Purpose

To perform both short and long term strategic business planning balancing the experiences and needs of customers while also focusing on internal priorities, resources and objectives. Produce long term strategies while also delivering value to the business through short term, actionable efforts. In doing so, clearly identifies SMUD current state, desired state, key steps required to reach the desired state, and the benefits to our customers and SMUD. Maintains a focus on customer experience excellence; ensures achievement of department results and goals that support SMUD strategic objectives

Nature and Scope

Serves as an advance journey-level resource in a relevant professional discipline; works independently on projects of moderate complexity; exercises independent judgment and discretion within established broad guidelines; may serve in a Lead role and assist in planning, coordinating, prioritizing, and monitoring the work results in assigned area.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Coordinate and support key business initiatives by developing short and long term strategic and operational plans to drive and support implementation of customer programs, operational enhancements, product solutions, or other services to meet SMUDs strategic business objectives.
• Establish 3-year strategic and/or operating plan for assigned unit. Coordinate the monthly forecast process, ensure “line of sight” between project outline and delivery. Use existing financial models and/or develop new models, spreadsheets or other techniques to analyze financial and business planning issues. Including researching and analyzing data to identify major drivers of performance, customer experience and interpret trends to develop, present, and implement value-added solutions to optimize resources and processes.
• Define, review and monitor operational/program metrics; support requests for project maintenance and creation to ensure business alignment; collaborate with stakeholders to determine measures of success to ensure program/project changes benefits are realized; serves as a liaison between workgroup/business units to facilitate business needs.
• Develop and support recommendations with accurate financial analysis and rigorous financial or economic theory. Review analyses, reports or other decision documents prepared by other contributors or stakeholders and provide comments or additional analyses to improve the overall quality of information provided to management.
• Develop, prioritize and evaluate strategic customer initiatives including technology, energy technology and capital projects. Incorporate primary and secondary customer research to ensure that the voice of the customer is considered.
• Oversees contract management for assigned area, ensure vendors are meeting SLA’s, evaluate contracts and determine if extensions or a new RFP is necessary to sustain business processes/needs.
• Establish delivery tactics, budgets, key performance indicators and metrics within the planning framework for all initiatives to guide the implementation process. Work closely with implementation teams to track and adjust plans on an on-going basis to ensure a positive customer experience and ongoing success.
• Partner with applicable stakeholders within and across business units and departments to ensure coordination, consistency, and continuity of planning processes and projects. Proactively focus attention on areas requiring attention.
• Connect and coordinate with applicable external stakeholders including other utilities, research groups, policy groups, regulators, consortiums, other organizations at a regional and national level to provide input and insights on best practices, industry trends and opportunities for program or process improvements and new service options.
• Provide clear, concise, and meaningful information and recommendations to management, including feasibility studies to define business opportunities and to gain approval for implementation of initiatives, and business justifications for approval that include the costs and benefits of alternative solutions and recommended solutions.
• Perform other related duties as assigned.

Required Education

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in Business, Marketing, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience). If no degree, nine (9) years of relevant work experience is required.

Required Experience Qualifications

• Five (5) or more years of progressively responsible relevant experience. Experience should include project management, business and/or budget planning and/or developing and monitoring business performance measures and metrics.

Knowledge Of

Customer experience concepts and experience working with others within SMUD to gather and summarize the potential market and/or impact of products, services, process improvements and/or construction projects as they relate to our customers; characteristics and operational needs of various organizational units; techniques and practices for problem research and resolution; principles and techniques of research and analysis; principles of performance measures development, application, planning and evaluation; principals of project management, cost accounting, work management and managerial reporting systems; interrelationships between SMUD operations and relevant external; principles and practices for contract management; principles and practices of budget preparation and administration; SMUD policies, procedures, applicable MOUs and other special agreements; principles and procedures of record keeping and filing; principles of business letter writing and basic report preparation; mathematical principles; office procedures, methods, and equipment including computers and applicable software applications such as word processing, spreadsheets, and databases; English usage, spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

Skills To

Manage multiple projects and planning processes of moderate complexity; analyze complex issues and develop/implement resolution alternatives; analyze procedures/systems and develop/implement operational improvements; analyze situations, documents and data for conformance to established policy and procedures; gather data from appropriate sources and identify relevant factors; interpret, clarify, understand and analyze verbal/written information and ideas; compile and prepare technical, statistical and/or analytical reports and presentations; independently prepare a variety of correspondence and memoranda; compile data, maintain records and files, and prepare administrative or technical reports; develop and implement new and revised policies and procedures to provide for the effective operation of the area of responsibility; develop, implement and maintain work procedures; plan, organize, prioritize and schedule projects; assist in budget preparation and administration; operate office equipment including computers and supporting word processing, spreadsheet, and database applications; interpret and apply administrative and departmental policies and procedures; communicate effectively orally and in writing internally/externally; establish and maintain effective working relationships internally/externally.

Desirable Qualifications

• Knowledge of Zero Emissions technologies and policies
• Understanding of the electrical utility industry including energy markets, infrastructure, power generation, resource planning and customer program delivery.
• Knowledge of the EV industry along with the related technology capabilities and barriers to broad adoption of electric vehicles.
• Knowledge of behind the meter technologies including solar, storage, smart thermostats, heat pump water heaters and other distributed energy resources.
• Experience developing complex business models and financial proformas to support the evaluation of new business opportunities.
• Demonstrated successful development of complex partnerships with multiple stakeholders.
• Insight into local government structures and approaches to facilitating collaboration.
• Ability to enable collaboration across business units with a wide variety of objectives and needs.
• Experience developing and implementing solutions that deliver equitable outcomes and meet the specific needs of under resourced communities.
• Ability to establish and deliver work force development objectives as part of overall work efforts.