Manager - Technology Development, Gas Work Management Applications

Louisville Gas and Electric Company and Kentucky Utilities Company, part of the PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL) family of companies, are regulated utilities that serve more than 1.3 million customers and have consistently ranked among the best companies for customer service in the United States. LG&E serves 334,000 natural gas and 433,000 electric customers in Louisville and 16 surrounding counties. KU serves 569,000 customers in 77 Kentucky counties and five counties in Virginia. LG&E and KU are major employers and active supporters of the communities they serve through volunteerism and investments in education, sustainability, and wellbeing.

About the role

This is a hybrid role requiring 3 days in office at either Allentown, PA or Louisville, KY. PPL is seeking a seasoned Manager of Tech Development, Gas Applications to lead the technology portfolio supporting gas work management, field execution, mobility, safety, inspection, compliance, and related operational capabilities. The ideal candidate brings a strong foundation in software engineering and application development with proven people leadership in complex, operationally intensive environments.

This leader will oversee internal teams, contractors, strategic partners, and offshore development resources while collaborating with gas business leaders, the Field Enterprise Architect, and enterprise technology functions to deliver stable operations, improve service quality, reduce technical debt, and advance the application roadmap. The role also carries accountability for streamlining the application portfolio, driving technology simplification, reducing manual work, and delivering annual O&M savings through technology-enabled efficiency and process improvement.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Gas Work Management Applications portfolio, including strategy, delivery, support, modernization, lifecycle planning, and day-to-day operational health.
• Oversee the design, development, enhancement, integration, testing, deployment, and support of business-critical gas work management applications across legacy and modern platforms.
• Establish and drive application roadmaps that improve reliability, maintainability, scalability, supportability, and business alignment.
• Ensure production stability and operational resilience through strong run/support practices, incident management discipline, root cause analysis, and problem resolution.
• Partner with business leaders to translate operational priorities, regulatory requirements, and field needs into actionable technology plans and delivery outcomes.
• Lead modernization efforts, including technical debt reduction, platform rationalization, interface improvement, and adoption of sound engineering practices.
• Partner closely with the Field Enterprise Architect to evaluate the Gas Work Management Applications landscape, identify consolidation and rationalization opportunities, and drive a simplified, supportable, and scalable technology portfolio.
• Identify and lead opportunities to simplify technology, reduce duplicative capabilities, retire or rationalize legacy solutions, and improve alignment to enterprise standards.
• Drive the use of technology to reduce manual work across business processes, improve workflow efficiency, and increase the quality, consistency, and accuracy of operational outcomes.
• Be accountable for identifying, shaping, and delivering annual O&M savings and AI opportunities across supported business lines through automation, simplification, process improvement, and better use of application capabilities.
• Build business cases and roadmap recommendations that connect application modernization and portfolio decisions to measurable outcomes such as productivity, service quality, control improvement, and cost efficiency.
• Manage internal team members, contractors, strategic partners, and offshore developers to ensure high-quality execution, productivity, accountability, and knowledge continuity.
• Drive delivery governance, release planning, prioritization, and dependency management across multiple applications and stakeholder groups.
• Ensure application solutions align with enterprise architecture, cybersecurity, infrastructure, data, integration, and compliance requirements.
• Oversee vendor and partner performance, including scope management, service quality, issue escalation, contractual accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Manage resource planning, capacity planning, budget inputs, and demand balancing across project, enhancement, and support work.
• Promote disciplined software lifecycle management, including requirements clarity, quality assurance, change management, documentation, and support readiness.
• Build strong operating rhythms for portfolio reviews, risk management, stakeholder communication, and executive reporting.
• Support a culture of safety, operational rigor, continuous improvement, and customer-focused delivery within the technology organization.

Stakeholder Management

This role requires strong partnership across both business and technology functions. Key responsibilities include:

• Partnering closely with Gas Operations, Field Operations, Work Management, Safety, and other operational leaders to understand business priorities, operational risks, service pain points, and regulatory requirements.
• Working across Enterprise Architecture, Infrastructure, Cybersecurity, Data and Analytics, and Integration teams to ensure solutions are secure, supportable, and aligned with enterprise standards.
• Collaborating with the Field Enterprise Architect to align portfolio decisions with target-state architecture, simplify the application environment, reduce fragmentation, and ensure modernization choices improve long-term supportability and business value.
• Coordinating with the PMO, delivery leaders, and adjacent application teams to manage dependencies, release timing, issue resolution, and roadmap sequencing.
• Collaborating with Finance, Procurement, and vendor management partners on budget planning, contract oversight, sourcing decisions, and third-party performance.
• Providing clear communication to senior leaders on delivery status, risks, support health, resource constraints, decision points, and value realization.
• Leading prioritization and escalation management across competing demands while maintaining credibility with both operational and technology stakeholders.
• Influencing decisions through strong business acumen, technical judgment, and structured communication rather than relying solely on positional authority.
• Building trusted relationships with strategic vendors and partners to improve delivery quality, responsiveness, and long-term value.

Team Leadership

This role is expected to build and lead a high-performing application engineering organization supporting critical gas business capabilities. Key expectations include:

• Building, leading, and developing a team of employees, contractors, and offshore developers supporting the Gas Work Management Applications portfolio.
• Setting clear expectations for performance, accountability, engineering quality, support responsiveness, and collaboration.
• Coaching and developing talent across technical, delivery, and leadership dimensions, including succession planning for critical roles.
• Fostering an engaged, resilient, and execution-oriented team culture grounded in trust, ownership, transparency, and continuous improvement.
• Leading managers or senior individual contributors where appropriate, providing direction while empowering sound decision-making.
• Strengthening team capability in modern engineering practices, application support disciplines, release management, and cross-functional delivery.
• Ensuring appropriate operating model design across onshore and offshore teams, including role clarity, handoffs, coverage, productivity, and knowledge transfer.
• Addressing performance issues directly and constructively while recognizing strong execution and leadership behaviors.
• Creating an environment where teams can balance operational support demands with roadmap delivery and modernization priorities.
• Promoting collaboration across application, infrastructure, cybersecurity, data, and business teams to improve overall outcomes.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree.
• 10+ years of related work experience including 3 years of leadership experience.
• Proven experience leading the delivery, enhancement, integration, and support of complex enterprise applications.
• Strong technical foundation in software engineering, application architecture, systems integration, and production support.
• Experience leading teams across a blended operating model that includes employees, contractors, vendors, and offshore development resources.
• Demonstrated success managing delivery in complex, regulated, operationally critical environments.
• Experience establishing roadmaps, prioritization models, governance disciplines, and execution cadences for an application portfolio.
• Strong vendor and partner management experience, including service accountability, performance management, and escalation handling.
• Experience balancing project delivery, application support, modernization, portfolio simplification, and technical debt reduction.
• Experience identifying technology-enabled process improvements, automation opportunities, and cost optimization initiatives.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to engage senior business and technology leaders.
• Demonstrated ability to lead through ambiguity, manage competing priorities, and make sound decisions in high-accountability environments.

Preferred Qualifications

• Typically 8–12+ years of progressive experience in application development, software engineering, enterprise application leadership, or a related technology domain.
• 3–5+ years of people leadership experience managing engineering, application development, or application support teams.
• Experience supporting utility, industrial, field operations, work management, or safety-related application environments.
• Experience in regulated industries with strong operational, compliance, and reliability requirements.
• Familiarity with application portfolios that support field execution, asset-intensive operations, or similar domains.