Lead Process Architect

The California Independent System Operator (ISO) manages the flow of electricity across the high-voltage, long-distance power lines that make up 80 percent of California's power grid. We safeguard the economy and well-being of 30 million Californians by operating the grid reliably 24/7.

As the impartial grid operator, the California ISO opens access to the wholesale power market that is designed to diversify resources and lower prices. It also grants equal access to 25,865 circuit-miles of power lines and reduces barriers to diverse resources competing to bring power to customers.

The California ISO's function is often compared to that of air traffic controllers. It would be grossly unfair for air traffic controllers to represent one airline and profit from allowing that company's planes to go through before others. In the same way, the California ISO operates independently—managing the electron traffic on a power grid we do not own—making sure electricity is safely delivered to utilities and consumers on time and reliably.

The California ISO is committed to the health, safety and work/life integration of its employees and is proud to offer flexible work arrangements. This position would be eligible to participate in a hybrid work capacity.

Relocation assistance is available.

PRIMARY PURPOSE:

Under the general direction of the Manager, drives positive change across the organization, delivering enterprise processes, standards, tools and training to enable process innovation. As a process design expert, ensures processes and tools are lightweight, reusable and accessible creating an organization that is efficient, flexible, and agile, and designs enterprise-wide quality improvement programs and designs measures for key results throughout the business to distinguish the California ISO as an industry leader. Leads the development and rollout of enterprise process training for organization wide change management and ensures compliance with policies and recommends policy and process changes to foster innovation while maintaining regulatory compliance and quality.

PRINCIPAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:  

• Owns the Continuous Improvement (CI) framework, leads prioritization activities for process changes and multi-faceted projects for CIs based on strategic value and business case. Leads cross-departmental efforts to ensure the planning, monitoring and timely completion of CIs and related milestones to deliver organizational quality improvements. Provides technical and analytical guidance to project teams, adequacy/sufficiency of controls and adherence to quality standards and review of project deliverables. Define requirements and lead configuration for MS Project, schedule templates, SharePoint structure, tracking metadata, and other Portfolio and Project Management tools.                       
• Responsible for the Software Development LifeCycle (SDLC) and Project LifeCycle (PLC) methodologies, processes and procedures, introducing efficiencies for the effective delivery of ISO projects, and stakeholder engagement for modernizing the implementation, and maintenance of the SDLC/PLC methodology. Responsible for establishing a blend of Waterfall, Agile and other SDLC methodologies for the different types of project scope. Defines documentation and guidelines for technical and other ISO support staff for the use and maintenance of Project Server, including reports and troubleshooting. Ensures support and training materials are available for all levels of Microsoft Project users. Proactively communicates and provides feedback, recommendations, project data, and data analysis to decision makers to support portfolio planning and prioritization.        
   
• Leads the development and modernization of business process and Continuous Improvement (CI) programs.  Drives positive change across the organization to ensure alignment between process owners and document processes and serves as a change agent to effect the ISO’s commitment to excellence in execution. Responsible for robust stakeholder analysis, change management and communication of CI changes to affected teams. Prepares relevant role-driven Computer-Based-Training content for effective adoption of organizational process improvements. Provides business process planning and design expertise as part of the PLC by collaborating with project teams from initial impact assessment through production readiness assessment. Proactively assesses the sufficiency of business process controls and performance measures.
   
• As an expert in SDLC, leads the Project Process Quality Assurance program, ensuring projects adhere to ISO project lifecycle standards and creating management awareness for any deviations. Owns corporate policy management and maintenance, leading timely review cycles and assuring progress reporting for management. Oversees enterprise-wide Business Process models and process structure in related tools. Manages the process repository including diagrams, documents, other files, and all related metadata.
   
• Provides guidance, sets daily work assignment priorities for staff as needed.  Identifies staffing needs and mentors, coaches and trains staff to optimize the team.  Provides feedback to management regarding staff performance in support of the performance evaluation process.  May participate in department hiring activities such as interviewing and providing feedback on candidates' technical qualifications.
   
• May function as a Department Manager and is accountable to Manager for actions taken in Manager's absence. May be granted additional supervisory authority based on department needs and/or consistent with departmental succession planning.

Level of Education and Discipline:

A Bachelor's degree (BA, BS) or equivalent education, training or experience in Engineering, Computer Science, Project or Program Management or related field. Master Degree preferred.

Amount of Experience:

Equivalent years of education and training, plus six (6) or more years related experience.

Certifications:

Project Management or Agile certifications desirable

Type of Experience:

Proven experience in

1. Defining, implementing and maintaining Project Management and Software Development processes and procedures for delivery of complex systems.
2. Managing delivery in various software development lifecycle methodologies (waterfall, agile, etc.).
3. Maintaining Microsoft Project Server and SharePoint.
4. Defining resource forecasting models and Project Server reports.
5. Process modeling, metric development, and process improvement methodologies.

Additional Skills and Abilities:

Demonstrates fundamental leadership skills with the ability to work effectively in a team environment as a leader, facilitator and team member.  Ability to provide practical and feasible solutions to problems, keeping multiple conflicting considerations into account. Excellent interpersonal, communication, and writing skills required. Excellent analytical skills are required, including the ability to effectively communicate complex technical materials and concepts in a non-technical manner.  Must be able to handle a dynamic and changing work environment, and work independently. Strong computer skills in Microsoft Office Suite , Microsoft Project Server and Program Office processes. Self-motivated, problem solving skills and the ability to influence others without direct authority.

The pay range for the Lead Process Architect is $123,825 to $206,375.