Managing Director, Technology Enablement

We are building amazing technology at Associated.

Right now, one team is designing a sophisticated digital twin for our power plants. Another team is adding new capabilities to our big data system that models the future of the cooperative. Yet another team is planning to modernize a transmission asset management system used by seven cooperatives. These are just a few samples. Across Associated, teams are continually building technology that delivers outsized impact for the enterprise and our members.

But these teams are building alone.

Each team figures out its own architecture, user interface style, data storage mechanism, API method, and technology practices — alone. And it's not just limited to IT teams anymore. Engineers and analysts across the business are building data solutions — alone. Looking to the future, GenAI could offer building power to every person at Associated — an enterprise of builders, building alone.

Building alone gave us speed and flexibility in the past, and we’ve made the most of it. But it doesn’t scale. It also means that we recreate capabilities instead of sharing them, expertise stays trapped inside teams, and every new solution adds another thing to connect, secure, maintain, and support. As more people build and what we build becomes more critical, the cost of building alone compounds.

We’re going to create one unified way of building technology together at Associated.

One way to build user interfaces — so every team gets excellent at it, together.

One way to create data products — so that data can become the fuel of the enterprise.

One way to train AI solutions — so we can scale expertise across the company.

One way to create integrations — so we can connect systems seamlessly.

Only one thing is missing—you.

Reporting to the Chief Information Officer, you will lead our new Technology Enablement function. You'll own the full lifecycle of how technology gets built at Associated: the architecture, the developer tools, the platforms for applications, data, and AI, and the infrastructure it all runs on, from cloud to our own datacenters and network. And you'll manage this toward one goal: enabling technology builders to build safely, sustainably, and productively — together.

And there’s one unique aspect of our utility business that must be considered: while most of our building is now done in the cloud, our critical systems that operate the grid can’t exist there. From the grid control center to the IoT field devices at our plants and substations, they must be self-sufficient and able to keep running even when cut off from everything else.

You must find a way to keep these critical systems from being left behind.

The good news is that you won't be starting alone. Associated's CIO sponsored the design and funding of this organization. Teams are in place, each with leaders and engineers ready for your leadership. And there’s early momentum being built. A cross-functional team that includes your customers is working ahead at documenting our systems and is ready to advance the mission with you.

• Create the Foundation
  . Raise the shared foundation with the builders — data products, enterprise apps, business apps, integrations — then lead the great migration until building together is the only way.
• Form the Architecture Function
  . Stand up architects who wear three hats: registry keepers, tool-crafters, and sleeve-rolling consultants who empower the builders.
• Turn Data into Fuel
  . Define data products, certify builders of analytics and machine learning, and create an AI-ready platform that scales our expertise.
• Modernize our Craft
  . Bring our first party products and builders forward with AI-integrated development, modern tool chains, shared frameworks, and low/no-code.
• Cloud-Power the Grid
  . Deliver cloud-era engineering to the grid management systems that must keep running when Associated is cut off from everything else.
• Ride the AI Wave
  . Ensure the enterprise rides the AI wave with excellence and keep an eye out for future tech waves to ride. Ensure no ever needs to build alone again.

Leaders who can do this are rare. If your focus has only been…