DERMS Cutover Workstream Lead

National Grid plc; Northboro (IA); On-site; USD 139,000 - 175,000; Full time

Job summary

National Grid is hiring a DERMS Cutover Workstream Lead for our NY Electric Operations - Digital Solutions department. This role oversees end-to-end cutover planning and go-live readiness across Massachusetts and New York, coordinating cross-functional teams and vendor partners to ensure a smooth production transition.

The ideal candidate will have a bachelor’s degree in engineering or related field, 3+ years leading complex technology deployments, and proven program-management skills with JIRA

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Business, Project Management, or related field.
• At least 3 years of experience leading complex new technology programs and deployments in regulated environments.
• Program management skills with scheduling, risk/issue management, and reporting (JIRA/JIRA Align or MS Project).
• Excellent facilitation and stakeholder-management skills with decisive leadership under pressure.
• Experience in DER management use cases such as flexible interconnections.
• Experience in Solar, Energy Storage, or Electric Vehicles preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead development, approval, and governance of the DERMS cutover and deployment approach across Massachusetts and New York, aligning technical execution with operational and business readiness.
• Perform the initial cutover stakeholder assessment and establish governance, meeting cadence, decision rights, escalation paths, and cross-workstream handoffs.
• Develop and secure approval of pre-cutover and cutover-day runbooks with sequencing, owners, dependencies, and criteria.
• Create and manage the cutover readiness tracker across inputs from testing, infrastructure, cybersecurity, architecture, data, and operations.
• Define and approve early life support and hypercare structure, including coverage, triage, escalation, and exit criteria.
• Direct cutover-day execution across National Grid teams, DERMS vendor, SI, and delivery partners, ensuring sequence and real-time documentation.
• Lead post-go-live stabilization, hypercare exit, and transition to BAU with lessons learned and closure reporting.

Skills

Program management

Stakeholder management

Scheduling & planning

Communication

Risk management

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Business, Project Management or related field

Tools

JIRA

JIRA Align

Microsoft Project

Job description

National Grid is hiring a DERMS Cutover Workstream Lead for our NY Electric Operations - Digital Solutions department. This position can be located in Massachussetts (Northboro or Waltham) or Upstate New York (Syracuse or Albany).

Every day we deliver safe and secure energy to homes, communities, and businesses. We are there when people need us the most. We connect people to the energy they need for the lives they live. The pace of change in society and our industry is accelerating and our expertise and track record puts us in an unparalleled position to shape the sustainable future of our industry.

To be successful we must anticipate the needs of our customers, reducing the cost of energy delivery today and pioneering the flexible energy systems of tomorrow. This requires us to deliver on our promises and always look for new opportunities to grow, both ourselves and our business.

Job Purpose

The DERMS Program Cutover Lead is responsible for developing and leading the end-to-end cutover and deployment approach for the DERMS program across Massachusetts and New York. The role coordinates the activities, dependencies, decisions, and stakeholder readiness required to transition the DERMS solution program successfully into production. This includes leading pre-cutover and cutover-day planning, developing and governing execution runbooks and readiness trackers, coordinating go-live communications and service transition, facilitating mock upgrades and directing go/no-go governance. The role works across stakeholder groups to confirm that technical, operational, business, and support prerequisites are complete. Following go-live, the role oversees early life support, lessons learned, and cutover closure to support a controlled transition into business-as-usual operations.

Key Accountabilities

• Lead development, approval, and ongoing governance of the DERMS cutover and deployment approach for Massachusetts and New York, aligning technical execution with operational and business readiness.
• Perform the initial cutover stakeholder assessment and establish the governance, meeting cadence, decision rights, escalation paths, and cross-workstream handoffs needed to execute the transition.
• Develop, maintain, review, and secure approval of the pre-cutover and cutover-day runbooks, including task sequencing, owners, dependencies, entry and exit criteria, contingency actions, rollback considerations, and command-center procedures.
• Create and manage the cutover readiness tracker, integrating inputs from testing, infrastructure, cybersecurity, architecture, data, integrations, training, communications, business readiness, vendors, and operational teams.
• Define and obtain approval for the early life support and hypercare structure, including support coverage, issue triage, severity and escalation processes, operational ownership, performance monitoring, and exit criteria.
• Direct cutover-day execution across National Grid teams, DERMS vendor, the system integrator, business integrator, and other delivery partners, ensuring activities are completed in sequence and decisions and issues are documented in real time.
• Lead post-go-live stabilization, hypercare exit, and cutover closure, including closure reporting, lessons learned, outstanding-action ownership, and the formal transition to business-as-usual support.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Business, Project Management or related field required.
• At least 3 years of experience leading complex new technology programs, production deployments, system commissioning, service transitions, or enterprise go-live activities in a regulated or operationally critical environment required.
• Proven program management skills, including critical-path scheduling, risk and issue management, dependency coordination, executive reporting utilizing agile or traditional project management tools such as JIRA, JIRA align, or Microsoft Project required.
• Excellent facilitation, communication, negotiation, and stakeholder-management skills, with the ability to align cross-functional teams and remain decisive during high-pressure implementation windows while protecting safety, cybersecurity, system stability, customer impact, and operational continuity.
• Experience in DER management use cases such as flexible interconnections.
• Prior experience in Solar, Energy Storage, or Electric Vehicles preferred.

More Information

MA: $156,000.00 - $175,000.00 USD annually

Upstate NY: $139,000.00 - $163,000.00 USD annually

National Grid utilizes an assessment that evaluates the job qualifications/characteristics using AI or statistically based scoring. For more information, please view NYC Local Law 144.

This position has a career path which provides for advancement opportunities within and across bands as you develop and evolve in the position; gaining experience, expertise and acquiring and applying technical skills. Candidates will be assessed and provided offers against the minimum qualifications of this role and their individual experience.

National Grid is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment regardless of protected class. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, age, disability, genetic information, or any other protected status in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws. National Grid maintains affirmative action programs for individuals with disabilities and protected veterans.

Our employment practices are designed to ensure that all individuals are treated fairly and with respect throughout the hiring process and during employment. National Grid complies with all applicable federal, state, and local anti-discrimination laws. We are dedicated to fostering a workplace that is free from unlawful discrimination and harassment, and we encourage a culture of respect for all.
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National Grid operates in both the UK and US, with a broad portfolio of energy businesses dedicated to providing safe, reliable, and sustainable power.

From electricity and gas transmission to advancing clean energy and modernising grids, our work covers every aspect of the energy system.

Our energy flows through absolutely everything we do

Life here at National Grid is more than just our purpose or our values, it’s everything we put into everything we do. It’s our commitment to diversity and inclusion; how we help our employees learn and grow; and how we partner with and support the communities where we live and work. It’s all this, and so much more.

We leverage our collective strengths to do meaningful BIG work so that we can be at the heart of a fair and affordable energy future.

Your salary is reviewed each year against the market for your role, skills, knowledge and experience.

Incentive

Annual performance plan or bonus (depending on your role) rewards your contribution to our success each year.

Retirement

Generous pension plan with company contributions up to 12%.

Private medical insurance for self and family.