Dir Digital (Digital and Business Operations)

Consumers Energy•Jackson, MI

9d•Hybrid

About The Position

Consumers Energy is seeking a Director, Digital – Digital & Business Operations to lead the product family that enables product delivery across the digital organization. The role advances product delivery through unified tooling, clear technical standards, and strategic communications, while partnering with IT Infrastructure & Security, Enterprise Architecture, product-family leaders, technical leads, and business stakeholders to improve the developer experience and deliver business outcomes. The Director leads Digital Product Managers responsible for three enabling product teams: Technical End State Vision, Governance & Standards; Work, Development & Test Tooling; and System of Delivery Governance, Playbook & Communications. The role sets and reinforces software-development standards and agile practices, aligns digital talent and ways of working with organizational priorities, and contributes principal-level technical leadership during architectural decisions, standards approvals, and complex escalations. It also shapes systems of work, strengthens engineering disciplines, aligns digital tools with enterprise strategy, and cultivates learning, accountability, and continuous improvement. This position is onsite at least three days per week at the Consumers Energy Innovation Center in Jackson, Michigan. The selected candidate must live within commuting distance or be willing to relocate; relocation assistance is available to those who qualify. The position is not eligible for current or future immigration sponsorship, including H-1B or TN sponsorship, and is not eligible for candidates working under CPT, OPT, or STEM OPT.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology or a related discipline and at least 10 years of proven success leading people and other leaders in a technical environment; OR an associate degree in Information Technology or a related discipline and at least 12 years of such leadership experience; OR a high school diploma/GED and at least 14 years of such leadership experience.
Experience leading projects and/or cross-functional teams.
Experience designing, deploying, operating, and/or maintaining systems that deliver measurable business benefits, or experience designing, delivering, and enhancing digital services.
Ability to develop and maintain professional relationships, including active listening, building rapport, and maintaining objectivity.
Ability to foster a creative and innovative environment that identifies opportunities supporting customer needs and organizational goals.
Promotes diverse thinking and improved ways of working.
Skill influencing others through change and supporting colleagues through transitions.
Ability to inspire, motivate, empower, coach, and mentor teams; manage performance; foster collaboration; and take ownership of team results.
Ability to deliver compelling messages, motivate effectively, and connect colleagues to organizational purpose and strategy.
Openness to new and iterative ways of working.
Strong business acumen and awareness of broader internal and external business environments.
Political savviness and ability to build and influence stakeholder networks internally and externally.
Ability to collaborate effectively with employees who bring diverse perspectives and experiences.

Nice To Haves

Leader-of-leaders coaching expertise, including coaching managers and product managers and navigating matrixed accountability.
Experience establishing and governing enterprise software-development standards and architecture with infrastructure, security, and enterprise architecture teams.
Experience owning developer tooling and platforms, such as Azure DevOps, GitHub, and test automation, and improving developer experience at scale.
Knowledge of API management, such as Azure APIM, and AI governance, including AI-assisted software-development tools.
Proven ability to design, evolve, and continuously improve workflows across multiple teams in a matrixed operating model.
Experience building and sustaining communities of practice that measurably influence behavior and improve skills development.
Demonstrated ability to influence and achieve results in a matrixed, cross-functional environment.
Expertise designing and implementing effective systems of work for software-engineering practices within large-scale digital transformations.

Responsibilities

Monitor performance, capacity, and resource needs across the product family and adjust as necessary to meet evolving demands.
Own the technical end-state vision, governance, and standards for the Digital Products & Technologies organization.
Lead a cross-family group of Tech Leads in creating, reviewing, and maintaining software-development standards, roadmaps, and backlogs in collaboration with IT Infrastructure & Security.
Represent the department in enterprise architecture and standards forums, including co-leading the Architecture Technology Forum and participating in standards reviews, standards update reviews, and problem architecture reviews.
Oversee work-management, development, and test tooling, including Azure DevOps, GitHub, test automation, and performance-testing platforms; own the development-tool usage policy.
Provide leadership for API-management governance, including API review, change approval, and API catalog strategy.
Lead AI governance and strategy for software delivery, including oversight of AI-assisted development tools, adoption, usage, and cost.
Partner with IT Infrastructure & Security on platform engineering, cloud engineering, and infrastructure automation.
Lead the transition of legacy and ancillary technologies, such as RPA and low-code platforms, to appropriate owners.
Champion System of Delivery governance, playbooks, and strategic communications.
Own assigned departmental strategic goals and participate in enterprise councils, such as the CMDB advisory council.
Drive digital maturity by reinforcing standards and best practices.
Foster an agile digital culture and continuous learning, and guide change-management efforts affecting people, processes, and technology.
Lead and develop Digital Product Managers and own the outcomes and ongoing optimization of the enabling products.
Perform other duties as assigned or necessary.