Principal Product Manager - UPI

Requisition ID # 167821 

Job Category: Customer Support / Operations 

Job Level: Manager/Principal

Business Unit: Engineering, Planning & Strategy

Work Type: Hybrid

Job Location: Oakland

Department Overview

Help us change the electric utility industry from the inside! Join a small, high-performing team within Pacific Gas & Electric Company that is working on a portfolio of exciting and innovative projects to transform the electric grid into a smarter grid that works with and for our customers. The GRiD team is charting the future of the utility and the energy industry as part of the Utility Partnerships & Innovation division of PG&E.

Position Summary

This execution-oriented candidate will play a product management role in a mixture of new product innovation initiatives that design and leverage PG&E’s first Grid Edge Computing smart meter applications. The role will include the design of product concepts, user testing, prototyping, definition of those concepts into customer experiences and business requirements, as well as the development and implementation of new operational and business processes for Grid Edge products.

In addition to the innovation focus on new products, the Grid Edge Product Manager will also play a supporting role in the broader Utility Partnership & Innovation team as a key stakeholder in our DER Management vision, customer roadmap, and business development strategies.

The successful candidate will be an individual contributor that can also manage project teams from time to time, overseeing the conceptualization, design, build, test, and deployment of new products, and will be expected to influence, organize, and lead others in the organization to support the products and project they’re working on. 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 cross functional stakeholders in various company divisions and with vendor and industry stakeholders to lead effective project and program management and alignment with external dependencies (e.g. regulatory developments). The Product Manager will have support from 3rd party contractors and peer team members as appropriate depending on the project or product.

This position is based out of PG&E’s General Office in downtown Oakland, CA. This position is hybrid, working from your remote office and your assigned work location based on business need. The team has a hybrid work model and in-person activities will focus on synchronous collaboration, affinity building, ideation, or planning activities. The role may also require occasional travel to other PG&E facilities throughout the PG&E 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 a product design initiative – “Customer Engagement 2.0”

• Lead the product design initiative on PG&E’s “Customer Engagement 2.0” initiative alongside direction from internal and external stakeholders.  The Customer Engagement 2.0 initiative asks how we might reimagine customer engagement by harnessing the data and capabilities of AMI 2.0 and grid-edge technologies
• Engage with the broader organization and “growth advocates” in collaboration with the product team to prototype and test product concepts
• Interview customers, perform syntheses, create prototypes, test prototypes, and design a new customer engagement product while following a Design Thinking based process
• Develop business and operating plans to commercialize the product
• Create executive presentations and pitch leadership for approval of the product for deployment

Commercialize consumer energy products

• Create the Marketing Requirements Document (MRD) and Product Requirements Documents (PRD) as appropriate for hand off to Software and the IT Solution Architects.
• Engage project execution stakeholders (e.g IT, cybersecurity, DERMS, vendors) to leverage PG&E’s Lean Operating System framework of Daily/Weekly/Monthly Operation Reviews (ORs) to drive execution and program management.
• Manage the project timeline, budget, and advocate for and adjust resourcing when necessary.
• Oversee contractor or peer team member support as needed depending on the needs of the specific product or project.
• Lead customer engagement activities to recruit and onboard customer pilots.
• Work with internal partners to develop end-to-end business process integrations.
• Drive coordination between PG&E’s technology vendors and partners to ensure interoperability and integration.
• Prepare a strategy for product lifecycle including hand-off to other portions of the Organization once the solution is sufficiently developed

Support the GRiD portfolio

• Provide teammates with support on other projects and initiatives within the GRiD and Grid Edge smart meter 2.0 portfolio as needed
• Partner with the Electric Vehicle, Building Electrification, and Load Management teams to integrate the products to the rest of the Utility Partnerships & Innovation Organization
• Contribute to the overall company R&D strategy and framework.

Qualifications

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.

Minimum:

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

Desired:

• 10 years of job-related experience in Distributed Energy Resources and consumer energy products
• Experience leading cross cutting programs or technology deployments, with a focus on emerging/innovative technologies and creating new process & structure for rapid scale-up.
• Experience deploying Software Products (applications, services, etc.) or consumer Hardware Products
• Experience developing new products within a utility environment
• Experience in Design Thinking and customer first product design processes
• Experience both inside and outside of the utility industry

Desired Characteristics

• Bias toward action, concise, and passionate
• Removes barriers to products and projects moving forward in an autonomous fashion
• Able to operate at different levels of abstraction, outcome focused while understanding and adhering to process where necessary
• Empathic and curious – has an ability to seek to understand while driving towards shared outcomes
• Handles multiple projects and stakeholders and pushes for pace with self-directed drive.