Director Emergency Preparedness Response & Resilience - Emergency Preparedness FEU - Akron FirstEnergy Headquarters

About the role

This is an open position with FirstEnergy Service Company, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp. This is a full-time, on-site position located at a FirstEnergy location in either Akron, OH; Holmdel, NJ; Morristown, NJ or Reading, PA.

Responsibilities

• Lead the development, execution, and continuous improvement of Emergency Operations Plans (EOPs).
• Direct preparedness and response activities for major system emergencies, including severe storms, wildfires, heat events, winter weather, and infrastructure failures.
• Oversee incident command activation and ensure compliance with Incident Command System (ICS) and National Incident Management System (NIMS) principles.
• Lead after-action reviews and ensure corrective actions are identified, implemented, and tracked.
• Drive organizational change initiatives that embed preparedness, resilience, and continuous improvement into electric operations culture.
• Situational Awareness, Weather Intelligence & Operational Decision Support:
• Oversee the use of real-time and forecast meteorological data to anticipate electric system impacts and restoration challenges.
• Translate complex weather and operational intelligence into actionable guidance for electric operations leaders and executive leadership.
• Establish and maintain enterprise situational awareness capabilities integrating weather intelligence, outage management systems, crew status, and electric system conditions.
• Ensure accurate, timely, and consistent information flow during emergency events.
• Analytics, Predictive Modeling & Performance Management:
• Apply data science and predictive analytics to improve outage forecasting, crew staging, damage assessment, and restoration prioritization.
• Establish and track key performance indicators (KPIs) for preparedness, response, restoration, and resilience.
• Lead performance reporting, trend analysis, and executive-level reporting related to emergency preparedness and response.
• Develop executive dashboards, status reports, and briefings to support real-time operational and strategic decision-making.
• Technology Strategy & Systems Oversight:
• Provide strategic oversight of emergency preparedness and response technologies, including: Outage Management Systems (OMS), Weather intelligence platforms, Situational awareness and reporting tools, Emergency notification and communication systems.
• Drive continuous improvement and adoption of emerging technologies that enhance electric restoration performance and grid resilience.
• Cross-Enterprise Collaboration & Stakeholder Engagement:
• Partner with analytics, GIS, engineering, and operations teams to identify asset vulnerabilities, risk trends, and mitigation opportunities.
• Coordinate emergency communications with Corporate Communications, Customer Experience, and Government Affairs teams.
• Establish and maintain effective business relationships with internal stakeholders, regulatory agencies, community emergency organizations, and public safety partners.
• Serve as the primary liaison for emergency preparedness with regulators, emergency management agencies, and governmental partners.
• Regulatory Compliance & External Accountability:
• Ensure compliance with regulatory standards, emergency preparedness requirements, and reporting obligations.
• Support post-event regulatory inquiries, audits, and investigations using documented performance metrics.
• Establish governance standards and guidelines to ensure consistency across operating companies.
• Training, Exercises & Workforce Readiness:
• Lead enterprise emergency preparedness training programs, drills, and large-scale storm exercises.
• Ensure operations leadership and staff are trained on emergency roles, procedures, and tools.
• Resilience, Mitigation & Long-Term Planning:
• Align mitigation planning with capital investment, asset management, and long-term system planning strategies.
• Identify and prioritize system vulnerabilities and resilience improvement opportunities across the electric grid.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in emergency management, Engineering, Meteorology, Data Science, or a related field - Preferred.
• Master’s degree or advanced certification (CEM, PMP, Lean/Six Sigma, or similar) preferred.
• Minimum of ten (10) years of progressive experience in emergency preparedness, electric utility operations, or incident management.
• Demonstrated leadership experience managing major storm events and large-scale electric system restoration activities.
• Experience with utility mutual assistance networks and large event logistics.
• Strong working knowledge of electric utility operations, ICS/NIMS, and regulatory requirements.
• Proven ability to leverage weather data, analytics, and technology in operational decision-making.
• Strategic leadership during high-impact, time-sensitive events.
• Advanced situational awareness and analytical decision-making capability.
• Strong collaboration across operating companies and enterprise functions.
• Effective executive communication and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Ability to lead organizational change and drive continuous improvement.

Skills

• Leadership in emergency preparedness and response.
• Data science and predictive analytics.
• Incident command system (ICS) and National Incident Management System (NIMS).
• Outage management systems (OMS).
• Weather intelligence platforms.
• Situational awareness and reporting tools.
• Emergency notification and communication systems.
• Collaboration across operating companies and enterprise functions.
• Executive communication and stakeholder engagement.
• Organizational change and continuous improvement.

Benefits, Compensation & Workforce Diversity

At FirstEnergy, employees are key to our success. We depend on their talents to meet the challenges of our changing business environment. We are committed to rewarding individual and team efforts through our total rewards philosophy which includes competitive pay plus incentive compensation, a company-sponsored pension plan, 401(k) savings plan with matching employer contribution, a choice of medical, prescription drug, dental, vision, and life insurance programs, as well as skills development training with tuition reimbursement. Please visit our website at www.firstenergycorp.com to learn more about all of our employee rewards programs.

FirstEnergy proudly supports workforce diversity. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, status as a protected veteran, or status as a qualified individual with a disability. No recruiters or agencies without a previously signed contract. Unable to sponsor or transfer H-1B visas at this time.