DER Consumer Programs Mgr

American Electric Power; United States; Remote; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

American Electric Power seeks a senior leader to direct DER consumer activities, including planning, acquisition, implementation, evaluation, and contract administration. You will supervise professionals across multiple remote locations, ensuring cost-effective programs, O&M budgets, and regulatory compliance.

The role involves procuring and managing vendors in DER/DG projects behind the customer meter, marketing, and stakeholder engagement to meet company expectations.

Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor's degree in business, economics, engineering or related field.
• Experience: 8+ years in DER related activities with regulatory knowledge.

Responsibilities

• Oversee DER planning, acquisition and evaluation activities.
• Lead vendor selection through competitive bidding and contracts.
• Ensure program promotion, training, measurement and reporting.
• Coordinate with AEP DER staff and regulators to meet goals.
• Coach staff across remote locations and ensure data capture in DER systems.

Skills

DER management

Contract administration

Budget management

Vendor management

Regulatory compliance

Team coaching

Education

Bachelor's degree in business/economics/engineering

Job description

Job Summary

Lead and manage operating company distributed energy resource (DER) consumer activities including, but not limited to, planning, acquisition, implementation, evaluation, and contract administration functions. Supervise and coach professional staff at multiple remote work locations and provide overall direction to efficiently implement cost beneficial programs, effectively manage O&M budget, and maintain full compliance with regulatory requirements related to DER consumer activities, including timely cost recovery, in harmony with other corporate functions.

Implementation include procuring and managing multiple vendors and employees in areas of DER or distributed generation (DG) behind the customer meter renewable (geothermal, etc) and new technologies, and marketing and branding. Marketing includes advertising, market research, segmentation and engagement to meet company expectations.

What You'll Do

Oversee and lead DER resource planning, acquisition and evaluation activities. Approve final program design to meet stated goals and objectives. Manage contractor selection process thorough competitive bidding practices, where applicable, and associated contracts. Oversee all program promotion and implementation, employee and contractor training, measurement and verification, cost tracking, and other data collection / program administration / metric reporting associated with the effective implementation of OPCO-sponsored programs. Work closely with AEP central organization and sister utilities' DER staff to effectively evaluate overall program and suggest new/modified programs/deliverables, and provide overall program support. Ultimate responsibility for meeting stated goals and objectives including DER overall budget targets and improving operating customer engagement and satisfaction. Maintain successful interpersonal working relationships with state-level regulators and regulatory agency staff. Work closely with AEP central organization DER staff and public policy to develop comprehensive DER strategies. Keep abreast of related industry, regulatory, legislative and other external developments that may affect DER activities. Provide ongoing analysis of pending or enacted legislation related to DER. Work with external special interest groups, including any state- or operating company-appointed task force(s). Manage and coach professional staff in multiple remote work locations. Oversee work performed by direct reports to ensure compliance with Company's policies and overall goals and objectives. Train and mentor direct reports to provide opportunities for future advancement within the DER organization. Coordinate other DER activities and functions with appropriate AEP and operating company personnel. Maintain a comprehensive working knowledge of all aspects of DER related activities in all functional areas and the interrelationships among them. Communicate regularly with AEP and operating company organizational units to ensure understanding of expected deliverables, timetables, successes, needed process improvement, and overall roles and responsibilities. Distribute feedback from internal and external organizations to appropriate AEP and operating company personnel. Ensure operating company management, AEP DER support staff, and regulatory interface personnel are kept abreast of overall DER activities, achievements, and overall progress, through reports or other mutually-acceptable means, to facilitate appropriate and timely updates to regulatory agencies. Work with AEP DER support staff to ensure all program data, including overall program costs, participant levels, installed measures, projected impacts and other required data / metrics are sufficiently captured in the DER tracking system. Ensure all business processes and systems that will be affected by DER implementation are identified, and that the responsible AEP organizational units are notified in a timely manner. Monitor and verify that any necessary process modifications or new developments are appropriately planned and implemented in a timely manner. Coordinate with Corporate Communication on customer marketing and engagement activities (TV, radio, digital, web, social media) to align with corporate messaging and branding standards. Coordinate with Distribution in implementation of customer DER programs.

What We Are Looking For

Education: Bachelor's degree in business, economics, engineering or related field. Experience: Minimum of 8 years' experience or a minimum of 3ears direct experience in DER related activities. The successful candidate should possess in-depth knowledge of regulatory requirements for utility demand-side resource planning / acquisition / implementation, demonstrate mastery of highly complex utility resource planning processes, including mathematical and statistical knowledge. T he incum