Dir LMI Programs & Customer Advocacy

Consumers Energy•Multiple Locations, MI

3d•Hybrid

About The Position

Consumers Energy is Michigan’s largest energy provider, serving a significant portion of the state's population. The company is committed to delivering reliable, clean, and affordable energy. This role is not eligible for immigration sponsorship. The Director, Income-Qualified Customer Experience will focus on improving how eligible customers access support, aiming to modernize identification, guidance, enrollment, and support processes across various programs, agencies, funding sources, digital tools, regulatory commitments, and internal teams. The primary goal is to close eligibility gaps, reduce friction, simplify handoffs, and connect customers to support before they reach a crisis. This leadership position oversees a substantial annual portfolio and is accountable for measurable improvements in key areas such as enrollment, assistance capture, digital completion, energy savings, arrears and shutoff risk, customer satisfaction, partner performance, and regulatory outcomes. This role is crucial for improving affordability, access, trust, and energy security for customers who often navigate fragmented processes and require support before facing a crisis. It involves owning the entire income-qualified customer journey, identifying eligible customers earlier, reducing the burden of seeking help, and influencing how the company collaborates with agencies, regulators, policymakers, and community organizations to remove barriers and enhance outcomes.

Requirements

Customer journey leadership: Own journey mapping, segmentation, experience design, and continuous improvement for income-qualified customers.
Affordability and program strategy: Improve access, reduce energy burden, increase participation, and align customer outcomes with enterprise goals.
Operational execution: Turn strategy into operating model, routines, decision rights, service standards, and measurable performance.
Data and digital acumen: Use customer data, analytics, digital tools, and voice-of-customer insights to improve completion and outcomes.
Regulatory and policy influence: Shape filings, testimony, policy positions, funding mechanisms, and stakeholder coalitions.
Partnership leadership: Build trusted relationships with agencies, nonprofits, advocates, state leaders, local governments, and community organizations.
Enterprise and people leadership: Align senior leaders, influence without authority, build team capability, and deliver through others.
Bachelor's degree with ten (10) or more years of progressive leadership experience with a significant focus on developing or managing programs for LMI or other vulnerable populations.
Experience in a regulated utility, government agency, or large non-profit organization is highly desirable.
Must have a proven track record of managing government-funded programs, building community-based partnerships, and advocating for policy change.
Experience leading diverse teams to achieve both social and business outcomes is required.
Associate’s degree with twelve (12) or more years of progressive leadership experience with a significant focus on developing or managing programs for LMI or other vulnerable populations.
High School Diploma /GED with fourteen (14) or more years of progressive leadership experience with a significant focus on developing or managing programs for LMI or other vulnerable populations.

Nice To Haves

Experience in a regulated utility, government agency, or large non-profit organization is highly desirable.

Responsibilities

Own and continuously improve the end-to-end income-qualified customer journey, including identification, outreach, application, enrollment, participation, follow-up, and ongoing engagement.
Design a proactive navigation model that uses data, digital tools, field and contact center insights, and community referrals to reach eligible customers earlier.
Lead strategy and performance for income-qualified offerings, energy assistance, affordability programs, EWR opportunities, and related customer support experiences.
Manage portfolio outcomes for approximately one-third of customers, including access to $225M+ in energy assistance and support for $60M in energy waste reduction performance incentives.
Establish scorecards for enrollment, assistance capture, digital completion, energy savings, customer satisfaction, arrears and shutoff risk, partner performance, and regulatory commitments.
Reduce customer and partner friction by eliminating unnecessary handoffs, paperwork, confusion, delays, rework, and other barriers to support.
Build operating partnerships with community agencies, nonprofits, advocates, state leaders, local governments, and implementation partners.
Translate customer data, journey insights, partner feedback, and operational barriers into program improvements, regulatory strategy, policy proposals, and testimony.
Advocate internally on rate design, rate case considerations, affordability impacts, and customer experience implications to advance outcomes for income-qualified and low- to moderate-income customers.
Identify, prioritize, and use the right data, analytics, customer insights, and performance measures to move the income-qualified customer experience strategy forward and improve measurable outcomes.
Lead cross-functional execution across Regulatory Affairs, Government Affairs, Legal, Finance, Customer Operations, Digital, Communications, and business units.
Build and coach a team that anticipates issues, brings recommendations, uses data, and executes with ownership.
Represent the Company externally with credibility, empathy, sound judgment, and clear understanding of customer, community, policy, regulatory, and reputational implications.
Perform other duties as assigned or as necessary.