Commercialization Manager

Job description

Commercialization Manager - Municipal Smart City Solutions Reporting to: President Location: Based in Woodbridge, Ontario, Canada. The work will be hybrid but we reserve the right to have the contractor work full-time at the office except for sales. Work remotely (hybrid) and while traveling on client-visits. Ontario-focused, with potential opportunities across Canada and the United States. Compensation: Base salary plus sales performance incentives About the Business Model Smart City Water Inc. and Civica Infrastructure Inc. are partnering to commercialize a new Smart City product in Ontario. Smart City Water Inc. develops innovative and smart software systems for municipal infrastructure management. The systems help municipalities manage drainage infrastructure by automating existing ‘manual’ processes and developing new methods for more accurate collection, analysis, and reporting. This helps municipalities deliver better services faster, safer, and more efficiently. Civica Infrastructure Inc. has been in the business of delivers consulting and field contracting services to municipalities in Ontario that integrate sewer sensors, conducting inspections, analyzing data, and developing models to manage sewer infrastructure. The Smart City product has the clear potential to significantly change how municipalities manage sewer infrastructure. We are seeking a highly motivated, senior, and hands-on business development professional to help introduce and grow this new product/service in Ontario. As described in more detail below, the candidate will help complete a marketing and sales strategy involving lead generation and closing software and service sales and build long-term trusting relationships with municipalities. About the Role The Commercialization Manager will lead the commercialization and sale of Smart City Water’s SSCAP system and related integration/implementation, maintenance, and derivative consulting and contracting services. This is a combined sales and management role, with approximately 60% of the focus on direct sales activity and 40% on management, coordination, mentoring, sales-process development, and product-release readiness from a customer perspective. The successful candidate will be expected to generate qualified municipal leads, arrange meetings, deliver presentations and demonstrations, support proposals, close business, and help build long-term customer relationships. The role will also involve mentoring junior sales and marketing support staff, helping coordinate commercialization activities, and ensuring that product releases are ready for customer adoption. This is an excellent opportunity for someone who enjoys building a market, opening doors, explaining technical solutions clearly, guiding a small commercial team, and helping municipalities adopt new technology. Will need to be in the office as determined by the President. Initial Commercial Focus The initial focus will be on the Sanitary Sewer Condition Assessment Platform (SSCAP) system, a Smart City Water cloud software designed to help municipalities improve how they access, interpret, and use sanitary sewer condition (capacity and asset management), monitoring, compliance, and related infrastructure information. The system is intended to help municipalities move beyond traditional reporting cycles by making relevant infrastructure data more accessible, practical, and actionable for planning, operations, compliance awareness, infrastructure prioritization, and earlier intervention. Key Responsibilities The Commercialization Manager will be responsible for: Working with senior staff to develop a clear plan for action, understanding municipal sales cycles and methods; Build a repeatable sales and marketing work plan for municipal customers; Developing strategies to encourage pilot projects and early adoption Developing strategies for customer retention, renewals, and recurring revenue growth, through subscription up-sells, consulting/customization, and contracting services; Generating qualified leads in the municipal and public-sector market; Researching target municipalities, departments, decision-makers, influencers, and procurement pathways; Arranging introductory meetings, technical discussions, presentations, and product demonstrations; Closing SSCAP sales, either as initial/temporary pilot projects or long-term subscription services involving asset and program data integration, testing, maintenance, and related consulting and contracting services; Proactively preparing and supporting proposals, commercial discussions, and customer follow-up; Proactively maintaining regular, professional communication with leads, prospects, and strategic contacts; Directing, mentoring and helping coordinate junior sales and digital marketing support staff; Helping organize sales priorities, marketing activities, customer outreach, CRM discipline, and follow-up routines; Working with the SCW senior visionary, design and development staff, and operations and technical and customer support staff to ensure product design, development, testing and customer support quality are maintained on-track; Reviewing product prior to releases from a customer-readiness perspective, including usability, documentation, help resources, release readiness, and rollout checklists Target Customers and Stakeholders The initial role for the initial contract duration will focus primarily on Ontario municipalities, with supplemental in-bound opportunities elsewhere in Canada and the United States where strategically appropriate. Target stakeholders may include: Municipal operations departments; Environmental services departments; Public works departments; Engineering departments; Planning departments; Development services departments; Asset-management groups; Infrastructure and capital planning teams; Regulatory and compliance-related staff; and Municipal leaders involved in service modernization and Smart City initiatives. What Success Looks Like Success in this role will be measured by practical commercial outcomes, including: Qualified leads generated; Meetings arranged; Demonstrations delivered; Proposals submitted; Pilot projects initiated; Long term project initiated; Initial integration revenue secured; Recurring revenue and renewals secured; Customer retention; Growth of the municipal sales pipeline; Clear improvement of sales and marketing processes; and Completion of product-release readiness reviews from a customer perspective. Candidate Profile The ideal candidate is a highly motivated, energetic, reliable, and proactive commercial professional with strong communication skills and a proven ability to develop new business in a technical or solution-based environment. The successful candidate should be comfortable speaking with municipal leaders, engineers, technical staff, public-sector decision-makers, and internal product teams. The role requires someone who can explain technical solutions clearly, build credibility with customers, manage follow-up discipline, and move opportunities forward with persistence and professionalism. This position is well suited to someone who enjoys both direct selling and commercialization leadership, and who can help bring structure, discipline, and momentum to a growing sales and marketing process. Required Skills and Capabilities The successful candidate should have: Strong business-development and sales ability in a technical, software, infrastructure, utility, engineering, or public-sector environment; Excellent verbal communication and presentation skills in English; The ability to identify target accounts and develop practical outreach strategies; The confidence to arrange and lead meetings, presentations, and product demonstrations; The ability to understand customer needs and translate technical capabilities into practical business value; Strong follow-up discipline and pipeline-management habits; The ability to build trust with municipal and public-sector customers; Sound judgment, professionalism, reliability, and responsiveness; The ability to work with senior leadership while also mentoring junior support staff; Comfort working in a growing business where processes are still being developed; The ability to help organize sales, marketing, customer outreach, and CRM activities; and The ability to provide useful customer-facing feedback on product usability, documentation, rollout readiness, and adoption barriers. Relevant Experience Municipal software sales experience in engineering is strongly preferred. Minimum of 5 years of experience in business development, software sales, commercialization, municipal sales, public-sector sales, or a related technical solutions environment. Candidates without direct municipal software sales experience may be considered if they have strong experience in one or more of the following areas: Software sales, go-to-market planning and closing strategies; Municipal asset management and capacity management ; Utility-sector sales; Public-sector sales; Environmental or water/wastewater services; Smart City technology; Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to engage senior municipal clients, technical teams, and leadership in a clear manner; Saas or technical solution sales; Post-secondary degree in business, engineering, environmental science, or a related discipline, or equivalent relevant experience. Product and Customer Readiness Role In addition to sales and business development, the Commercialization Manager will help to ensure that new products and features are ready for customer use and provide feedback to the design and development team. This includes reviewing product releases from the customer’s perspective and helping confirm that features are easy to understand, simple to use, properly documented, connected to help resources, and supported by appropriate rollout checklists. The Commercialization Manager will work with the design, development, implementation, and customer-support teams to help ensure that product releases are not only technically complete, but also ready for successful adoption by municipal users. Compensation Initial compensation will include a base salary plus sales performance incentives. The base salary will consider the preferred candidate’s qualifications. Extension and expansion to the contract and compensation may be made available subject to performance/success. Smart City Water Inc. is committed to fostering a positive and progressive workplace that reflects the community in which we operate and serve. We provide equitable treatment and accommodation to ensure barrier-free employment in accordance with the Ontario Human Rights Code and Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act. You can request for accommodation related to the protected grounds at any stage of our recruitment process by emailing us.