Expert Program Manager

Requisition ID # 168933 

Job Category: Project / Program Management 

Job Level: Individual Contributor

Business Unit: Engineering, Planning & Strategy

Work Type: Hybrid

Job Location: Oakland

Department Overview

The mission of Innovation Strategy & Programs (IS&P), where this role sits, is to ensure that PG&E can bring the technologies that support our True North Strategy (TNS) vision—a resilient, decarbonized, and affordable energy system—from early ideation to scaled implementation through a rigorous Research & Development (R&D) practice. IS&P advances this mission by developing and publishing an R&D Strategy Report in line with TNS objectives, helping communicate our goals to potential partners across industries. The team also leads large scale Innovation Summit and Innovation Pitch Fest events to bring PG&E’s R&D Strategy to life and build coalitions with external stakeholders.

Our team also leads PG&E’s Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) program, funded at approximately $19M per year and recognized as one of the nation’s largest and most advanced utility R&D programs. EPIC enables PG&E and other California organizations to demonstrate novel technology solutions to meet emerging grid needs and achieve the state’s ambitious energy policy goals. PG&E is currently executing its fourth multi-year EPIC cycle and preparing for the fifth.

Position Summary

The Expert Program Manager will play a pivotal role in shaping how PG&E manages and executes its technology R&D projects, optimizing them to create impact at scale. They will partner closely with IS&P EPIC Program Lead and the R&D practitioners executing PG&E’s EPIC projects. They will refine, document, and continuously improve the work processes, information flows, and best practices that guide projects from early ideation through scale-up and deployment.

The successful candidate will serve as a key connector across PG&E, strengthening alignment between IS&P and its internal customers across the utility. They will directly influence the next iteration of PG&E’s R&D Strategy Report, ensuring it reflects the impactful, forward-looking, utility-wide innovation priorities.

This role is ideal for someone who thrives at the intersection of strategy, process excellence, and collaboration—and who wants to help a major utility accelerates innovation. A strong applicant will be curious, organized, and empathetic. This position is best suited for someone who can translate complex processes into clear actionable steps through simple, effective, user-centric documentation.

This position is hybrid, working from your remote office and your assigned work location based on business need. The assigned work location is in Oakland, CA.

PG&E is providing the salary range that can reasonably be expected for this position at the time of the job posting. This salary 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, internal equity, specific skills, education, licenses or certifications, experience, market value, and geographic location. The decision will be made on a case-by-case basis related to these factors.​ This job is also eligible to participate in PG&E’s discretionary incentive compensation programs.  

A reasonable salary range is:

Bay Area: $122,000.00 to $173,800.00

Job Responsibilities

• Improve and demystify R&D work processes and information flows
  • Identify opportunities to streamline R&D project planning, execution, and program governance, and lead teams in implementing improvements.
  • Develop clear, user-friendly documentation outlining procedures and guidelines for the department and for project teams, including updates to PG&E’s R&D Playbook and EPIC process guides.
  • Benchmark R&D management practices with innovation leaders within and outside of the utility industry to keep PG&E at the forefront of operational R&D excellence.
• Support R&D project execution
  • Provide strong, client-oriented support service and centralized governance guidance to EPIC project teams.
  • Ensure EPIC project teams understand EPIC requirements and have access to support when needed.
  • Facilitate alignment among internal—and when appropriate, external—stakeholders, including senior leadership, throughout the project lifecycle.  
  • Lead the process for evaluating and approving material changes to scope, schedule or budget requested by project teams.
  • Support project closure, including production of closeout documentation, and transition to scale-up.
• Improve the transition of projects from R&D to scale-up and standardization
  • Support planning for scale-up of successful EPIC projects
  • Collaborate with Finance and other functional areas to identify effective processes and timelines for securing scale-up resources for in-flight R&D projects in alignment with PG&E’s long-term investment planning process.
  • Collaborate with Work Methods & Standards, Asset Management, and Operations to ensure clear asset ownership for technologies that successfully move through the R&D lifecycle.
• Support PG&E’s ongoing collaboration with cross-industry organizations
  • Contribute to the 2026 R&D Strategy Report update by engaging with functional areas across PG&E to ensure utility-wide needs and goals are represented.
  • Manage and write Letters of Support for external partners’ funding opportunities.
  • Support events such as Pitch Fest and Innovation Summit to strengthen external collaboration.
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Qualifications

Minimum:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience
• 8 years of job-related experience

Desired:

• Master’s degree
• Experience in the utility industry
• Familiarity with program management practices, including governance, compliance, roles and responsibilities, and standard processes
• Familiarity with Project Portfolio Management (PPM) tools and methods for managing active project portfolios
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including comfort using AI tools (i.e. Microsoft CoPilot) to enhance clarity and efficiency
• High degree of organization, reliability, and follow-through