What is a Marketing Analytics Specialist at Sunrun?

As a Marketing Analytics Specialist at Sunrun, you sit at the critical intersection of data science, consumer marketing, and the renewable energy revolution. Your primary mission is to translate complex datasets into actionable insights that drive customer acquisition and optimize marketing spend. In a company that is leading the transition to a sustainable future, your work directly influences how Sunrun identifies, reaches, and converts homeowners interested in solar energy and battery storage solutions.

This role is vital because Sunrun operates in a high-stakes, high-growth market where the cost of customer acquisition (CAC) is a primary driver of business health. You will be responsible for analyzing the full marketing funnel—from initial brand awareness and lead generation to final installation. By identifying friction points and uncovering high-value segments, you provide the strategic roadmap that allows the marketing team to scale efficiently.

You will likely work within the Marketing Strategy & Operations or Growth Marketing teams, collaborating closely with digital marketers, sales leaders, and finance professionals. The complexity of the work involves navigating long sales cycles and multi-touch attribution models, making this a role for someone who enjoys solving puzzles that have a tangible, real-world impact on the planet's energy landscape.

Common Interview Questions

Getting Ready for Your Interviews

Preparation for the Marketing Analytics Specialist role requires a dual focus on technical precision and business intuition. You are not just being evaluated on your ability to write code or build dashboards, but on your capacity to explain the "why" behind the numbers to non-technical stakeholders.

Analytical Rigor – This is the foundation of the role. Interviewers will assess your proficiency in SQL, Excel, and data visualization tools like Tableau or Looker. You must demonstrate that you can clean messy data, join disparate tables, and produce accurate, reproducible results under pressure.

Marketing Domain Expertise – At Sunrun, you must understand the nuances of the lead-to-install funnel. You should be prepared to discuss concepts like multi-channel attribution, conversion rate optimization (CRO), and the lifetime value (LTV) of a solar customer. Interviewers look for candidates who understand how different marketing channels (paid search, social, direct mail) interact.

Strategic Communication – You will often be the bridge between data and decision-making. Evaluation focuses on your ability to synthesize complex findings into a clear narrative. Successful candidates demonstrate this by providing structured, concise answers that highlight the business impact of their previous analytical work.

Operational Agility – Sunrun is a fast-moving organization where priorities can shift rapidly. Interviewers evaluate your ability to manage ambiguity, handle tight deadlines, and navigate logistical challenges. Showing that you are proactive and can maintain focus despite a changing environment is a significant advantage.

Interview Process Overview

The interview process for the Marketing Analytics Specialist position at Sunrun is designed to test both your technical depth and your alignment with the company’s mission. While the sequence may vary slightly depending on the specific team, it generally follows a structured progression from high-level screening to deep-dive technical and behavioral assessments.

Expect a process that balances speed with rigor. Sunrun values efficiency, but the complexity of their marketing operations means you will meet with multiple stakeholders to ensure a well-rounded fit. The company places a high premium on candidates who have done their homework—not just on the role, but on the solar industry and Sunrun's specific business model.

The timeline above outlines the typical stages a candidate will navigate, starting from the initial recruiter outreach to the final offer. Most candidates find that the transition from the initial screen to the hiring manager interview happens quickly, while the scheduling of the final onsite or panel stage requires more coordination. Use this timeline to pace your technical review and behavioral storytelling.

Deep Dive into Evaluation Areas

Technical Data Manipulation

The core of your daily work involves extracting and transforming data to find the truth. Sunrun relies heavily on SQL for data retrieval and Excel for rapid modeling and ad-hoc analysis. You will be tested on your ability to handle complex joins, window functions, and data cleaning tasks.

Be ready to go over:

• SQL Proficiency – Writing queries to aggregate lead data, calculate conversion rates across different time periods, and identify top-performing marketing campaigns.
• Advanced Excel – Utilizing pivot tables, VLOOKUPS/XLOOKUPS, and complex formulas to build marketing performance trackers.
• Data Integrity – How you identify and resolve discrepancies between different data sources (e.g., Google Analytics vs. internal CRM data).

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Write a SQL query to find the month-over-month growth in solar lead conversions for the California market."
• "How would you handle a situation where your marketing dashboard shows a 20% drop in leads, but the CRM shows no change?"

Marketing Measurement & Attribution

Understanding how different touchpoints contribute to a sale is critical at Sunrun. Because solar is a high-consideration purchase, the customer journey is rarely linear. You must demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of how to measure success in a multi-channel environment.

Be ready to go over:

• Attribution Models – The pros and cons of first-touch, last-touch, and linear attribution in the context of a long sales cycle.
• Funnel Analysis – Identifying where potential customers drop off between seeing an ad and scheduling a home consultation.
• ROI/ROAS Calculation – Determining the efficiency of marketing spend across various platforms and recommending reallocations.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "If we increased our spend on Facebook ads by 50%, how would you model the expected impact on final solar installations?"
• "Which metrics would you prioritize when evaluating the success of a top-of-funnel brand awareness campaign?"

Business Acumen & Problem Solving

Beyond the data, you must understand the "solar economics" of Sunrun. This includes how the company generates revenue, the impact of federal tax credits, and the regional differences in utility rates. Candidates who can tie their analysis to the company's bottom line stand out.

Be ready to go over:

• Revenue Drivers – Understanding the relationship between customer contracts, cash flow, and long-term asset value.
• Competitive Landscape – Knowledge of Sunrun's position relative to other residential solar providers and traditional utilities.
• Strategic Recommendations – Moving beyond "what happened" to "what we should do next."

Example questions or scenarios:

• "How do changes in net metering policies in a specific state affect our marketing strategy in that region?"
• "Explain a time you used data to convince a stakeholder to stop a project or change their strategy."