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

Technical & Analytical Questions

These questions test your "hands-on" ability to work with data and your understanding of marketing metrics.

• "How would you join a table of marketing spend with a table of customer conversions if the timestamps don't perfectly match?"
• "Describe the SQL query you would write to find the 'churn rate' of leads at each stage of the funnel."
• "What is the difference between a 'left join' and an 'inner join,' and when would you use each in a marketing context?"
• "How do you handle outliers in a dataset when calculating the average cost per acquisition?"
• "If a marketing manager asks for a report on 'campaign performance,' what questions do you ask them before you start pulling data?"

Behavioral & Situational Questions

These questions assess how you handle workplace challenges and your alignment with Sunrun's values.

• "Tell me about a time you had to deliver bad news to a stakeholder based on your data analysis."
• "Describe a situation where you had to work with a difficult partner in another department. How did you handle it?"
• "Give an example of a time you discovered an error in your own analysis after you had already presented it. What did you do?"
• "How do you prioritize your work when you receive multiple urgent requests from different marketing managers?"
• "Why are you passionate about the renewable energy industry and Sunrun's mission specifically?"

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."

Key Responsibilities

As a Marketing Analytics Specialist, your day-to-day will be a mix of scheduled reporting and deep-dive exploratory analysis. You are the primary source of truth for the marketing team, ensuring that every dollar spent is tracked and every campaign is measured against its objectives.

• Performance Reporting – You will design, build, and maintain automated dashboards that track key performance indicators (KPIs) such as cost-per-lead, conversion rates, and marketing-driven revenue.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration – You will work closely with the Digital Marketing team to optimize ad spend and the Sales Operations team to ensure lead quality meets the needs of the field sales force.
• Experimental Design – You will play a key role in A/B testing, from designing the experiment and determining sample sizes to analyzing the results and recommending a rollout strategy.
• Strategic Planning – During quarterly and annual planning cycles, you will provide the data-driven forecasts that help leadership set targets and allocate budgets across channels.

Role Requirements & Qualifications

To be competitive for this role at Sunrun, you need a blend of technical mastery and the ability to navigate a corporate environment that values both data and speed.

• Technical Skills – High proficiency in SQL is mandatory. You should also be an expert in Excel and have significant experience with at least one major BI tool (Tableau, Looker, or Power BI). Familiarity with Python or R for statistical analysis is a strong plus.
• Experience – Typically, 2–4 years of experience in marketing analytics, business intelligence, or a similar data-centric role. Experience in a high-growth B2C environment or the renewable energy sector is highly preferred.
• Education – A Bachelor’s degree in a quantitative field such as Statistics, Economics, Mathematics, or Business Analytics.
• Soft Skills – Exceptional communication skills, a "self-starter" mentality, and the ability to remain organized while managing multiple projects simultaneously.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How technical is the interview for this role? A: It is moderately technical. You should expect a live SQL test or a take-home assignment that requires you to manipulate a dataset and provide business insights. While you don't need to be a software engineer, your data hygiene and query logic must be sound.

Q: What is the company culture like for the analytics team? A: The culture is data-driven and collaborative but can be intense. Sunrun is a leader in a competitive industry, so there is a high expectation for accuracy and a fast turnaround on insights.

Q: How much should I know about the solar industry before my interview? A: You should have a solid high-level understanding. Know who Sunrun’s main competitors are, understand the basics of a solar lease vs. a solar loan, and be aware of current trends in residential energy storage.

Q: What is the typical timeline for the hiring process? A: The process usually takes 3–5 weeks from the initial recruiter screen to a final decision. However, candidates should be proactive in following up, as scheduling large panel interviews can sometimes cause delays.

Other General Tips

• Understand the Business Model: Before you walk in, make sure you can explain how Sunrun makes money. This was a specific point of failure for past candidates. Research their solar-as-a-service model.
• Be Prepared for Logistical Ambiguity: Some candidates have reported last-minute room changes or interviewers running behind. Stay calm, bring your own laptop and charger, and use any waiting time to review your notes.
• Ask Strategic Questions: When it's your turn to ask questions, focus on the future. Ask about how the team is evolving its attribution model or how they plan to use data to enter new geographic markets.
• Follow Up Proactively: If you haven't heard back within the promised timeframe, send a polite, professional follow-up email to your recruiter. Persistence is often seen as a sign of genuine interest.

Summary & Next Steps

The Marketing Analytics Specialist role at Sunrun is a unique opportunity to apply high-level analytical skills to one of the most important challenges of our time: the transition to clean energy. By mastering the marketing funnel and providing the insights that drive growth, you will play a direct role in putting solar panels on more roofs across the country.

To succeed, focus your preparation on the intersection of SQL mastery and business storytelling. Be ready to demonstrate not just that you can calculate the ROI of a campaign, but that you understand the strategic implications of those numbers for Sunrun's long-term goals. While the interview process can be rigorous and occasionally unpredictable, candidates who arrive with a deep understanding of the business and a proactive attitude will find themselves at a significant advantage.

The salary data provided reflects the competitive nature of the Marketing Analytics Specialist role within the renewable energy sector. When reviewing these figures, consider the total compensation package, including potential bonuses and equity, which are often part of Sunrun's offer for specialists who drive measurable business impact. For more detailed insights and community-sourced interview experiences, continue your preparation on Dataford.