Director Program Support and Project Management presso FirstEnergy Service Company

The Director, Program Support and Project Management is a strategic leadership role responsible for overseeing and integrating three critical support functions within the Transmission organization: FET Finance, Project Processing Controls, and Project Management Controls. This role ensures alignment of financial oversight, project governance, and control processes to support the successful execution of the transmission capital portfolio. 

Primary responsibilities include providing  the enterprise-wide project and portfolio controls backbone, ensuring that all project-level data (schedule, cost, forecasts, risks, issues, financial transactions) is systematically captured, validated, and aggregated into portfolio-level insights that support capital project operations. Delivers a "single source of truth" of project and portfolio data. 

The Director will champion continuous improvement initiatives, embedding best practices, lean processes, and advanced analytics. Lead the adoption of new tools, technologies, and methodologies that improve forecasting accuracy, financial visibility, and risk mitigation. Act as a strategic advisor to senior leadership, influencing decisions through fact-based insights, while ensuring actions align with organizational strategic direction

Key Responsibilities include:

• Serve as a key advisor to senior leadership on financial and project control matters.
• Oversee financial planning, budgeting, forecasting, and reporting for the transmission business.
• Ensure compliance with regulatory and internal financial policies.
• Lead the development and enforcement of standardized project processing workflows, including project initiation, approvals, and closeout procedures.
• Ensure data integrity and consistency across project systems and tools.
• Oversee the implementation and maintenance of project controls including scheduling, cost management, risk management, and performance tracking.
• Develop and implement the project management vision, strategy, and goals to align with organizational objectives.
• Establish and maintain robust processes to monitor project scope, schedule, cost, and risk.
• Provide management and financial process support for: Joint Venture projects requiring shared risk and governance; Projects with risk containment structures (e.g., capped budgets, contingent funding); Vendor contracting models such as EPC, lump-sum turnkey, and time-and-material contracts, including comparative analysis of performance and risk.
• Ensure consistent application of project management methodologies, tools, and standards across all projects.
• Partner with project managers to develop and maintain detailed project plans, forecasts, and risk mitigation strategies.
• Direct portfolio budgets, financial reporting, purchase orders, invoices, accruals, and forecasting, ensuring compliance and efficiency.
• Design and implement centralized reporting processes, dashboards, KPIs, and analytics to provide actionable visibility into project and portfolio performance.
• Ensure stakeholders at all levels have access to accurate, timely information for decision-making.
• Establish initiatives that enhance delivery efficiency, reduce costs, and mitigate risks.
• Support companywide KPI initiatives around project delivery, portfolio financial performance, efficiency improvements, and stakeholder satisfaction.

Qualifications include:

• Bachelor of Science degree in Business, Engineering, Finance, Construction Management or related field.  Master’s degree, PE license, PMP or advanced credentialing preferred.
• Minimum 10 years progressive experience in the electric utility industry, including at least 5 years of management experience (Manager and above) in project, construction, portfolio management or related fields. Consideration given to non-degreed candidates with over 15 years progressive experience in the electric utility industry, including at least 5 years of management experience (Manager and above) in project, construction, portfolio management or related fields.
• Demonstrated leadership of project management functions (project controls, portfolio reporting, finance).
• Financial Acumen related to budgeting/forecasting and FERC accounting
• Rates and Regulatory knowledge preferred
• Large-scale Portfolio, Program and Project management experience.
• Industry knowledge – PJM, RTEP and Planning/TEAC processes
• Proven experience leading cross-functional and matrixed teams, managing complex programs, and building consensus among diverse stakeholders.
• Strong communication and influence skills, with ability to represent FirstEnergy’s strategy and performance to internal staff, senior leadership, regulators, contractors, and external stakeholders.
• Track record of leading organizational change, workforce transformation, and process improvement with measurable results.
• Highly driven, self-motivated, and results-oriented, capable of balancing tactical urgency with long-term strategic foresight.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, able to evaluate complex issues, develop fact-based conclusions, and recommend actionable strategies.
• Inspirational leader who communicates a compelling vision, fosters accountability, and cultivates a culture of inclusion, continuous improvement, and high performance.
• Demonstrated ability to mentor, recruit, and grow high-caliber talent while developing strong succession pipelines.
• Skilled at managing conflict constructively and working through difficult situations with professionalism and integrity.
• Active thinker and collaborative team player who challenges constructively, adapts flexibly, and brings political acumen to decision-making.
• Proven judgment and decision-making skills, consistently delivering accurate, timely, and balanced outcomes.
• Proven ability to work effectively in a matrixed organization, aligning diverse stakeholders, functions, and priorities to deliver shared outcomes.
• Willingness to travel periodically (up to 25%) and work extended hours as required.

Benefits, Compensation & Workforce Diversity 
 
At FirstEnergy, employees are key to our success. We depend on their talents to meet the challenges of our changing business environment. We are committed to rewarding individual and team efforts through our total rewards philosophy which includes competitive pay plus incentive compensation, a company-sponsored pension plan, 401(k) savings plan with matching employer contribution, a choice of medical, prescription drug, dental, vision, and life insurance programs, as well as skills development training with tuition reimbursement. Please visit our website at www.firstenergycorp.com to learn more about all of our employee rewards programs. FirstEnergy proudly supports workforce diversity. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, status as a protected veteran, or status as a qualified individual with a disability. No recruiters or agencies without a previously signed contract. Unable to sponsor or transfer H-1B visas at this time. 
 
Safety 
 
Safety is a core value for FirstEnergy and is essential to all of our business activities. We ensure employees have the tools, information, and processes to perform their duties in a manner that assures safety for themselves, their co-workers, our customers and the public. Our goals are to provide a safe work environment, to maintain an accident-free, injury-free workplace, and to promote and maintain public safety. To meet these goals, we dedicate ourselves to achieving world-class safety standards.