Technical Lead, Principal

Requisition ID # 170315 

Job Category: Information Technology 

Job Level: Manager/Principal

Business Unit: Information Technology

Work Type: Hybrid

Job Location: Oakland

Department Overview 

The Data Solutions Architecture Team at Pacific Gas & Electric Company is responsible for driving long-term, enterprise-wide data solutions, target state architecture, and overall excellence of data, analytics and information applications. The team owns the strategy, roadmap, and accompanying standards that enable effective use of data and information, and to develop analytics maturity at PG&E. 

Position Summary 

The Principal Technical Lead is responsible for setting technical direction, driving architectural excellence, and steering complex data and platform engineering initiatives across multiple product teams. 

This role extends and elevates the data platform/product architecture by: 

• Defining cross-domain architecture strategy and influencing enterprise roadmaps 
• Leading large-scale, multiteam solution design 
• Guiding product and engineering leaders on technical feasibility, standards, and platform boundaries 
• Acting as a thought leader across IT and the business, shaping long-term data platform evolution 

The Principal Technical Lead operates with significant autonomy, provides mentorship to other architects and technical leads, and ensures technology decisions align with enterprise scale needs. 

This position is central to delivering forward-thinking data products that are reliable, scalable, and industry leading. 

The Principal Technical Lead will report to the Senior Manager of Data Solutions Architecture in the Data Analytics & Insights department of Information Technology. 

PG&E is providing the full salary/pay range for this position.  The actual amount 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 range to reasonably expect will be around the minimum and the midpoint $155,000 - $210,000.  The final decision will be made on a case-by-case basis related to the factors above. This job is also eligible to participate in PG&E’s discretionary incentive compensation programs. 

Bay Area Min: $ 155,000

Bay Area Max: $ 265,000

This position is hybrid, working from your remote office and your assigned location based on business need. 

Responsibilities

Technical Leadership & Architecture 

• Define and drive the architecture strategy across multiple data products and platforms, ensuring alignment to enterprise standards and future state roadmaps.  
• Provide technical feasibility assessments for complex, cross functional features, and guide teams with deep platform and domain expertise. 
• Lead solution design for large cloud native data products, including data acquisition, storage, lineage, modeling, and platform integration patterns. 
• Establish and evolve architectural patterns, nonfunctional requirements, and tech-debt strategies across product portfolios. 
• Drive adoption of new technologies and champion enterprise-scale modernization efforts. 

Execution & Delivery 

• Provide hands-on technical leadership to engineering teams, modeling best-in-class engineering practices. 
• Oversee large-scale implementations, prototypes, and POCs - ensuring they are scalable, secure, and enterprise ready. 
• Optimize complex system performance, troubleshoot advanced platform issues, and guide incident resolution strategies. 
• Partner with security, cloud, and infrastructure teams to design and deliver highly reliable and compliant solutions. 

Strategic Influence & Cross Functional Collaboration 

• Influence senior leaders across IT and Lines of Business, shaping long-term technology direction and investment. 
• Facilitate technical alignment across multiple product and platform teams. 
• Communicate architectural vision to executives, technical staff, and business partners in clear, compelling terms. 
• Build deep relationships across engineering, design, product, and operations to ensure a unified approach to data product delivery. 

Mentorship & Culture Building 

• Mentor and develop architects, senior engineers, and technical leads - elevating the overall technical maturity of the organization. 
• Model a culture of quality, reliability, and engineering excellence. 
• Foster a collaborative, empowered, and high-trust environment aligned with agile principles. 

Qualification

Minimum: 

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Management Information Systems or related field of study, or equivalent experience 
• 7 years of related work experience 

Desired: 

• 5+ years of Technical Lead or Architecture experience delivering enterprise-scale systems in an Agile environment. 
• Extensive experience designing and delivering solution architectures for complex data platforms and cloud-native systems (AWS preferred). 
• Proven track record leading architecture for multi-team or portfolio level technology initiatives.  
• Broad technical background across cloud architecture, data engineering & data management, security & compliance, microservices & API design, ERP integration (e.g., SAP), and enterprise systems & infrastructure. 
• Experience providing direction to multiple architects and technical leads, not just engineering teams. 
• Experience in scaled agile product development environments with a strong understanding of scaled agile delivery principles.  
• Strong communication, executive-level influence, and stakeholder management capabilities.  
• Ability to build trust quickly and foster high-performing engineering culture.