Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer

Position Purpose and Objectives:

The Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer (CIO) is the senior executive that serves as the information systems lead to provide vision, strategy, and leadership for all aspects of the technology environment, cybersecurity, privacy, data governance, digital transformation and management of day-to-day technology operations. The CIO plays a critical role in ensuring the effective and secure use of technology to optimize business processes, enhance efficiency, drive innovation and alignment and agility with business strategy and goals. 

Essential Job Functions:

• Be an active and transparent participant of the CEO staff and senior management team, engaging on technology, cybersecurity and business topics. Report on technology matters to the Board at the request of the CEO.
• Direct the effective delivery of all technologies, including networks, servers, enterprise applications, cybersecurity and data protection solutions, ensuring high levels of availability, integrity, and confidentiality.
• Continuously improve and regularly exercise a disaster recovery and incident plan.
• Initiate engagement with stakeholders across the organization, understand and analyze business requirements to develop strategies and roadmaps for technology solutions and digital transformation. Ensure that the technology strategy stays appropriately aligned with the business strategy.
• Create, justify, and manage capital and operating budgets to support initiatives and day to day operations.
• Champion and leadership of the company’s risk-based cybersecurity and privacy vision, strategy, policies, programs, and frameworks for the protection of infrastructure, cloud presence, data assets and industrial control systems.
• Partners with Chief Operating Officer in development of Distribution System Operations technology including advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), outage management (OMS), SCADA, and Distribution Energy Resource Management System (DERMS).
• Create a culture of data and system protection awareness. Track and educate the organization about the latest security strategies and technologies. Ensure that annual PCI compliance obligations are met.
• Provide leadership for a multi-disciplinary team. Inspire curiosity about business and technology.
• Demonstrate an unyielding passion for improving the user’s experience with technology. Establish opportunities for the team to progress their skillsets as the norm. Develop direct reports into a strong, effective, and empowered leadership team.
• Maintain strong and productive relationships with vendors.
• Oversee a management team responsible for the day-to-day IT operations spanning multiple offices, field, and remote workplace.
• Develop and report on metrics/KPIs which reflect the performance of the technologies, programs, and team.
• Creates, expands, and maintains professional and productive working relationships with peers and stakeholders. Works collaboratively with colleagues and fosters a spirit of cooperation and inclusion in the workplace.
• Performs other duties as may be requested or assigned to meet the needs of United Power in the interest of good management practices.

Supervision Received and Exercised:

Directs and controls the activities of a broad functional area through several department managers within the company.  Has overall control of planning, staffing, budgeting, managing expense priorities, and recommending and implementing changes to methods.

Education and Experience Required: 

Bachelor’s degree in computer science, or related field and at least ten (10) year’s management experience in multiple technology areas. Advance degree preferred. CISSP, GSLC, PMP certifications preferred.   Management experience with related information technology operations and planning; and at least ten (10) years’ experience working for or with an electric utility is essential.

Required Knowledge, Skills and Abilities: 

• Knowledge of supervisory and managerial techniques and principles.
• Knowledge of electric utility and energy industry and technologies relevant to the utility industry, including information systems, infrastructure, cloud services, and emerging technologies.
• Knowledge of cybersecurity frameworks, including incident response, and the ability to manage a cyber security incident.
• Knowledge of approaches to strategic and technology planning.
• Knowledge of the application of enterprise architecture to guide organizations towards achieving strategic vision.
• Ability to keep apprised of relevant technologies to integrate into the long-term strategic vision of the company.
• Knowledge of fiscal planning and budget preparation.
• Knowledge of best practices related to change management.
• Knowledge of Federal, State, Local laws, and ordinances that apply to utility operations.
• Skill in handling conflict and uncertain situations.
• Analytical skills with the ability to interpret large sets of data and extract meaningful insights to inform decision making.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to work with frequent interruptions, multitask, and balance competing priorities.
• Skill in using computers and related software applications.
• Ability to quickly recognize and analyze irregular events.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills with proven ability to develop and maintain strong professional relationships with team members at all levels of the organization.

Problem Solving:  

Works on complex issues where analysis of situations or data requires an in-depth knowledge of the company. Participates in corporate development of methods, techniques and evaluation criteria for projects, programs, and people. Ensures budgets and schedules meet corporate requirements.

Discretion/Latitude: 

Financial approvals consistent with the corporate policy, including discretionary expense budget.

Technology strategy, cybersecurity, architecture, design, implementation decisions.

Impact: 

Erroneous decisions will have a serious impact on the overall success of the department and/or company operations.

Liaison:  

Often interacts with vendors. Manages software and hardware vendors and consultants. A times interacts with attorneys for legal matters.

Interacts with all employees as a supervisor, peer, leader, technical expert and project manager.

Essential Physical & Mental Requirements:  

• Light work: Exerting up to 20 pounds of force occasionally and/or a negligible amount of force constantly to move objects. If the use of arm and/or leg controls requires exertion of force greater than that for Sedentary Work and the worker sits most of the time, the job is rated for light work.
• Reaching: Extending hand(s) and arm(s) in any direction.
• Walking: Moving about on foot to accomplish tasks, particularly for long distances or moving from one work site to another.
• Fingering: Picking, pinching, typing or otherwise working, primarily with fingers rather than with the whole hand or arm as in handling.
• Grasping: Applying pressure to an object with the fingers and palm.
• Feeling: Perceiving attributes of objects, such as size, shape, temperature or texture by touching with skin, particularly that of fingertips.
• Talking: Expressing or exchanging ideas by means of the spoken word. Those activities in which they must convey detailed or important spoken instructions to other workers accurately, loudly, or quickly.
• Hearing: Perceiving the nature of sounds at normal speaking levels or without correction. Ability to receive detailed information through oral communication and make fine discrimination in sound.
• Repetitive Motions: Substantial movements (motions) of the wrists, hands, and/or fingers.
• The worker is required to have close visual acuity to perform an activity such as: preparing and analyzing data and figures; transcribing; viewing a computer terminal; expansive reading; visual inspection involving small defects, small parts and/or operation of machines (including inspection); using measurement devices; and/or assembly of fabrication of parts at distances close to the eyes.

Working Conditions: 

The worker is subject to inside environmental conditions: Protection from weather conditions but not necessarily from temperature changes.

The worker is not substantially exposed to adverse environmental conditions (such as in typical office or administrative work).

Moderate noise (examples: business office with computers and printers, light traffic)

Department: Information Services           FLSA Status: Exempt       Grade: 26            Updated: October 2024

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer

Not to discriminate on the basis of Race/Color/Creed/Religion/Sex(including Gender Identity, Pregnancy, Sexual Orientation)/Marital Status/ Age (40 or older)/National Origin /Veteran or Military Status/Disability/Medical Condition/ Unemployment Status or any other characteristics prohibited by Federal, State and/or local laws.

We are interested in every qualified candidate who is eligible to work in the United States. However, this position is not eligible for visa sponsorship. 

In addition to a competitive salary, we offer a generous benefits package that includes an employee retirement plan, 401K with match, paid holidays, vacation & sick leave, medical, dental, vision, short-term disability, long-term disability, and life insurance. For a full list of benefits, please visit our careers page at https://www.unitedpower.com/careers.