Expert Product Mgr - Operational Integration

Requisition ID # 158292

Job Category: Project / Program Management; Business Operations / Strategy; Maintenance / Construction / Operations

Job Level: Individual Contributor

Business Unit: Electric Engineering

Work Type: Hybrid

Job Location: Oakland

Team Summary

The Grid Innovation Delivery team is making the grid of the future a reality by scaling innovative technologies and pilot solutions into standard tools and products that PG&E utilizes to deliver for our hometowns and serve our planet. The team is a bridge between early R&D innovation efforts and established operational organizations. Grid Innovation Delivery (GID) executes a comprehensive set of activities to successfully deploy and operate new technologies and concepts including solution strategy, identification and development of deployments, new process creation, IT system integration, solution standardization and post-deployment field operations & maintenance. The team steers towards quickly scaling new technology programs into a well-documented, sustainable and mature state that can achieve long term success within PG&E's existing lines of business.

The Remote Grid Program demonstrates the GID team's results. Remote Grids cost-effectively address wildfire risk by serving customers with fully islanded (24/7/365) microgrids of solar, batteries and fuel-powered generation and permanent removal of high-risk overhead power lines. Grid Innovation Delivery deployed and currently operates PG&E's nine Remote Grids and the team will grow the fleet to more than two dozen in the next two years. See the Remote Grid Program page here, as well as media coverage from the PG&E newsroom here.

Position Summary

This Product Manager will play a central, driving role in operationalizing innovative utility grid assets that improve how PG&E serves its customers. This role owns the product roadmap for operational features of Remote Grids and other emerging technology programs that Grid Innovation Delivery stands up, focusing in the near term on the integration aspects around people, process, and technology for the operational Remote Grid projects as they continue to come online. As the Product Owner for the fleet management application ecosystem used by PG&E and its partners to manage the growing fleet of Remote Grids this position is also responsible for reporting and resolution of performance issues. As GID builds a track record deploying the present, initial version of the Remote Grid solution, this Product Manager will own roadmaps for operationalizing other new grid technology programs such as distribution connected Battery Energy Storage Systems that make PG&E's assets cleaner, more reliable, faster to deploy, and more cost effective (i.e. Non-Wires Alternatives).

A strong applicant will be highly organized and motivated, with a track record of success in building consensus and managing many moving parts within matrixed teams. The Product Manager will work closely with leads throughout the Grid Innovation Delivery team and across various lines of business including Asset Strategy, Asset Knowledge Management, Electric Operations, and Information Technology to drive effective execution and maintain alignment across all stakeholders.

This position is hybrid, primarily working from your remote office and PG&E's new Oakland General Office based on business need (generally 1-2 days per week). In-person activities focus on synchronous collaboration, affinity building, ideation, or planning activities. The role may require occasional travel to sites throughout the PG&E service territory.

PG&E is providing the salary range that the company in good faith believes it might pay for this position at the time of the job posting. This compensation range is specific to the locality of the job. The actual salary paid to an individual will be based on multiple factors, including, but not limited to, specific skills, education, licenses or certifications, experience, market value, geographic location, and internal equity. We would not anticipate that the individual hired into this role would land at or near the top half of the range described below, but the decision will be dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case.

A reasonable salary range is:

• Minimum Base Salary (Bay Area) $122,000.00
• Mid Base Salary (Bay Area) $158,000.00
• Maximum Base Salary (Bay Area) $194,000.00

Core Responsibilities:

Own overall product management for the operations of the Standalone Power System asset class (Remote Grids) and emerging asset classes

• Ensure performance of assets under Grid Innovation Delivery's management - assess performance data, work with the team to uncover insights and identify opportunities for improvement, report monthly metrics, track incidents, and oversee operational improvements verifying their effectiveness

• Manage relationships with O&M vendors to achieve sustainable, high performing programs

• Own the product roadmap of operational features and partner to prioritize feature set development, balancing the needs to improve the products in the long-term alongside short-term demands of deploying projects in the field

• Manage execution of product and process enhancements, collaborating with and motivating cross-functional team members

• Enhance the team's understanding of product/market fit and feature priorities by assessing Total Addressable Market, clarifying use cases, and utilizing other analysis for key roadmap features

• Drive and defend strategic activities such as technology development, vendor/commercial procurement updates, customer programs innovation and creation of new internal processes and tools

• Lead benchmarking efforts with key technology vendors and other owners of similar assets (e.g. other utilities) to ensure that PG&E leverages emerging market capabilities

Lead all IT work associated with fleet management of Remote Grids and emerging asset classes

• Develop and articulate a vision for the fleet management ecosystem for Remote Grids and emerging assets and programs

• Define the business outcomes and capabilities needed

• Document the IT delivery strategy, communicating to different audiences how IT applications are used and enhanced to support program scaling

• Prioritize IT work according to this value, balancing needs, benefits, team bandwidth, and schedule.

• Serve as Business Lead and engage with PG&E IT Sponsor and Project Manager to:

• Communicate the why behind the IT work, ensure that IT people stay focused on the problem/opportunity, and not only the technology solution

• Develop clear objectives that include agreed upon functionality and features

• Plan execution for delivery

• Validate proposed solutions and delivered functionality

• Drive execution utilizing PG&E's Lean Operating System framework of Daily/Weekly/Monthly Operation Reviews

• Guide business stakeholders to understand the why behind and their role in the IT Methodology (i.e. Waterfall, Agile)

Lead enhancement of the Grid Innovation Delivery team's internal operations

• Implement continuous improvement methods such as retrospectives to understand pain points and bottlenecks in the group's processes and tools

• Collaborate with cross-functional partners and users of operational tools to define, analyze and prioritize opportunities to improve the ways we deliver our outcomes then drive initiatives to implement the improvements

• Measure, document and share progress within the team's knowledge curation and broader company-wide systems

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree from an accredited college in business, economics, engineering or equivalent experience

• 8 years of job-related experience

• Demonstrated experience in project, product, or program management in the context of operational groups and/or IT systems

• Experience leading cross cutting programs or technology deployments

Desired Qualifications:

• Advanced Degree such as Master's in Business Administration

• Working technical knowledge of overall electric grid design and operations, solar PV, inverters, energy storage, conventional generation, microgrid controllers and/or off grid energy systems

• Familiarity with California utility regulations, regulatory processes and the utility policy context

• Operational experience with equipment in the field or customer facing products/programs

• Experience managing enterprise IT software or infrastructure projects

• Experience running procurement solicitations for technology solutions including vendor bid process, technical specification and technology selection.

• Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification and/or Certified Scrum Master

• Resourceful, organized and persistent executor

• Drives multiple projects simultaneously, engaging stakeholders to create shared understanding and galvanize support

• Converts ambiguity into structure, creating well-oiled machines of process from scrappy first iterations

• Rigorously defines and enforces prioritization, defeating scope creep and delivering the most impactful product improvements

• Biased toward efficient action with a strong sense of ownership and empathy

• Clear, credible and concise communicator able to convey highly complex ideas to diverse audiences

• Curious and collaborative problem solver of unique and complex problems, anticipating issues and developing innovative solutions