Director, Digital Solutions - Operations & Engineering

Director, Digital Solutions - Operations & Engineering Location(s): Austin, TX, US, 78701 Company: RWE Americas, LLC To start as soon as possible, full time, permanent, Exempt. Functional area: IT / Digital As Director of Digital Solutions for Operations & Engineering , you will lead the team responsible for IT solutions that power RWE Americas' Engineering and Operations business areas. This is the largest user-facing technology portfolio in the organization — encompassing 130+ applications, including mission‑critical software and large‑scale enterprise platforms — and the right leader will shape its direction for years to come. You will serve as the domain architect for Engineering & Operations, defining and driving the go-forward technology strategy in close partnership with business leaders and enterprise architects. You will oversee both in-house product development and commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) application management, leading high-performing, resilient teams that operate with Agile and DevOps discipline. You will define multi-year technology roadmaps, lead transformations such as cloud migrations and the modernization of legacy monolithic architectures, and build the organizational capability to sustain and scale these efforts. This is a high-visibility, high-impact leadership position at the center of RWE Americas' technology transformation. You will inherit a large, complex portfolio and have the mandate — and the backing — to modernize it. You will build and develop your team, shape culture, and contribute directly to the clean energy transition through the technology that enables our operations. Role Responsibilities Strategic Leadership: Define and maintain multi-year technology roadmaps for the Operations and Engineering departments, ensuring alignment with enterprise architecture and RWE’s corporate strategy. Lead strategic transformation initiatives, including cloud migrations, application rationalization, and modernization programs. Business Alignment: Partner with departmental leaders and subject‑matter experts to communicate program status, core system health, and evolving priorities. Translate business objectives into technology initiatives, ensuring IT investments deliver measurable outcomes for Operations and Engineering stakeholders. Mentorship & Talent Development: Build high-performing, resilient teams through strategic hiring, mentoring, and performance management. Develop staffing models that support organizational growth, reduce knowledge silos, and grow internal capability from entry-level analysts through senior architects. Champion succession planning and career development at all levels. Agile & DevOps Excellence: Standardize Agile and DevOps practices across all IT teams within the portfolio. Use industry metrics such as DORA to baseline and improve deployment frequency, lead time, change failure rate, and time‑to‑restore — driving sustained gains in velocity, quality, and reliability. System Modernization & Architecture: Establish architectural standards and review processes that ensure new solutions are built for longevity and maintainability. Operational Excellence: Ensure the availability and reliability of core systems, including Aveva PI and enterprise integration platforms, targeting 99.9% uptime through proactive monitoring, incident response, and continuous improvement. Implement dashboards and reporting that provide real-time visibility into system health. Integration Strategy: Own the integration strategy within operations and the engineering domain, governing data flows between 30+ systems and the enterprise data and analytics platform. Ensure data quality, reliability, and discoverability across publishing and subscribing systems, establishing integration standards, and reducing point-to-point dependencies. Enterprise Platform Management: Provide strategic oversight for SAP Plant Maintenance and Materials Management, leading a local Technical Manager to streamline governance between central and local operating company teams. Identify opportunities to reduce cycle times and improve platform adoption and data quality. Vendor & Budget Oversight: Manage large-scale IT budgets, balancing innovation investment with operational cost discipline. Lead strategic vendor selections, contract renewals, and third‑party performance reviews to optimize cost, reduce risk, and align vendor capabilities with long-term technology direction. Governance & Compliance: Set and guide governance frameworks for IT delivery across the Engineering & Operations portfolio, establishing policies for security, testing, deployment, and change management. Partner with Cybersecurity to ensure all solutions meet corporate security standards and regulatory requirements. Portfolio Management: Maintain a complete, accurate application portfolio covering all departmental systems, with validated business owners, defined support tiers, and clear lifecycle plans including deprecation roadmaps. Use this foundation to right-size team capacity and prioritize investment decisions. Job Requirements and Experiences Education A Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Software Engineering, or a related field of study is required; a Master’s degree or MBA is preferred. Relevant industry certifications in Cloud Architecture, Agile Leadership, or related disciplines are a strong plus. Experience A minimum of 11 years of experience in information technology, digital products, or infrastructure, with at least 5 years in a team or functional leadership role is required. Demonstrated track record managing platform solutions and products at scale — ensuring operational excellence, availability, and reliability — within large-scale enterprises in the energy, utilities, or technology sectors. Proven ability to set strategic direction, orchestrate cross‑functional teams, and deliver complex, high‑impact initiatives in partnership with internal stakeholders and external partners. Deep familiarity with highly available, scalable service design, including cloud platforms (Azure preferred), DevOps practices, and Agile methodologies across the full SDLC. Prior experience with ERP systems and IoT/connected device environments is highly desirable; background in the energy or utilities sector is a significant advantage. Leadership style: Champions a culture of innovation and shared ownership; architects strategic roadmaps and OKRs that connect team execution to broader organizational goals. Communication: Translates complex technical concepts and trade-offs for executive and non‑technical audiences; produces clear artifacts — diagrams, decision records, architectural narratives — that drive alignment and accelerate decisions. Product mindset: Applies customer‑ and value-focused thinking to define outcomes, make trade‑offs, and continuously improve products throughout their lifecycle. Coaching & talent development: Builds high‑performing teams through hiring, mentoring, performance management, and career development; grows internal capability and supports succession planning. Judgment & escalation: Leads triage and resolution of complex technical and delivery issues; drives root‑cause analysis, risk mitigation, and clear decisions under pressure. Stakeholder influence: Partners with business and technology leaders to set direction, communicate trade‑offs, and align priorities to measurable business outcomes. This position is an office-based role with some travel and visits to other RWE Americas offices and field locations. The employee must be able to sit, walk, or stand for long durations of time. Benefits Medical, Dental, Vision, Life Insurance, Short-Term Disability, Long-Term Disability, 401(k) match, Flexible Spending Accounts, EAP, Education Assistance, Parental Leave, Paid time off, and Holidays. Eligible employees also participate in short-term incentives, in addition to salary. Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States. RWE Americas is unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of employment visas at this time. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, disability, veteran status, or other legally protected status. #J-18808-Ljbffr RWE AG