Principal Product Manager

Requisition ID # 168936 

Job Category: Customer Support / Operations 

Job Level: Manager/Principal

Business Unit: Engineering, Planning & Strategy

Work Type: Hybrid

Job Location: Oakland

Department and Team Overview

Help us change the electric utility industry from the inside! Join a small, high-performing team within Pacific Gas & Electric Company that is scaling up integration with distributed energy resources (DERs) to transform the electric grid from the edges inward.

PG&E is seeking an experienced energy business professional to join the Clean Energy Technology Platforms team within the larger Utility Partnerships & Innovation (UPI) group.

The Clean Energy Technology Platforms team demonstrates and scales emerging technologies, concepts, and processes that PG&E will need to design and operate the resilient energy system of the future. Toward that end, the team works collaboratively with diverse stakeholders across the enterprise to design, build, test and operationalize product strategies, roadmaps and implementation plans for innovation. This team is an important bridge between PG&E’s DER policy and strategy and how PG&E will plan for, interconnect and interact with or operate DERs on a day-to-day basis.

Position Summary

This execution and solution-oriented candidate will lead the strategy and solutions required to scale new efforts to accelerate transmission interconnection and improve coordination across the transmission & distribution systems.

An initial focus of this role will be to scope, develop, and deploy solutions to accelerate transmission interconnection via flexible a flexible interconnection scheme (“T-Flex”). This concept would offer large load customers (e.g. Data Centers) a flexible connection alternative for service, wherein they could take a form of service partially or wholly interruptible during the limited circumstances in which local transmission system is unable to serve their full load. Once operationalized, this program would enable more large load customers to be served sooner and result in lower average cost of service across PG&E ratepayers by increasing the utilization of existing facilities to collect added revenue.  Multiple use cases will be enabled by T-Flex including the ability to serve as a bridging tool while capacity upgrades are completed and as long term grid benefits enabling load flexibility for transmission operations and electric system supply.  

In addition, this role will own the scoping, development, and deployment of solutions that enable improved data sharing across key parties operating the transmission and distribution systems such as PG&E Transmission Operations, PG&E Distribution Operations, and CAISO.

A strong applicant will be highly organized and motivated, with a strong track record of success in building consensus and managing many moving parts within matrixed teams. The Product Manager will work closely in collaboration with customers, cross functional stakeholders in various company divisions and with vendor and industry stakeholders to develop and deploy solutions that scale the impact or PG&E’s DERMS implementation.

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. The team has a hybrid work model primarily working remotely with the expectation of working from Oakland office several days per month minimum. In-person activities will focus on synchronous collaboration, affinity building, ideation, or planning activities. Most day-to-day work (individual and collaborative) will be performed remotely. The role may also require occasional travel to PG&E facilities throughout the service territory.

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: $140,000.00 to $207,900.00

Job Responsibilities:

• Lead the delivery of technology solutions for key customers and stakeholders, ensuring solutions are easy to adopt and meet necessary requirements
  • Lead the development and deployment of hardware and software solutions that allow PG&E’s EMS system to communicate with large transmission-connected customer loads (e.g. Data Centers) to provide both grid services and customer benefits
  • Act as a liason between the Strategic Customer Solutions team, transmission planning and operations teams, EMS team, and our customers, to represent user needs in the design and deployment of programs and solutions that meet our customers needs and our business needs.
  • Deliver a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) scope and solution of a Transmission Flexible Service Connection scheme (“T-Flex”), with a path to scale the solution to additional customers and capabilities
  • Deliver a program business model framework diagram, including customer value proposition(s), benefits to each party involved, and list of use case(s) addressed
  • Engage with the project execution stakeholders (e.g IT, vendors, programs) to leverage PG&E’s Lean Operating System framework of Daily/Weekly/Monthly Operation Reviews (ORs) to drive execution

• Support PG&E’s overall Clean Energy Technology Platform strategy and roadmap

• • Drive alignment across internal work groups to develop an enterprise technology strategy and roadmap focused on transmission customer interconnection and data sharing
  • Analyze data about our customers to identify data-informed solutions that increase our ability to connect customers with PG&E’s internal operational software and hardware systems to continually deliver value over time
  • Provide input into the longer term DERMS Product Roadmap by identifying current and future use cases and providing input and feedback on the vision and strategy for DERMS evolution and innovation
  • Support development of the DERMS solution architecture for the future ecosystem of DER Management applications and technologies

Qualifications

Minimum:

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.

• Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science in Business, Economics, Marketing, Psychology, or related, or equivalent experience.
• 10 years of job-related experience

Desired:

• Master’s in Business Administration, Engineering or other Advanced Degree
• Experience directly interacting with business customers to identify needs and adopt new solutions or products
• Experience leading cross cutting initiatives, with a focus on emerging/innovative technologies and creating new process & structure for rapid scale-up
• Strong verbal / written communication and presentation skills 
• 3 years of electric industry related experience (e.g. utility, DER technology company or developer, etc.)
• Knowledge and experience with communications protocols, preferably DER (Distributed Energy Resource) protocols such as IEEE 2030.5, CSIP 2.1, Open ADR, Aggregator APIs etc.
• Demonstrated experience in project, product, or program management in the context of utility operations, IT systems or DER product deployment
• Familiarity with California utility regulations, regulatory processes and policy context

Desired Characteristics

• Bias toward action
• Ability to work in a matrixed environment and a positive execution-oriented mentality
• Converts ambiguity into structure, creating well-oiled machines of process from scrappy first iterations
• Rigorously defines and enforces prioritization of feature development, defeating scope creep and delivering the most impactful product improvements
• Flexibility in project communication, execution and problem approach when coordinating across various stakeholders.
• Communicates effectively highly complex ideas with credibility, confidence, and clarity to diverse audiences using a variety of media
• Handles multiple projects and stakeholders and pushes for pace with self-directed drive