Sales – Licensing Manager and Home Energy Storage Expert
Duracell is the world’s leading manufacturer and marketer of high-performance alkaline batteries, specialty cells, and rechargeable batteries. A wholly owned Berkshire Hathaway company and operating in over 100 countries, Duracell is a trusted consumer brand with a growing portfolio in home energy, power accessories, and portable power solutions. The company’s licensing programme extends the Duracell brand into adjacent product categories through strategic partner relationships worldwide.
This is a senior individual contributor or manager-level role within Duracell’s Global Licensing function, based in Europe. The primary mission of this position is to drive Duracell’s growth in the home energy storage sector — one of the company’s highest-priority strategic areas — by identifying, signing, and managing licensee partnerships across solar, inverters, and battery storage systems. This new role will be Duracell’s home energy storage expert globally.
In addition to leading home energy globally, the role carries oversight responsibility for an established portfolio of licensees across complementary categories including EV charging, flashlights, powerbanks, and consumer electronic accessories in Europe.
Develop and execute a European licensing strategy for Duracell-branded home energy products, specifically solar panels, inverters, and battery storage systems.
Identify, evaluate, and approach prospective licensee partners with credible manufacturing, distribution, and go-to-market capabilities in the home energy sector.
Lead end-to-end deal negotiations including commercial terms, royalty structures, minimum guarantees, product approval processes, and contractual compliance requirements.
Manage the full licensee lifecycle: onboarding, product development approvals, go-to-market support, ongoing business reviews, and renewal or exit management.
Monitor market trends, competitive activity, and regulatory developments across European home energy markets (solar, BESS, grid-tied inverters).
Act as the internal champion and subject matter expert for home energy licensing, building cross-functional relationships with Legal, Brand, Finance, and Marketing.
A distinctive and strategically important element of this role is acting as a “Connector” on behalf of Duracell — building the company’s visibility and reputation within the high-tech start-up and innovation community, with a particular focus on identifying future licensing partners at an early stage.
Represent Duracell at start-up events, accelerator demo days, university spin-out showcases, incubator programmes, and innovation conferences across the UK and Europe.
Build and maintain a pipeline of relationships with early-stage companies developing technology relevant to home energy, power, and adjacent categories — even where a licensing opportunity may be 2–3 years from maturity.
Engage proactively with the UK’s “golden triangle” innovation corridor (Cambridge, London, Oxford) — including university technology transfer offices, science parks, venture capital firms, and accelerator networks such as Founders Factory, Entrepreneur First, Cambridge Enterprise, and Oxford University Innovation.
Extend this community engagement to broader European innovation hubs (e.g. Berlin, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Paris) where relevant start-up activity exists in energy and power technology.
Develop and maintain an internal intelligence database of emerging companies, tracking their technology maturity, funding status, and licensing potential for regular reporting to the Global Head of Licensing.
Manage and develop existing licensee relationships across EV charging, flashlights, powerbanks, and consumer electronic accessories.
Conduct regular business reviews with licensees to ensure brand compliance, commercial performance, and contractual adherence.
Identify growth opportunities and new product introductions within the existing licensee portfolio.
Coordinate with internal stakeholders to resolve product approval, quality, and compliance issues in a timely manner.
Minimum 7–10 years of professional experience overall, with at least 5 years in licensing, business development, or strategic partnerships.
A minimum of 2–5 years of recent, direct experience in the home energy storage sector is required. This experience must be current and hands-on — candidates with home energy exposure earlier in their career that is no longer active will not meet this requirement.
Working knowledge of the home energy storage sector, including battery storage systems (BESS), solar PV, and/or inverter technology. Candidates should be able to speak credibly to OEMs, distributors, and technology partners in this space.
Proven track record of originating and closing commercial licensing or partnership agreements, ideally involving consumer or industrial brand licensing.
Experience managing a portfolio of commercial relationships simultaneously, with strong performance monitoring and governance capability.
Demonstrated ability to operate effectively across European markets, with an understanding of the commercial, regulatory, and cultural landscape.
Preferred Qualifications:
Previous experience within a consumer goods or technology licensing function (either as licensor or licensee).
Familiarity with one or more of the secondary categories: EV charging infrastructure, portable power products, or consumer electronics accessories.
Experience working within a global, matrixed organisation with cross-regional brand governance.
Existing network of contacts within European home energy manufacturers, distributors, or trade bodies.
Demonstrable experience engaging with the start-up and innovation ecosystem — whether through working within a start-up, VC-backed environment, incubator/accelerator programme, or university commercialisation context. Existing connections within the UK’s golden triangle (Cambridge, London, Oxford) tech and deep-tech community would be a significant advantage.
Skills and Competencies:
Strong negotiation and deal structuring skills with a results-driven mindset.: Commercial acumen
Strong Technical understanding of Home Energy Storage battery chemistries and design.
Ability to assess market opportunity, evaluate partner capability, and build a compelling business case for new licensee signings.: Market expertise
Skilled at building trusted, long-term partnerships with senior stakeholders at licensee companies.: Relationship management
Understands the importance of brand integrity and compliance in a licensing model.: Brand stewardship
Confident presenting to senior internal stakeholders and external partners; fluent business English required; business level Spanish a plus.: Communication
Able to manage a complex workload across multiple partners, categories, and geographies simultaneously.: Organisation
Education:
Bachelor’s degree required, preferably in Engineering, or a related field.
MBA or equivalent postgraduate qualification is advantageous but not required.
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