IT- Product Manager, Expert

Job Summary

Join a small, high-performing team within a major California-based electric utility that is working on a portfolio of exciting and innovative projects to transform the electric grid into a smarter grid that works with and for customers. The GRiD team is charting the future of the utility and the energy industry as part of the Strategy & Innovation division. This execution-oriented candidate will play a Product Strategy Lead role within the Grid Products team in a mixture of new product innovation initiatives that support the Innovation Accelerator, product go-to-market, and the Grid Edge Strategy. The role will include creating, modifying, and collaborating on the strategy and vision for the electric grid; the tracking, reporting up, and coordination of teams working on the products and projects; and leadership across key initiatives that require open-ended problem solving. In addition to the innovation focus on new products, the Product Strategy Lead will also play a supporting role in the broader Strategy & Innovation team as a key stakeholder in the DER Management vision and Advanced Meter Infrastructure (AMI) 2.0 strategy, customer roadmap, and business development strategies. The successful candidate will be an individual contributor that can also manage project teams from time to time, track across multiple projects, drive to remove blockers to ensure teams are progressing on goals, and can manage up and out across the organization to bring visibility and alignment on the work. This candidate will be expected to influence, organize, and lead others in the organization to support the products and projects they're working on. A strong applicant will be highly organized, articulate, and able to create compelling strategies, presentations, and materials for working up to executive-level buy-in. This role will be expected to be an "on-the-fly" problem solver that is biased towards action and provides outcomes beyond the creation of strategy itself.

Responsibilities

• Be the point person who is tracking and managing up on a portfolio of Product initiatives which are in various stages of development
• Create executive presentations relaying progress and recommendations across the portfolio
• Engage with the broader organization, "growth advocates", and product teams to ensure they are coordinated and supporting the product launches
• Ensure coordination and cohesion across the Innovation Accelerator product initiatives that leads to a platform approach rather than disparate point solutions
• Continue to lead the strategy for AMI 2.0 innovation in partnership with the Customer organization
• Identify from the "bottoms up" where value in an AMI 2.0 system can be originated and analyze and create the business case for these initiatives
• Work from a "top down" to realize a larger grid transformation vision through AMI 2.0 and grid edge computing
• Bring together the strategy, create analysis and deck content for management, and advocate for the creation of projects/products to realize the value
• Stand up AMI 2.0 initiatives, bringing together a plan and resources, as needed to support the Grid Edge AMI 2.0 Strategy
• Form a Grid Edge Consortium between utilities, meter vendors, and device providers establishing the operating structure and driving collective outcomes
• Become a key stakeholder in the rest of Strategy & Innovation work with a particular focus on customer electrification, load management, and AMI 2.0
• Work through executive-level problem solving or opportunity exploratory requests as they arise

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science in Engineering, Business, or Computer Science
• 8 years of job-related experience in energy, products, strategy, or finance
• Experience with strategy, business case creation and approval, and management of a portfolio of solutions
• A strong applicant will be organized and motivated, with a strong track record of success in building consensus and managing many moving parts within matrixed teams

Skills

• Bias toward action, concise, and passionate
• Strong ability to ideate both linearly and non-linearly
• Removes barriers to products and projects moving forward in an autonomous fashion
• Able to operate at different levels of abstraction, outcome focused while understanding and adhering to process where necessary
• Empathic and curious — has an ability to seek to understand while driving towards shared outcomes
• Handles multiple projects and stakeholders and pushes for pace with self-directed drive

Nice-to-Have Experience

• Experience both inside and outside of the utility industry
• Experience with Distributed Energy Resources, consumer energy products, or product development
• Experience leading cross-cutting programs or technology deployments, with a focus on emerging/innovative technologies and creating new process & structure for rapid scale-up
• Chief of staff or management experience

Pay

$90.00–$95.00 per hour (USD)

Schedule

Hybrid — required once a week on-site at the client's General Office in downtown Oakland, CA. In-person activities will focus on synchronous collaboration, affinity building, ideation, or planning activities. Occasional travel to other client facilities throughout the service territory may be required.

Benefits

• Medical, Vision, and Dental Insurance Plans
• 401k Retirement Fund