About the position

The Director, Digital – Digital & Business Operations leads the product family that enables product delivery across the digital organization. The role advances product delivery by aligning teams through unified tooling, technical standards, and strategic communications, while partnering with IT Infrastructure & Security, Enterprise Architecture, product-family leaders, technical leads, and business stakeholders. The Director owns the outcomes and ongoing optimization of three enabling product teams: Technical End State Vision, Governance & Standards; Work, Development & Test Tooling; and System of Delivery Governance, Playbook & Communications. The position sets technical direction and reinforces software-development standards and agile practices to support efficient, secure, and scalable delivery. It combines principal-level technical contributions at key points—including architectural decisions, standards approvals, and complex escalations—with leadership in systems of work, engineering disciplines, and alignment of digital tools to enterprise strategy. The Director builds an environment for high-performing teams, promoting consistency, learning, accountability, and continuous improvement across the digital organization. The role is onsite at least three days per week at Consumers Energy’s Innovation Center in Jackson, Michigan. Candidates must be within commuting distance or willing to relocate; relocation assistance is available to those who qualify. The position is not eligible for current or future immigration sponsorship, including H-1B or TN sponsorship, and cannot hire individuals working under CPT, OPT, or STEM OPT.

Responsibilities

• Monitor product-family performance, capacity, and resource needs, adjusting as needed to meet evolving demands.
• Own the technical end-state vision, governance, and standards for the Digital Products & Technologies organization.
• Lead a cross-family group of Tech Leads in creating, reviewing, and maintaining software-development standards, roadmaps, and backlogs in collaboration with IT Infrastructure & Security.
• Represent the department in enterprise architecture and standards forums, including co-leading the Architecture Technology Forum and participating in standards reviews, standards update reviews, and problem architecture reviews.
• Oversee work-management, development, and test tooling, including Azure DevOps, GitHub, test automation, and performance-testing platforms; own the development-tool usage policy.
• Provide leadership for API management governance, including API review, change approval, and API catalog strategy.
• Lead AI governance and software-delivery strategy, including oversight of AI-assisted development tools such as GitHub Copilot, their adoption, usage, and cost.
• Partner with IT Infrastructure & Security on platform engineering, cloud engineering, and infrastructure automation.
• Lead the transition of legacy and ancillary technologies, such as RPA and low-code platforms, to appropriate owners.
• Champion System of Delivery governance, playbooks, and strategic communications.
• Own assigned departmental strategic goals and participate in enterprise councils such as the CMDB advisory council.
• Drive digital maturity by reinforcing standards and best practices; foster an agile culture of continuous learning and guide change management affecting people, processes, and technology.
• Coach and mentor teams and leaders, support performance management and collaboration, and empower teams to deliver organizational goals.
• Perform other duties as assigned or necessary.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology or a related discipline and at least 10 years of proven success leading people and other leaders in a technical environment; experience leading projects and/or cross-functional teams; and experience designing, deploying, operating, and/or maintaining systems that deliver measurable business benefits, or designing, delivering, and enhancing digital services.
• Alternatively, an associate degree in Information Technology or a related discipline and at least 12 years of proven success leading people and other leaders in a technical environment; experience leading projects and/or cross-functional teams; and experience designing, deploying, operating, and/or maintaining systems that deliver measurable business benefits, or designing, delivering, and enhancing digital services.
• Alternatively, a high school diploma or GED and at least 14 years of proven success leading people and other leaders in a technical environment; experience leading projects and/or cross-functional teams; and experience designing, deploying, operating, and/or maintaining systems that deliver measurable business benefits, or designing, delivering, and enhancing digital services.
• Ability to develop and maintain professional relationships through active listening, rapport-building, and objectivity.
• Ability to foster a creative and innovative environment, encourage opportunities that support customer needs and organizational goals, and promote diverse thinking.
• Skill in influencing others through change by involving, equipping, and supporting colleagues through transitions.
• Ability to inspire, motivate, and empower teams, including coaching and mentoring, performance management, fostering collaboration, and owning team results.
• Ability to communicate compelling messages, connect colleagues to organizational purpose, and use storytelling to inspire belief in vision and strategy.
• Openness to new and iterative ways of working.
• Strong business acumen and awareness of broader internal and external business environments.
• Political savviness and ability to build and influence stakeholder networks internally and externally.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with employees with diverse perspectives and experiences.

Nice-to-haves

• Leader-of-leaders coaching expertise, including coaching managers and product managers and navigating matrixed accountability.
• Experience establishing and governing enterprise software-development standards and architecture in partnership with infrastructure, security, and enterprise architecture teams.
• Experience owning developer tooling and platforms, such as Azure DevOps, GitHub, and test automation, and improving the developer experience at scale.
• Knowledge of API management, such as Azure APIM, and AI governance, including AI-assisted software-development tools.
• Proven ability to design, evolve, and continuously improve workflows across multiple teams in a matrixed operating model.
• Experience building and sustaining communities of practice that measurably influence behavior and improve skills development.
• Demonstrated ability to influence and achieve results in a matrixed, cross-functional environment.
• Expertise in designing and implementing effective systems of work for software-engineering practices within large-scale digital transformations.

Benefits

• Competitive compensation packages
• Medical, dental, and vision coverage
• 401(k) with company match
• Paid parental leave
• Up to 13 paid holidays
• Paid time off
• Educational Assistance Program
• Relocation package for candidates who qualify