Position Summary
PG&E is seeking a curious, tenacious professional to lead matrixed cross-functional teams through R&D execution. They will drive high-priority early-stage technology projects through a structured product development path including use case refinement, requirements gathering, testing, piloting, and scale-up. They will guide and coach coworkers through rapid prototyping, and facilitate product decisions to start, persevere, speed up, slow down, switch direction, or stop' along the path of uncertainty inherent to new products. They will relentlessly track, document, and communicate the product development journey through visual management (e.g. charters and/or business plans, tactical implementation plans, etc). They will promote fast organizational learning so that R&D efforts that conclude without reaching product launch and scale-up nonetheless benefit the broader effort toward TNS.
A strong applicant will be organized, motivated, and empathetic, with a strong track record of building and maintaining momentum throughout complex product development. They should be comfortable distilling and communicating data-informed known-knowns and known-unknowns. This position is best suited for someone who is enthusiastic about the rapidly evolving electric and gas grid technology landscape, and who is compelled to unlock the potential of utilities as accelerators of innovation within that landscape.
This position is based out of PG&E's General Office in downtown 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 other PG&E facilities throughout the PG&E service territory.
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.
A reasonable salary range is:
Bay Area Minimum: $118,000
Bay Area Maximum: $188,000
Job Responsibilities
Lead execution of high-priority R&D efforts
- Establish and manage cross-functional, matrixed teams with clear roles and responsibilities.
- Lead teams through iterative problem statement refinement, requirements gathering, technology evaluation, testing, and demonstration.
- Write and manage charters for each R&D effort that clearly outline objectives, intended outcomes, key hypotheses, and R&D scope.
- Track progress through visual management (e.g. tactical implementation plans), and lead regular operating reviews and problem-solving sessions to identify and remove obstacles.
- Synthesize in-flight findings into actionable recommendations and facilitate stage-gate decisions in a timely, resource-responsible fashion, harvesting learnings along the way (start, persevere, speed up, slow down, start, switch direction, stop).
- For projects that continue through to product launch, scale-up, and standardization, support Standards and Asset Management's development of long-term ownership and integration into utility operations.
- Act as primary liaison between project team, internal stakeholders, and broader technology community.
Support the development of PG&E's R&D Strategy and end-to-end work management framework
- Work with R&D Operations and other partner teams to shape and continuously improve PG&E's end-to-end R&D work management framework.
- Coach partner teams on R&D execution and product development best practices.
- Continuously document and communicate findings and insights gleaned from R&D Execution to stakeholders.
- Work with Communications partners to tell the story of R&D and innovation at PG&E.
Qualifications
Minimum:
- Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science in Business, Economics, Marketing, Psychology, or equivalent experience.
- Job-related experience, 8 years
Desired:
- Product management and/or product development experience, 2+ years
- Experience in energy industry, R&D lab, or incubator/accelerator, 2+ years
- Certification(s) or experience with Design Thinking, Lean, and/or Agile
- Strong verbal and written communication and presentation skills
- Advanced degree (e.g. Master of Business Administration, Engineering, or other)
Desired Characteristics
- Ability to build momentum and facilitate decisions without authority in a matrixed environment.
- Ability to coach and inspire teams.
- Ability to communicate complex information.
- Ability to adapt to change and quickly pivot, with a strong bias for action and results.
- Ability to be creative, versatile, efficient, and productive in the face of ambiguity and change.
- Ability to lead large and complex product initiatives that impact multiple lines of businesses in different ways.
- Strong change management skills.
- Ability to rigorously define and enforce prioritization of feature development, defeating scope creep and delivering the most impactful iterative results.
Pacific Gas and Electric Company
77 Beale St
San Francisco
California United States
www.pge.com
