An interview with Sabrina Dove-Petrigh is the founder and principal of Pacific Search Firm, a San Francisco Bay Area–based recruitment firm specializing in climate tech and sustainable technologies.
WoCl: What are you seeing that’s different from the last time we spoke?
Funding has expanded into a broader range of climate tech startups. While these startups are asking for specific technical skills, they can’t really demand climate work experience. There just aren’t enough of those professionals out there. For example, in AgTech or Carbon Removal, there aren’t a lot of engineers with agricultural or carbon removal experience, so the startups can’t require it. Battery startups are slightly different and generally need more specific battery experiences, though not always.
We’ve been placing technical product managers and a variety of engineers from senior or staff levels of experience all the way up to Senior VP level–in climate tech startups. The majority did not have climate tech experience, but they were super interested and committed to getting into that space and learning new technologies.
And it’s not only engineering roles. We placed people with no climate background into a Head of Business Development role and a Head of Product Management role. Recruiters, especially those who are hardware-focused, could definitely get into climate tech!
We’re also seeing that those later in their career–maybe their kids are out of the house now–can shift to being more mission-driven and take that startup job now. Read the full article on Work on Climate.