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.

Under the general direction of the Director, the Manager of Software Engineeing – Vendor Products and Quality manages the day-to-day operations and staff responsible for product management, vendor management, quality engineering and integration of software products in support of the department’s software delivery and quality objectives. Provides leadership to deliver enduring, high quality software solutions that align with architectural objectives and enable the business mission, and fosters an environment for maintaining positive relationships across business units and functions. In addition to leadership, functional and technical responsibilities, this position is responsible for managerial activities such as workforce planning, salary planning, performance management, employee development, training plans, and diversity awareness. Responsibility also includes staffing, process and tool adoption, financial management, including accountability for the team’s performance to budgets, and technology development. Collaborates with other leaders across the division and various business untis in the maturation of product and vendor management, software quality, techniques, methodologies, processes, metrics, and compliance for repeatable, predictable execution.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:

• Manages the day-to-day for the Software Engineering – Vendor Products and Quality operations and staff. Responsible for providing broad direction and guidance, identifies training needs, coaches and gives feedback on employee performance, develops staff performance plans, makes recommendations with respect to the hiring, firing, advancement, promotion or any other change in the status of direct reports, and performs related activities as appropriate.
   
• Provides leadership related to product management, software vendor management, quality delivery & strategies, planning, and deliverables including estimation, design and testing activities for vendor development initiatives to achieve the solution and division quality objectives. Manages team of full-time and contract staff to ensure efficient and effective delivery, quality, support and maintenance of software products.
   
• Provides planning and execution oversight to the teams and ensures compliance with policies and process throughout as per software development life cycle. Reviews and approves software engineering functional and system deliverables to ensure quality and completeness through thorough quality engineering principles.
   
• Oversees software quality engineering aspects related to security, load and performance engineering, integration testing and test automation.
• Collaborates with others to adopt innovations to improve the application portfolio quality characteristics including flexibility, consistency, and maintainability, and the efficiency of team functions. Participates in quality engineering development tool assessments and adoption in collaboration with other teams.
   
• Provides leadership in the Centers of Excellence to ensure the adoption of the software engineering quality discipline. Participates in training software engineers throughout the ISO to adopt the most current software quality engineering practices, tools, techniques and metrics to meet the business needs and maintain compliance.
   
• Responsible for managing the budget and oversees cost-tracking activities. Participates in department budget preparation.
   
• Develops team, providing leadership guidance, mentoring, coaching and career development feedback.
   
• Attends business meetings, and collaborates with colleagues to identify and resolve issues to help create a flexible and efficient organization and to develop “best practices” policies and procedures.
   
• Adheres to and supports the Cultural Values of the ISO.
   
• Performs related duties and activities as appropriate.

Level of Education and Discipline

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

Amount of Experience

Equivalent years of education and training, plus ten (10) or more years related experience.
 

Type of Experience
Extensive experience in information technology, including experience with product management, systems analysis, application development, quality assurance, software engineering and project management.

Additional Skills and Experience

Ability to think strategically and devise solutions to problems in keeping with multiple considerations. Excellent leadership and management abilities with experience coaching and developing others. Must demonstrate sound judgment and critical thinking when making decisions.  Must be able to work effectively in a team environment as team leader, facilitator and team member.  Strong analytical and quantitative skills required.  Excellent interpersonal, communication and writing skills required, including the ability to effectively communicate complex materials and concepts. Must be able to handle a dynamic and changing work environment, and work well independently. 

The pay range for this role is $133,650 - $222,750 per year.