improved installation timelines and helped scale the operation
  • Built credibility with field teams by having done the work — foundation for the program management that followed
Independent — AI Product Development 2024 – Present
Founder & Product Architect
  • Building and shipping production AI applications — identifying workflow opportunities and building the tools
  • Direct experience with APIs, SQL databases, reporting tools, and full-stack development
  • 1Plan — financial operating system with AI-driven analytics
  • saor.io — AI-powered platform for business workflow automation
CarsDirect.com Late 1990s
Executive Producer & Head of Digital Marketing
  • Part of the team from day one through growth to a $3B valuation — high-growth startup environment
  • Built and scaled marketing operations across hundreds of concurrent campaigns
Saatchi & Saatchi · Disney Interactive · Earlier Roles 1995 – 2019
Senior Producer · VP Marketing & Ops · Program Management
  • Saatchi & Saatchi — Toyota Corolla, 4Runner, FJ Cruiser digital launches
  • Disney — Built DREEMS, still referenced 30+ years later
  • Sprokkit — VP Marketing & Ops for national QSR brands
  • Chiat\Day — adidas and Infiniti accounts
What 10x VPP Growth Requires

The product works. The friction is what's holding it back.

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 experience inside Tesla Energy, 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.

Where the friction lives in VPP

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:

Friction Point 01

Enrollment & Activation

  • Every VPP program has a funnel: awareness, education, sign-up, utility verification, device config, activation
  • Each step has a drop-off rate — at 10x scale, 15% drop costs you 15% of your entire growth trajectory
  • Obsessing over each stage of the customer journey isn't optional at 10x — it's the entire game
Friction Point 02

Utility Program Complexity

  • Every utility has different program rules, interconnection requirements, billing structures, and enrollment processes
  • I spent years navigating PG&E, SCE, SDG&E — each one is its own ecosystem
  • Without systematic program management, each new utility becomes a custom project instead of a repeatable playbook
Friction Point 03

Cross-Functional Coordination

  • Marketing, Business Development, Product, Engineering, Data, Operations, Support — all need to connect
  • At 10x, coordination cost grows faster than enrollment count unless you build systems that absorb the complexity
  • I've lived this at Tesla — connecting team output into a coherent customer experience is the hardest part
Friction Point 04

Performance Visibility

  • You can't improve what you can't see
  • Real-time visibility into enrollment rates, activation timelines, dispatch performance, CSAT, and revenue — by program, by utility, by region
  • The data infrastructure is as important as the program itself

Where AI and automation unlock the next level

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.

  • Enrollment optimization: AI-driven analysis of where customers drop off, with automated interventions — personalized follow-ups, simplified flows, proactive issue resolution — at each friction point
  • Utility program intelligence: Automated tracking of program rules, rate changes, and regulatory updates across every utility partner — surfacing impacts before they become problems
  • Customer communication at scale: AI-assisted messaging that explains VPP events, earnings, and grid impact in ways that build trust and reduce support volume — personalized by program, region, and device
  • Performance dashboards: Real-time reporting that connects enrollment, dispatch, revenue, and satisfaction into a single view — replacing manual report assembly with live intelligence
  • Workflow automation: Reducing manual handoffs by automating routine coordination tasks that consume PM bandwidth — freeing the program manager to focus on strategy, relationships, and problem-solving

I'm already building systems like these. 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've spent years in, for a product I've watched evolve firsthand.

How I'd approach the first 90 days

I have a head start on the company, the utilities, and the product. But I don't know VPP's specific programs, partners, and pain points yet. The first 90 days are about earning that context, then using it.

Days 1–30

Learn the Programs

  • Audit every active VPP program — enrollment, performance, utility status, customer feedback
  • Map the enrollment funnel end-to-end for each program — find where customers drop off
  • Build relationships with utility partners, internal teams, and cross-functional stakeholders
  • Identify the single highest-leverage blocker to growth
  • Align on success metrics and reporting cadence with leadership
Days 31–60

Fix the Biggest Blocker

  • Design and begin implementing the solution for the #1 growth blocker identified in month one
  • Stand up or improve the performance dashboard — enrollment, activation, dispatch, revenue, satisfaction
  • Identify first AI/automation opportunity and begin building or speccing it
  • Establish program operations rhythm: reporting, stakeholder updates, escalation protocols
  • Begin strategy work for next program launch or expansion
Days 61–90

Show Results

  • Measure impact of the blocker fix — enrollment lift, activation rate, timeline reduction
  • Ship first AI/automation tool or workflow improvement
  • Present findings, results, and 6-month growth roadmap to leadership
  • Formalize playbook for new utility program onboarding
  • Begin executing on next program expansion

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.

Why this is the right fit

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. That's context I've been building since 2019 — on rooftops, in utility offices, and across thousands of cases.

I've inherited a broken process at Tesla and rebuilt it. I've worked through what it takes to get PG&E to move on an interconnection issue. I've seen how Tesla's internal teams coordinate — and where that coordination breaks down. And I'm building AI-powered tools that automate the repetitive work so the program manager can focus on relationships, strategy, and growth.

The role described looking for someone who "finds obstacles blocking our success and removes them." That's what I've been doing my whole career — and I'd love to keep doing it here.