SK On is a global battery cell manufacturer scaling its energy storage platform across the United States. Since 2025, Sourcechange has been the exclusive search partner behind that build-out, delivering placements from VP level through to functional management. When the partnership began, roughly one person in the US was dedicated to the platform.
SK On is one of the world's largest battery cell manufacturers, consistently ranked in the global top 10 and sixth worldwide in the first half of 2026 by installed capacity.
Its US production base, SK Battery America, runs two plants in Commerce, Georgia, with a combined capacity of around 22 GWh a year, and is adding lithium iron phosphate (LFP) lines to serve the fast-growing US energy storage market. Its first major US energy storage supply agreement is with Flatiron Energy, covering 7.2 GWh of LFP cells. As a South Korean manufacturer producing domestically, SK On sits outside foreign entity of concern (FEOC) restrictions, so US developers that use its cells keep their eligibility for federal clean-energy tax credits, a decisive advantage as limits tighten on Chinese battery imports.
SK On had to build an entire US energy storage platform from almost nothing, at speed and across every function at once. Three pressures shaped the brief.
When the partnership began, roughly one person in the United States was dedicated to the platform. There was no established team to sell candidates on, and no internal recruiting infrastructure to build from.
Five functions needed hiring in parallel: project delivery, engineering, commercial, service operations, and supply chain. Each search was technical enough to demand its own mapped network, worked separately.
Experienced battery energy storage system (BESS) talent is scarce, and actively courted by integrators, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and developers. Reaching passive candidates fast was the difference between holding the build schedule and slipping it.
Sourcechange ran the build-out as a single exclusively retained partnership rather than a string of separate hires, owning each search end to end so that market knowledge compounded from one function to the next. We solved for each pressure directly.
The engagement started with a single project delivery search and grew across the platform from there. One partner stayed accountable for the whole team, so each placement deepened the picture of the market and made the next search faster.
Each of the five functions was worked as its own search on a separately mapped battery energy storage system (BESS) network, run by consultants with that functional specialism. Running them in parallel under one engagement kept the searches coordinated rather than competing for the same candidates.
We reached passive candidates directly at tier-1 integrators, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and engineering, procurement, and construction firms (EPCs), then qualified them fast to protect the build schedule. Across the placements delivered, the average time to hire was 69 days.
What began as a single project delivery search is now a full US platform team, built function by function under one retained partnership.
Our placement track record to date with SK On, all placements made by the Sourcechange team. Inquire for more data regarding placements, partnerships, framework agreements, and employee track record.
Cassie was a pleasure to work with. She represents what all candidates hope for in the recruiting experience. Professional, honest, reliable, communicative and always followed through. I always knew where I stood in the process, no 'sales' pitch, I knew there were other candidates in the running, and Cassie was sincere throughout. She gave me a lot of her time to coach me through the interviews and gave me honest feedback. I felt I was working with a recruitment partner who genuinely had my back. The outcome was spectacular and resulted in the offer and role I was hoping for. If Cassie represents you, you know you're in great hands.
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