1351 Dir Cust Exp Planning & Integration-FILLED

Jennifer Powers; Sacramento (CA); On-site; USD 184,350 - 256,776; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

World-class benefits

Hybrid work schedule

Professional development opportunities

Job summary

A leading electric service provider in Sacramento seeks a Director of Customer Experience Planning & Integration. This role involves leadership in customer experience strategies, overseeing customer-facing programs, and working closely with various departments on customer initiatives. The ideal candidate will possess strong management skills and a passion for customer service. This position offers a hybrid work schedule, allowing for both in-office and remote work.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 11 years of relevant experience if no degree.
• 7+ years of experience in customer-facing program implementation.
• 5+ years of management experience.

Responsibilities

• Provide leadership for Customer Experience Planning & Integration department.
• Develop strategies for customer experience aligned with company goals.
• Manage operations and resources for customer-facing programs.

Skills

Customer Planning and Execution

Strong leadership

Strategic thinking

Communication skills

Financial management

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience

Job description

Director, Customer Experience Planning & Integration

For more information about this position, contact: Jennifer Powers
Talk or Text: 916-304-6661
[e-mail]

Apply to Jennifer Powers by: 10/17/24

Compensation

• Minimum Pay Rate: $184,350.40
• Maximum Pay Rate: $256,776.00

Benefits and Overview

Plus world-class, outstanding benefits

About Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD)

As the nation’s sixth-largest, community-owned, not-for-profit electric service, SMUD has been providing low-cost, reliable electricity to Sacramento County for over 75 years. We're proud of our reputation as one of the best places to work in Sacramento. Our employees tell us in our engagement surveys they're "Happy, satisfied, and engaged" which helps create a workplace that best serves our customers. Sacramento was named as the 2nd happiest place to work in America by Forbes Magazine and one of the most affordable in California. Lake Tahoe, San Francisco, and the world-renowned Napa Valley are within easy driving distance of our locations. SMUD is a recognized industry leader and award winner for its innovative energy efficiency programs, renewable power technologies, and for its sustainable solutions for a healthier environment. It is a GREAT time to join our organization!

For more information: https://www.smud.org/

View SMUD annual reports and other documents

Some facts and figures

• Population in our service area: 1.5 million
• Size of our service area: 900 square miles
• Total accounts served (residential + business): 644,723
• Number of SMUD employees: 2,179
• Miles of power lines we own: 10,912

Why Sacramento, California?

The capital of California, Sacramento is the state's sixth-largest city, and the 35th largest in the U.S. Local universities include California State University, University of the Pacific's McGeorge School of Law, and the University of California, Davis, as well as several competitive community colleges. The UC Davis Medical Center, a world-renowned research hospital, is one of more than a dozen hospitals and shared services centers in the Sacramento region. Part of the agriculturally-rich Central Valley, Sacramento is at the forefront of the farm-to-fork food movement. Northern California is home to some of the country's top technology companies, including Google and LinkedIn, and a multitude of startups in many industries. Sacramento is home to the NBA Kings, the River Cats (AAA baseball), the Republic FC (soccer), and the San Francisco Giants, NBA Warriors, and NFL 49ers aren't far away. Sacramento offers an affluent liberal arts community with Broadway, Mondavi Center, Crocker Museum, and summer musical theater to name a few.

About the role:

The Customer and Community Services Division (CCS) has an opportunity for a passionate and community-minded Director to provide leadership for the Customer Experience (CX) Planning & Integration department. The position reports to the Chief Customer Officer who in turn reports to the CEO. The incumbent plays a pivotal role in ensuring exceptional customer experiences across all touchpoints and advancing CCS’s CX framework. As a member of the senior leadership team, the incumbent has influence and responsibility for driving SMUD’s 2030 Clean Energy Vision, which includes creating frictionless zero-carbon adoption for customers. Candidates would enjoy a hybrid schedule of 3 days at the SMUD campus and 2 days working remotely.

This is a new role that oversees customer experience strategy and planning, channel management, and agile deployment and supports SMUD’s Community Energy Services program delivery and project integration. The incumbent will guide the team’s efforts to develop customer experience strategies aligned with the company's overall objectives, analyze customer feedback, market trends, and competitive insights to identify areas for improvement and create comprehensive plans for implementing customer experience initiatives. This involves developing new processes, improving existing ones, or implementing new technologies to enhance the customer journey across channels and digital assets. This role will work closely with various departments such as marketing and customer programs to ensure alignment and integration of customer experience initiatives across the organization. The incumbent will also be responsible for oversight of the portfolio of CX enhancements, agile projects, and other initiatives to ensure alignment to overall strategic and business unit goals and will partner with IT and other departments to facilitate successful implementation.

The most qualified candidate will have significant leadership experience and a demonstrated ability to build foundational elements of a thriving team, including efficient processes, structures, and engagement. They will demonstrate a passion for creating exceptional customer experiences and operating in a way that’s easy, responsive, trust-building, and community-minded.

Purpose of the Position

To manage and provide direction and accountability for Customer Experience Planning and Integration to include managing operations, resources, and functions associated with and accountable for the planning, design, development, and implementation of SMUD's customer-facing programs and service enhancements through channel engagement and other related operational functions for our customers and clients; develops strategic and operational planning to prioritize deliverables and allocates resources necessary to ensure effective planning and execution of programs and services.

Nature and Scope

This is a department director-level position. It is distinguished from other director positions by its emphasis on Customer Experience planning and integration. This position provides ongoing direction and management control to ensure the ongoing reliability and efficiency of customer services business operations.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Provides management, direction, and accountability for championing customer experience and integration into planning, designing, developing, and implementing SMUD's customer-facing programs through channel engagement and other related operational functions for our customers and clients.
• Directs teams in the strategic and operational planning of all customer-facing programs and coordinates the implementation of these programs across the Customer & Community Services (CCS) business unit and within other departments across the organization.
• Manages the development of a program portfolio to meet the Board’s Strategic Directives and provide a range of services to customers based on the customer segments' needs and wants.
• Communicates in a variety of public forums and events with the public, business stakeholders, and community organizations to present and explain information and influence direction regarding SMUD's strategic and operational program development and delivery.
• Supervises staff in prioritizing concepts and ideas, performing financial analysis, developing risk and sensitivity scenarios, assessing potential markets, assessing customer acceptance and participation, conducting competitive assessments, researching technical feasibility issues and obstacles, and summarizing information for management issues that SMUD's products and customer service programs are optimally designed and implemented, meet customer needs, and provide customer benefit.
• Broadens new products/services delivery channels by developing and maintaining constructive relationships with multi-party entities seeking to deliver new products/services via regional or national strategic alliances and wishing to utilize SMUD's endorsement and/or support in launching their own innovative products/services; acts as a consultant on internal/external department projects by assisting with identifying project objectives, the project team, and delivering recommendations.
• Provides financial acumen to enable overall financial management of business unit including cost management and budget development, implementation, and monitoring.
• Assists in the development and maintenance of performance metrics to measure progress against performance targets and provide recommendations and implementation strategies to evaluate and achieve best practices.
• Hires, trains, directs, manages, and motivates a high-performance team to meet departmental goals and objectives; coaches, guides, and evaluates the work of staff and provides development opportunities that increase staff expertise.
• Keeps abreast of developer customer experience trends, patterns, and issues; evaluates current trends and identifies if existing policies or procedures should be modified to better serve our customer operations; monitors competitor services for impact to existing operations; and creates solutions to business issues based on customer input and business strategies.
• Performs other related duties as needed to include working outside of typical business hours when necessary.

Required Education

• Bachelor's degree in applicable discipline or equivalent years of relevant experience.
• If no degree, a minimum of 11 years of relevant experience is required.

Required Experience Qualifications

• At least seven (7+) years of extensive experience in the planning, design, development, and implementation of customer-facing programs through channel engagement and other related operational functions for our customers and clients.
• At least five (5+) years of supervisory and/or management experience which demonstrates the ability to provide direction and effective management of a diverse workforce, meeting customer needs and achieving operational objectives.

Knowledge Of

Customer Planning and Execution functions including those related to planning, design, development, and implementation of customer-facing programs through channel engagement and other related operational functions for our customers and clients; customer landscape including markets, programs, and trends; the political landscape of laws and regulations at the local, state, and federal levels; operational and strategic business planning processes; root cause analysis; work process design and resource allocation; budget development and administration; contract administration; supervisory and management practices and techniques; safety rules and practices; key factors impacting customer services operations utilization rates; legal issues impacting customer services operations; fundamentals of motivating, coaching, mentoring, and performance managing employees.

Skills To

Provide direction and effective management of a diverse work group to achieve effective planning and execution of CCS initiatives, goals, and objectives; plan and direct business segment initiatives that support the achievement of SMUD’s strategic directives; create, communicate and execute the business segment’s operating plan; direct and support business segment change initiatives that help SMUD achieve its objectives; create and sustain a business segment culture that promotes continuous process improvement; ensure that the business segments processes are aligned across functions to achieve business segment and SMUD objectives; be an effective member of SMUD’s senior management team; conduct benefit/risk assessments to establish credible and effective partnerships with other interdependent operational business units, strategically position operational processes and channels to leverage the overall CCS business strategies through cost, efficiency and quality improvements; work effectively with workgroups with a changing workforce.

Physical Requirements

Applicants must be able to perform the essential job functions with or without a reasonable accommodation.

Our Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion

SMUD celebrates diversity and inspires an inclusive culture based on trust and respect to create belonging and connection among our employees, customers, and communities. By working together, we are powering positive, equitable opportunities for all. We aspire to be a workplace where you can be yourself, achieve your best, and thrive together.

An example of our commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging is when SMUD signed the California Equal Pay Pledge in 2020. This requires equal pay for employees who perform “substantially similar work,” when viewed as a composite of skill, effort, and responsibility at the time those employees started within that classification. As such, the initial hiring salary range is not subject to negotiation and salaries will vary over time based on performance.

SMUD is proud to be an equal‑opportunity employer. We do not discriminate in employment decisions on the basis of race, color, religion, gender (including pregnancy), national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, veteran status, or any other applicable legally protected characteristic. All employment decisions are made on the basis of individual qualifications, merit, and business needs and interests.

Note on Hybrid Work

This position is eligible for SMUD's hybrid (office/home) work employee benefit, the schedule of which will be determined by the successful candidate and the Hiring Manager. SMUD takes pride in powering the Sacramento region community where we live and work. We value the strong working relationships we develop with our colleagues. Our approach to hybrid work will continue to evolve. Please be aware that should SMUD’s business needs change, emergencies occur, or various other reasons arise, you may be required to report onsite on a part‑time or full‑time basis.

Resume and Cover Letter/Supplemental Questions

Please send your resume and attach a cover letter with your response to the following questions (1 page maximum for cover letter).

1. Describe how your experience has prepared you to be successful in this role.
2. Tell us why you are passionate about doing work that supports a healthy, inclusive, sustainable, and thriving community in the Sacramento region and SMUD territory?

For more information about this position, please contact:

Jennifer Powers
Talk or Text: 916-304-6661
[e-mail]