Biochar Commercial Lead

Location: Remote or hybrid London office (UK or Ireland), with some travel as needed
Department: A Healthier Earth
Reports to: Director of Carbon Platforms

Role Overview

The Biochar Commercial Lead is accountable for building and securing the commercial pathways that convert AHE’s biochar production into long-term, compliant, revenue-secured offtake.

This includes developing end-use markets, structuring offtake agreements, and ensuring all sales channels meet the integrity, traceability and certification requirements that underpin high-quality carbon removal.

Acting as the bridge between operations, carbon, science and customers, this role translates technical performance into scalable commercial opportunities and ensures that biochar sales drive revenue while protecting the validity of associated carbon credits.

Key Responsibilities

Biochar Commercial Strategy & Channel Development

• Develop sales opportunities and routes to market for biochar from AHE-owned sites across priority end uses

• Build and manage distributor, reseller and direct end-user channels that can absorb volume reliably and support project scale-up

• Ensure biochar sales channels provide the volume certainty and contractual structure required to support project financing and platform scale-up.

• Create and execute go-to-market plans by geography, application and customer segment, ensuring alignment with AHE’s production ramp-up and commercial priorities

• Identify and secure long-term biochar offtake relationships that strengthen revenue certainty and support project bankability

• Structure commercial offtake proposals aligned to buyer needs and platform constraints, including:

• volume profiles

• contract tenor

• pricing structures

• delivery schedules and risk allocation

• Own volume and revenue targets for Biochar offtake, with a clear focus on long-term coverage rather than short-term transactions

• Maintain deal momentum across long sales cycles, coordinating internal inputs and managing decision timeline

Product Specification & End-Use Ownership

• Own biochar product specifications by end use, translating technical performance into clear, market-facing product requirements

• Define eligible and non-eligible end-use pathways in line with registry rules, certification standards and AHE commercial strategy

• Ensure biochar product positioning reflects the practical needs of each market, including agriculture, horticulture, landscaping, living walls and construction materials

• Work closely with technical, science and operations teams to ensure product quality, consistency and suitability for target applications

Product Claims, Compliance & Certification

• Ensure all product claims are accurate, evidence-based and aligned with durability, permanence and carbon accounting assumptions

• Manage distributor and end-user compliance with approved product claims, sales language and permitted use cases

• Support and help maintain certification requirements, including EBC, and ensure sales activity remains consistent with those standards

• Monitor external standards, market expectations and customer requirements to identify risks early and adapt commercial materials and positioning accordingly

Traceability, MRV & Commercial Governance

• Coordinate end-use traceability inputs into MRV processes, ensuring that downstream sales data supports audit readiness and registry compliance

• Work with carbon, registry and operations teams to maintain clear documentation of end use, customer flows and product allocation

• Help ensure biochar sales channels are operationally workable, contractually robust and compatible with platform quality requirements

• Support the development of commercial processes, templates and controls that improve consistency as AHE-owned sites scale

Trials, Partnerships & Market Development

• Act as the commercial representative for biochar in end-use trials, shaping trial structures that can convert into repeatable commercial demand

• Draft and negotiate MOUs, trial agreements and early-stage commercial frameworks that create a pathway from testing to contracted sales

• Build strong relationships with distributors, strategic end users, technical partners and other market actors to accelerate adoption of AHE biochar products

• Develop compelling sales collateral, product narratives and customer-facing materials that communicate value clearly and credibly

Skills & Experience

Essential

• Strong commercial experience in developing sales channels, distributor relationships and end-user markets for technical, industrial, agricultural or environmental products

• Ability to translate technical product characteristics into clear commercial offers, product specifications and customer value propositions

• Experience managing complex stakeholder relationships and working cross-functionally across commercial, technical, operational and compliance teams

• Experience in biochar, soil products, circular economy products, low-carbon materials or adjacent sustainability markets

• Excellent communication and negotiation skills, with the ability to represent AHE credibly in both commercial and technical discussions

• Ability to work effectively in ambiguous, fast-moving environments, take initiative and build structure where processes are still evolving.

• Strong commercial judgement and organisational skills, with the ability to manage multiple workstreams and progress opportunities from early engagement through to contract

Highly Desirable

• Strong understanding of how product claims, certification requirements and traceability obligations affect market positioning and sales execution

• Familiarity with EBC certification, carbon registries, dMRV systems or end-use traceability requirements

• Experience structuring trials, MOUs and early-stage commercial partnerships that convert into long-term customer relationships.

• Strong capability in developing sales materials, product collateral and customer-facing commercial narratives

Working Style & Expectations

• This is a hands-on commercial leadership role with direct responsibility for managing physical product sales and end-use sequestration

• The role requires comfort operating with long timelines, complex stakeholders, and evolving market conditions

• Regular travel is expected for buyer engagement, negotiations, and industry events

• Success in this role will be defined by the proportion of biochar production secured under long-term, compliant offtake agreements.

Why This Role Matters

This role is critical to converting AHE’s biochar platform from production capability into contracted, bankable revenue; ensuring that AHE’s biochar strategy delivers both strong commercial outcomes and the transparency increasingly expected by carbon credit buyers. It helps ensure biochar is sold into end uses that are credible, traceable and aligned with durability, permanence and product claim requirements.

It also plays an important role in realising the wider co-benefits of biochar and in growing the market for high-integrity end-use applications. By building trusted sales channels and commercially viable pathways, this role supports long-term value creation across AHE’s owned-site platform.

Note: The successful candidate will be required to complete pre-employment screening to BS7858:2019, or national equivalent. (Covers: Confirmation of identity, legal right to work, financial probity, criminal history and associations with proscribed organisations). It is the policy of Pure DC that all individuals have a responsibility for the security and protection of company’s Information and IT Resources over which they have control, according to their role.