SDG&E is an innovative San Diego-based energy company that provides clean, safe and reliable energy to better the lives of the people it serves in San Diego and southern Orange counties. The company is committed to creating a sustainable future by providing its electricity from renewable sources; modernizing natural gas pipelines; accelerating the adoption of electric vehicles; supporting numerous non-profit partners; and, investing in innovative technologies to ensure the reliable operation of the region’s infrastructure for generations to come. SDG&E is a subsidiary of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE).

Our highly trained and responsive employees with their diverse skills, talents and ideas are the reason we can deliver on our commitment and are building America’s best energy company. They are also the reason why we have been recognized with the industry’s most coveted awards. Our employees undertake challenging work and receive highly competitive compensation and benefits. As one of the region’s largest employers, we’re always searching for talented and bright people to join our team. After all, it takes the best to build the best. Learn more about benefits HERE.

Diversity and inclusion are core values of SDG&E. Empowering our employees to be their whole selves at work is our competitive advantage. This is where new ideas come from and meaningful collaboration gets an authentic start. By bringing together people with different perspectives, diverse backgrounds and real commitment to their own individuality, we have built a stronger business. Learn more about our commitment to diversity and inclusion HERE.

For more information, visit SDGEnews.com or connect with SDG&E on Twitter (@SDGE), Instagram (@SDGE) and Facebook.

Primary Purpose:
The Principal Product Owner for Cloud Platform Engineering & Operations Team is an expert member of an agile team demonstrating strong Product Ownership practices as a leader in the organization. They are primarily responsible for defining user stories [i.e., a short description of a unit of work to be delivered within an agile sprint, detailing the desired system or software functionality written in the user’s language] and owning the prioritization of the backlog of user stories based on value for the customer. Has frequent customer-facing interactions to draft objectives and strategies and drive innovation through products or services. As a representative of the delivery team, navigates increasingly complex IT and Business environments with more cross-team or external dependencies [i.e., reliance and interrelatedness with other systems, applications, platforms, and workstreams which result in a more challenging product to manage due to the additional risk], including people, process and technology, and stakeholder interest for a more complex product or capability. They own the team’s prioritization of work and continuously drives to maximize business value within a product or capability, ensuring the team focuses on a mix of net new development, improvement, support, and innovation. Mentors other Product Owners, coaching them in strong product ownership practices.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Captures and documents user stories to inform priority and sprint planning. As the owner of a more complex product, utilizes expert product ownership and stakeholder management practices to capture stories from multiple stakeholders or leaders, and take in stories from other teams.
• Defines stories and features according to quality standards for clarity. Acts as a trusted advisor and liaison between the team and its stakeholders, including senior leaders. Proactively aligns with business partners to understand business value resulting in a clear sprint plan and priority. Collaborates across product teams to ensure that cross-team dependencies are understood and managed. Communicates the value of complex stories to the scrum team and ensures user stories are well-formed with clear acceptance criteria. Leverages strong product ownership expertise to manage the teams sprint plan and a healthy backlog, a list of prioritized work that is well defined and ready to be delivered within a two-week sprint.
• Defines and communicates the team’s roadmap and vision for a 3-6 month time horizon. Manages complex business needs, senior relationships, and more complex products, with full authority. Identifies and qualifies potential opportunities with the business clients for the backlog. focusing on quarterly planning. Ensures that the value delivered is measurable. Drives communication of product’s roadmap with an eye towards continuous innovation and improvement. Proactively champions new delivery opportunities.
• Maintains a healthy backlog of work for the team, focused on business value. Engages with business stakeholders and leaders to understand their needs. Owns prioritization of work items to drive towards business value delivered, balancing net new development opportunities against innovation, improvement, and product support. Understands and communicates the value of the user stories. Drives demos and creates feedback loops between the team and their stakeholders/clients. Provides feedback to the team on the work completed. Reviews and accepts user stories and features as completed, ensuring that they have met all acceptance criteria and the needs of the end-user.
• Prepares for and participates in agile ceremonies. Owns the team’s quarterly plan, writing integrated features for a more complex product. Partners with other Product Owners to plan around dependencies and resolve impediments, mentoring them in strong product ownership practices. Participates in planning activities across the enterprise, including group-level planning activities that involve the work of multiple agile teams, such as quarterly planning or program increment (PI) planning. Participates in group events to review outputs and progress across teams. Writes features [i.e., a grouping of work defined in an agile way and made up of individual units of work that can be performed within a two-week sprint] and creates a quarterly plan for a more complex product.
• As an expert in product ownership, advises and informs others across product teams. Researches and shares insights in product trends and product ownership best practices. Consults and advises other Product Owners on product ownership practices, sharing expertise and information on industry trends and best practices to support continuous improvement.
• Performs other duties as assigned (no more than 5% of duties).

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree Computer Science, Information Systems, Software Engineering, Business Administration, related field or equivalent training and/or experience.
• 8 years – Related work experience in Project or Product Delivery, Product Management, IT and / or Business Operations or equivalent experience.
•  Stakeholder Management – Ability to create and maintain strong relationships with stakeholders (including clients) in order to drive outcomes and create alignment around a vision or course of action.
• Adaptability and Learning Agility – Ability to learn, adapt, unlearn, and relearn to rapidly adapt to changing business needs, processes, standards, and tools; a strong ability to prioritize and reprioritize work.
• Product Management – Strong product management skills, including an ability to communicate and inspire product vision, strategy and roadmap, apply unique business insights, prioritize work to be completed, and make sound decisions aligned to business goals.
• Value Realization – Strong ability to identify the benefits provided by a proposed user story or feature relative to the effort that it will require from the team in order to drive the effective prioritization of work to maximize the benefits delivered by the team to the customer.
• Cloud Concepts & Services – Understanding of cloud concepts and services as well as industry knowledge.
• Must reside in Southern California or be willing to relocate upon hire.
• We offer a hybrid work environment. Although the schedule may vary, typically this will allow you to work from the office two to three days per week and work remotely on the remaining workdays.

Preferred Qualifications

• 2 years – Related work experience in Cloud (AWS, Azure, or GCP).
• 2 years – Related experience as a senior contributor, lead, project manager, and/or supervisor or equivalent position.
• 2 years – Experience working in the energy sector or with a utility.
• Agile Scrum, Product Owner or Scrum Master certifications such as Certified Product Owner Certification or Certified Scrum Master Certification.
• AWS Certification.
• Agile Methodologies – Knowledge of concepts, including Agile Scrum and/or Kanban, and application of Agile methodology (e.g., Lean, SAFe, LeSS) for project management to be able to design, implement and manage projects.
• User Experience – Strong understanding of how users will interact with systems, applications, and products, with an ability to design applications and interfaces that are consumable and easy to navigate.
• Automation and Security Concepts – Knowledge of Automation and Security Concepts (e.g., test automation, code coverage, DevSecOps, CI/CD pipelines, etc.).
• Agile Tools – Knowledge of Agile Tools, such as Azure, Jira, etc.

May require work outside of normal business hours and/or 24/7 response availability for system and application maintenance, enhancements, production releases and/or operational emergencies.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, citizenship, disability or protected veteran status.

Note: SDG&E strives to ensure that employees are paid equitably and competitively. Starting salaries may vary based on factors such as relevant experience, qualifications, and education.

SDG&E offers a competitive total rewards package that goes beyond base salary. This position is eligible for an annual performance-based incentive (bonus) as well as other merit-based recognition. Company benefits include health and welfare (medical, dental, vision), employer contributions to retirement benefits, life insurance, paid time off, as well as other company offerings such as tuition reimbursement, paid parental leave, and employee assistance programs.