Chief Executive Officer

Hiring: Chief Executive Officer
Company: Salient Energy Inc.
Location: Dartmouth, Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia

Salient Energy is developing a safe, sustainable, alternative to lithium-ion battery technology.

With a focus on zinc-ion batteries for stationary energy storage applications, Salient is working to solve one of the most important challenges in the clean energy transition: how to store renewable energy safely, affordably, and at scale.

Built on a foundation of deep technical expertise, Salient's zinc-ion technology uses non-toxic raw materials with strong Canadian supply potential and a water-based chemistry designed to eliminate fire and explosion risk. The company is addressing the growing demand for practical alternatives to lithium-ion in applications where safety, supply chain resilience, cost, and scalability are critical.

Salient is now entering a pivotal stage of growth. With significant R&D and prototype validation behind it, the company is preparing to advance commercialization through strategic partnerships, large-format installation validation, and pilot production capability.

Based in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, this role will require meaningful connection to the team, Board, partners, and operating needs of the business. In-person on site presence will be important. To lead this next chapter, Salient is seeking a CEO who can help translate technical promise into commercial traction.

This is not a maintenance leadership role. It is a builder role.

The Opportunity

Salient has the ingredients that matter: meaningful technology, a strong clean energy use case, an experienced technical team, and a market problem that is only becoming more urgent. The next CEO will help shape the company's path from tech development to full scale commercial adoption. This includes charting the company's go-to-market strategy, identifying priority market segments, building strategic and sustainable relationships, supporting financing efforts, and ensuring the organization has the right structure, focus, and execution discipline to move forward.

The ideal candidate will understand that early-stage commercialization is about making the right bets, sequencing work intelligently, lead with financial prudence and building confidence among customers, partners, investors, funders, and the Board. This role requires a leader who can move comfortably between strategy and execution; someone who can dig into the details, provide clear guidance, and maintain a strategic lens on Salient's long-term growth and commercialization path.

Key Priorities

The CEO will be expected to lead Salient through its next phase of growth with a focus on:

• Commercialization, Partnerships, and Market Development
  Refine and execute a focused commercialization roadmap that moves Salient from product validation toward market adoption, strategic partnerships, and revenue-generating opportunities. The CEO will elevate Salient's profile; identify priority markets, customer segments, routes to market, and key relationships with potential customers, key government partnerships, and other organizations that can support validation, adoption, and scale.
• Capital Readiness and Board Alignment
  In partnership with the Board, support investor/key stakeholder engagement, financial reporting, diligence readiness, milestone planning, and capital strategy. The CEO will ensure the company can clearly demonstrate progress, manage risk, and build confidence with investors, funding agencies, and strategic partners.
• Execution, Operating Discipline, and Team Alignment
  Bring focus, accountability, and operating and financial discipline to an early-stage environment by helping the team prioritize, manage resources, set and achieve clear milestones, and align technical development with commercial objectives and funding requirements. The CEO will oversee and support Salient's scientists, engineers, and technical contributors while building the team structure, culture, and talent strategy required to attract, retain, and align top talent for the company's next stage of growth.

Fundamentally, the CEO will represent the company with clarity, credibility, and confidence as Salient moves through this critical commercialization and scale-up phase.

The Candidate We Are Looking For

Of critical importance is a leader who is excited by the challenge of building something significant before all the pieces are neatly in place. The right person may come from clean technology, energy storage, advanced materials, manufacturing, clean/climate technology, or another deep tech environment.

This role is best suited to a proven entrepreneur, operator, or commercialization leader who has helped move a technology-enabled company from technical development into market adoption, customer validation, strategic partnerships, or growth financing. A production and/or manufacture background is also added value for this role.

The ideal candidate will bring the resourcefulness, resilience, commercial drive, and hands-on leadership style required in an early-stage environment, where success depends on disciplined choices, strong execution, and the ability to build momentum before all systems, resources, and infrastructure are fully in place.

• Proven experience leading or helping scale an early-stage or growth-stage company, ideally in clean technology, energy, advanced materials, manufacturing, or another technical sector.
• Strong commercial orientation, with demonstrated ability to move technology toward customers, partners, pilots, revenue, or investment.
• Direct leadership responsibility and oversight for Series A fundraising, investor relations, grant funding, strategic partnerships, or commercial diligence.
• Strong business judgment and the ability to make clear decisions in resource-constrained environments.
• Comfort working with scientists, engineers, and technical founders.
• The ability to translate complex technology into a compelling business story.
• A hands-on leadership style suited to a small, ambitious, early-stage company.
• High integrity, humility, resilience, and the confidence to lead without needing a large platform underneath them.
• A genuine commitment to clean energy, climate impact, and building practical solutions for the energy transition.

Why Salient

Salient offers a rare opportunity for a hands-on entrepreneur or commercialization leader to help build an Atlantic Canadian clean technology company at a pivotal stage of growth. The company is seeking an engaged leader with the market/industry knowledge, discipline, tenacity, and practical business judgment to move promising technology successfully into the market.

As an early-stage company, Salient will offer a compensation package aligned with its stage, resources, and long-term growth opportunity. The successful candidate should understand the realities of leading a pre-Series A business and be motivated by the opportunity to build enterprise value over time, with final compensation structure discussed with shortlisted candidates.

To Apply

Candidates are invited to express their interest in confidence by submitting a CV and a summary outlining their interest in the role and their fit with Salient Energy's next stage of growth.

Apply Now.

Candidate profiles will be reviewed in confidence, with consideration given to those who bring strong technical-sector experience, commercialization leadership, and demonstrated success supporting rapid scale-up, partnerships, financing, or early-stage company development. Compensation will be discussed with shortlisted candidates.

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