Senior Director, GIS COE - IT

Requisition ID # 167435 

Job Category: Information Technology 

Job Level: Senior Director

Business Unit: Information Technology

Work Type: Hybrid

Job Location: Oakland

Department Overview

PG&E IT is a unified organization composed of various departments which collaborate effectively to plan, deliver, and operate high quality technology solutions. The Geographic Information System Center of Excellence (GIS CoE) has the responsibility for maintaining and operating IT GIS applications that support Gas, Electric, Power Generation, IT Fiber, and other functional areas while also delivering IT projects and solutions in support of company business goals and priorities.

Position Summary

As the Senior Director of GIS, you will be the driving force behind the strategic, technical, and operational transformation of our GIS platforms. You will lead the IT-side for the deployment of a modern and scalable enterprise-wide ArcGIS Utility Network (UN) while also overseeing the ongoing development, support, and evolution of our current legacy systems. Your leadership will shape how spatial data is collected, edited, stored, shared, and used to help inform decisions across all asset-related functional areas at the company. The ultimate objective is to deliver a spatial-data ecosystem that ensures consistency, reliability, compliance, customer satisfaction, and unlocks real value. The ideal candidate should have a long history of helping deliver GIS projects and programs. This position will be based at PG&E headquarters in Oakland, California.

Reporting

This position reports to the Vice President Energy Systems and Solutions and will lead an organization of 242 resources, consisting of program delivery, application development, and systems operations teams

Job Responsibilities 

System Leadership & Modernization

• Spearhead technical strategy and delivery for our in-flight ArcGIS UN implementation (Elevate program)
• Lead the design, build, test, and deploy deployment strategy on Esri platforms
• Drive migration efforts from legacy GIS platforms, ensuring business continuity, innovation, and breakthrough thinking
• Strategically decipher when deviation from technical best-practices is required (balancing cost, maintainability, usability, ROI, etc.)

Operational Oversight

• Manage the day-to-day critical application operational support which includes (but not limited to):
  • performance monitoring and status reporting;
  • issue management and resolution;
  • management of change and change management;
  • system upgrades and release management;
  • data integrity and redundancy;
  • integrations with critical enterprise systems (e.g., SCADA, outage management, work management);
  • DR exercises and vulnerability management;
  • password and system access management;
  • contract management with our software and managed services partners;
  • driving continuous improvement / application retirement and task automation.

Vendor and Team/Stakeholder Management

• Nurture and grow relationships with strategic software vendors (Esri, Schneider, CHA, Corelogic, AWS, etc.)
• Lead a team of GIS analysts, developers, engineers, people leaders, and project managers across diverse engagements
• Collaborate cross-functionally with asset management, engineering, customer service, and field operations teams

Program Management and Governance

• Help establish and mature project delivery standards and oversee financials, resource allocation, vendor selection, and contract negotiations
• Implement data governance practices to help ensure spatial data quality, security, and compliance with regulatory standards
• Ensure smooth transition of projects and program deliverables to 24/7 operational support

Innovation and Strategy

• Identify emerging technologies and tools to enhance GIS capabilities, such as AI-powered asset mapping or mobile field applications
• Represent GIS in enterprise leadership digital transformation initiatives
• Continuous improvement through the lenses of application rationalization/retirement, FinOps, AI, automation, etc.

Leadership Qualities

PG&E expects its leaders to conduct themselves with the highest ethics and integrity and to embody specific leadership qualities.

Transformational Leadership

• Demonstrates a holistic view of engineering, asset, and work management and delivers a compelling enterprise vision of how technology platforms can contribute to growth and performance.
• Creates long-term goals that inspire others and demonstrate innovative thinking.
• Plots a path from the present to the future and understands what must be true to get there.

Strategic Mindset

• Sees ahead to future possibilities and translates them into breakthrough strategies.
• Operates effectively, even when things are not certain, or the way forward is not clear.

A Leader in the Community and Industry

• Effectively builds formal and informal relationship networks inside and outside the organization.
• Anticipates and balances the needs of multiple stakeholders.

Demonstrates Safety Leadership

• A safety champion in words and deeds with respect to both employee and public safety.
• Creating and maintaining a speak up culture free of retaliation.

Influences and Inspires

• Using various- communications that convey a clear understanding of the needs of different audiences.
• Maneuvering comfortably through complex policy, process, and people-related dynamics.

Optimizes Team Performance

• Building teams with a strong identity that apply their diverse skills and perspectives to achieve common goals.
• Creating a climate where people are developed and motivated to do their best to help the organization.

Values Inclusion and Respects Individual Differences

• Recognizing the value that different perspectives and cultures bring to an organization.

Fiscally Responsible

• Interpreting and applying understanding of key financial indicators to make better business decisions.
• Planning and prioritizing work to meet commitments aligned with organizational goals.

Leads Ethically and in a Compliant Manner

• Sponsoring and sustaining a high integrity speak-up corporate culture which prioritizes safety, compliance, and ethics.
• Building on the necessary level of industry, company, and subject-matter expertise, including laws and regulations.

Provides a High Level of Customer Service

• Building strong customer relationships and delivering hometown, customer-centric solutions.

Compensation

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. 

Although we estimate the successful candidate hired into this role will be placed towards the middle or entry point of the range (mid-range $292K), the decision will be made on a case-by-case basis related to these factors. The base compensation range for this role is $216K to $320K. This leadership role is also eligible for an annual Short Term Incentive Plan (STIP), as well as the Long Term Incentive Plan (LTIP).

Background Qualifications

Minimum

• 12+ years of experience in Technology/GIS leadership roles, preferably in utility, energy, or infrastructure sectors
• Experience with 7+ large scale/full-cycle technology implementations for a utility pertaining to critical asset and particularly spatial data
• Fluency with GIS product architecture of Esri and other utility GIS applications/platforms
• Understanding of spatial databases (e.g., PostgreSQL/PostGIS, Oracle, MS SQL Server, etc.) and geospatial data lifecycles
• Familiarity with relevant spatial software stack (Esri suite and data models, Schneider, Safe Software FME, Integrations with SAP, ADMS, etc.)
• Implementation of cloud-based GIS architectures and integrations
• Knowledge of coordinate systems, map projections, and spatial data transformations
• Track record of managing multidisciplinary teams and complex technical programs
• Master’s degree in Geography, GIS, Computer Science, Engineering, or related field
• Willingness to fully relocate to San Francisco Bay area and commute into Oakland, CA office at least 3 days a week

Desired

• Proven experience with ArcGIS Utility Network (UN), including deployment, modeling, and integration
• Familiarity of Esri Utility Data Models
• Certification in GIS or Esri ArcGIS technologies
• PMP or comparable project management certification
• Knowledge of utility operations and asset management principles
• Experience in regulatory environments (e.g., CPUC, FERC, NERC)