Pluspunten
The very best part of working at NEXTracker (NX) is that most everyone at the company shares the vision of providing the world with clean energy. Yes, it needs to turn a profit as a subsidiary of a public company, but having this goal makes the work one does that much more meaningful. This starts at the top with Dan. He is the ultimate optimist, has boundless energy, and truly believes we will solve global climate change. As a leader, he is able to move seamlessly from a technical product review (engineering is his background), to closing a deal with sales, to making common sense operational decisions. He is very transparent, will readily listen to anyone at the company about ideas on how to improve. You will often find Dan playing his guitar in one of the common areas at NX HQ. He is also extremely transparent. He once pulled me into his office and spoke very plainly about the areas he thought I needed to improve. This feedback was welcome and refreshing; no beating around the bush with Dan. I also suggest you follow Dan on LinkedIn, he frequently posts very thoughtful perspectives about climate change and the clean energy industry. Since I have left NX, that is how I've kept up with their progress. The rest of the leadership staff is very experienced either in the industry or in the particular department he or she leads. Like Dan, they are all approachable and treat the entire company as valuable professionals. They are a very tight knit executive staff and many of them have worked together for decades in other companies. In general, the staff there are extremely bright and hardworking people. By and large I would love to work with someone at NX again in the future. There will always be a few people at a company one doesn't get along with, but that goes for any company.
Minpunten
NX has had a meteoric rise to the #1 tracker market share in solar trackers, which I believe it will retain indefinitely. The challenge for NX is that it must continue to drive down costs aggressively to compete against its imitators in the market. This can be very challenging because that means NX will ask A LOT from its staff. The team is expected to work very hard, and to deliver on its commitments regardless of the roadblocks. NX is a first generation organization, and still an entrepreneurial company at its heart. Meaning the company culture is to make decisions VERY quickly, often without all of the information available. The prevailing wisdom at NX is that it is better to make a quick decision with less than perfect information, than to wait a lose an opportunity. No "analysis paralysis" here. Make sure you are ready for this approach before you come to work here. As I mentioned, the leadership is tight knit, and it can sometimes be difficult to gain their trust. Some have perceived this as if you aren't buddies with the exec staff, you don't stand a chance at NX. That's nonsense; if you spend the extra time to engage with the exec staff and other key leaders, ask for feedback, guidance, etc, they will help you succeed. Even if you are a few levels down in the organization, they will be receptive to such a proactive approach. There are at times culture clashes with Flex, its parent company. Flex's model has historically been an EMS, meaning to generate out small margins based on volume, whereas NX is a product company selling ingenuity and creating value for the customer. Flex is working hard to change to be more of an end to end product and mfg services company, but that is a long evolution. The red tape required to make an EMS successful sometimes does not translate to a growing solar product company. From my perspective, both Flex and NX remain committed to make this marriage successful and continue to learn from each other.