Technical Program Manager - Wildfire Operations Program Management

At PGE, our work involves dreaming about, planning for, and realizing a smarter, cleaner, more enduring Oregon neighborhood. Its core to our DNA and we haven’t stopped since we started in 1888. We energize lives, strengthen communities and drive advancements in energy that promote social, economic and environmental progress. We’re always on the lookout for people passionate about leading and being a part of teams that are advancing innovative clean energy solutions that are also affordable and accessible to all.

Technical Program Manager - Wildfire Program Manager

Job Function Summary

Manages projects or programs related to energy storage, data science, analytics, fire science, wildfire, new or emerging technologies or other specialty areas requiring a technical education or background, such as engineering or construction.

Key Job Information

Technical Program Manager 7097

Grade 7

Career Level: P3

Career: Requires in-depth knowledge and experience

Uses best practices and knowledge of internal or external business issues to improve products or services

Solves complex problems; takes a new perspective using existing solutions

Works independently; receives minimal guidance

Acts as a resource for colleagues with less experience

Key Responsibilities

Project Consultation and Planning Responsible for leading a single moderate-sized project or for multiple minor projects. Types include, but are not limited to, business systems or process improvement, department reorganizations and strategy implementation, training, feasibility studies and pilots.

Consults with operations managers to ensure strategic alignment, cost effectiveness and mitigation of negative operational and/or customer service impacts of business initiatives and projects; works with project sponsor to develop objectives and scope; assists in or develops business case/justification.

Develops project plan(s) including work breakdown structure, schedule and cost baselines, dependencies and project roles and resource requirements; identifies project risks and mitigation strategies; partners and strategizes with Supply Chain, Legal, IT, Fleet and project sponsor on vendor contract negotiations.

Strategy and Team Leadership Leads a project team or one major team in completing a project. Provides staff leadership to team members; facilitates team meetings; cultivates and reinforces group values, norms and behaviors; provides guidance and motivation to team on performance and productivity issues; ensures compliance with established project management methodologies and standards; takes corrective action as needed.

Project Controls Establishes and maintains formal controls to manage and monitor project budget, scope, quality, schedule and risks to ensure projects are completed on time, within budget and effectively. Negotiates necessary project changes with project sponsor. Maintains, adjusts and updates project plans as needed.

Stakeholder Engagement Develops communication plans and strategies; provides timely, accurate communication of project plans and status to stakeholders.

Process Improvement Leads and/or facilitates business process improvement activities; assists managers and subject matter experts to identify, understand and improve or revise processes, practices and policies; assists managers in establishing process controls in order to measure baseline and post-improvement performance to monitor success of improvement initiatives.

Project Reporting and Documentation Follows program governance to ensure all project documents are catalogued and archived in a secure and efficient manner; documents and files all “lessons learned” along with all project artifacts.

Internal Collaboration Partners with program managers and project managers to improve overall organizational competencies in project and program management; collaborates with program/project manager peer group to continually improve.

External Relationships Occasionally partners and participates with customers and/or other utilities to strengthen and create opportunities to share best practices.

Education/Experience/Certifications

Education Requires a bachelor’s degree in engineering, computer science, business, communications or fire science from an ABET-accredited engineering program or program accredited by an equivalent agency in a related field or other related field or equivalent experience.

Experience Typically five or more years in related field.

Certifications, Licenses and Training PE and/or PMP certification preferred.

Competencies (Knowledge, Skills, Abilities)

Functional Competencies

Intermediate knowledge of project management science, methodologies and standards.

Intermediate knowledge of and ability to integrate project management knowledge areas, including project scope, quality, time, cost, communication, procurement, human resources and risk management.

Intermediate knowledge of and skill in using software applications such as MS Project, PowerPoint, Word, Excel spreadsheets and graphing, Access, Visio, Maximo and Power Plant.

Intermediate knowledge of Project Profile system and PGE email system.

Intermediate knowledge of business process reengineering and continuous improvement methods and concepts.

Intermediate knowledge of systems thinking concepts and principles.

Intermediate knowledge of group problem-solving methods and techniques, including problem analysis, nominal group and brainstorming techniques and consensus building.

Intermediate listening skills, including the ability to draw information out and to see things from another’s perspective.

Intermediate skills in writing technical and business requirements.

Advanced communication skills, both written and oral, including negotiation, persuasion and presentation skills.

General Competencies

Working consulting skills

Intermediate decision-making skills

Intermediate enterprise/business awareness skills

Intermediate negotiation skills

Intermediate organization and prioritization skills

Intermediate presentation/facilitation skills

Intermediate team-building skills

Intermediate written and oral communication skills

Physical and Cognitive Demands

Cognitive Level

Substantial: Consistent use of logic or scientific thinking to define problems, collect information, establish facts and draw valid conclusions (for example, engineer, HR director, plant manager, etc.).

Cognitive

Ability to adhere to set response times, deadlines and time-sensitive tasks

Ability to follow accuracy standards

Ability to follow through on decision-making tasks

Ability to interact effectively and collaboratively within a team environment

Ability to communicate and problem solve when under stress

Ability to respond and adapt to frequent change

Ability to accept and demonstrate self-awareness when provided constructive feedback

Ability to discern feedback and acknowledge ownership of areas of improvement

Ability to avoid future mistakes by applying reasonable skills to new but similar work situations or tasks

Ability to successfully collaborate with peers, managers and others within the organization Demonstrates sound memory

Ability to process new information to be applied consistently to work tasks

Schedule/Attendance

☒ Ability to adhere to pre-established schedule, including start/stop time and break/lunch schedule

☒ Ability to work long hours

☒ Ability to work a variable schedule

☒ Ability to report to work and perform work during periods of severe inclement weather

☒ Ability to consistently meet attendance standards for regular, reliable, predictable, full-time attendance [for part-time positions, change to part-time attendance]

☒ Ability to work shift schedule

☒ Ability to work on-call schedule

Physical Capabilities

☒ Does the job require a valid driver’s license?

☒ No

☐ Yes

☒ Driving/travel/commute

☒ Daily within service territory

☐ Frequently (at least once a week or more)

☒ Occasionally (one to two times a mont