Director Enterprise Project Management Office - Business Transformation - Akron FirstEnergy Headquarters

FirstEnergy at a Glance

We are a forward-thinking electric utility powered by a diverse team of employees committed to making customers’ lives brighter, the environment better and our communities stronger.

FirstEnergy (NYSE: FE) is dedicated to integrity, safety, reliability and operational excellence. Headquartered in Akron, Ohio, FirstEnergy includes one of the nation's largest investor-owned electric systems, more than 24,000 miles of transmission lines that connect the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions, and a regulated generating fleet with a total capacity of more than 3,500 megawatts.

About the Opportunity

This is an open position with FirstEnergy Service Company, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp.

This is a full-time, 4-days a week on-site position located in an office anywhere within the FirstEnergy service territory locations of: OH, PA, NJ, WV/MD or Washington, DC.

About FirstEnergy
FirstEnergy is dedicated to safety, reliability, and operational excellence. Our Business Transformation function exists to change how the enterprise operates — not simply to make existing processes marginally faster. We are building a small, senior team that identifies the largest value opportunities across our utilities, builds the business case, and drives the change through to a durable result.

Why This Role Matters

Selecting the right work is only half the problem; the enterprise also has to finish it. This role owns whether Business Transformation delivers what it promised, on the timeline it promised, at the quality the business can absorb. You will build the delivery discipline that makes the portfolio’s value credible.

Position Summary

The Director, Enterprise Project Management Office reports to the VP of Business Transformation. Travel to work locations across the territory is required on an as-needed basis.

The role leads a team of dedicated Project Specialists. The Director is responsible for delivery of the Business Transformation portfolio, including project management methodology, stage gate governance, delivery health reporting, and resource scheduling across concurrent initiatives.

Working across all active initiatives, the Director builds the project management capability of the organization and advises leadership where delivery patterns indicate a need to rescope, re-sequence, or stop work. The Director is expected to strengthen delivery discipline over time rather than manage individual initiatives.

Key Responsibilities

- Lead and develop a team of Project Managers and build project management as a core capability within Business Transformation. Own the project delivery methodology and governance framework every initiative follows, including stage gates, reporting cadence, risk and issue management, and handover requirements.
- Own delivery health across the portfolio, and report performance and forecast to executive leadership through a predictable review rhythm.
- Advise leadership where delivery performance indicates work should be rescoped, re-sequenced, or stopped, and hold the line on delivery standards where an initiative is not ready to advance through a particular stage gate.
- Own resource scheduling and capacity management across concurrent initiatives for direct Project Manager reports, in coordination with peer discipline Directors and the Portfolio Managers, surfacing conflicts before they become delivery failures.
- Identify systemic causes of delivery failure across the portfolio and drive changes to methodology, capacity, or governance to address them.
- Select and/or develop, implement, and continuously improve the project management tooling and templates the organization relies on.
- Build project management capability beyond the Business Transformation team, including standards, training, and coaching that raise delivery discipline across the enterprise.
- Manage third-party delivery resources and contractor capacity supporting the portfolio, including onboarding, standards adherence, and performance.
- Contribute to Business Transformation strategy, portfolio governance, and capability planning as a member of the leadership team.

Required Qualifications

- Bachelor’s degree in business, engineering, information systems, or a related discipline, plus a minimum of 10 years of relevant work experience. Master’s degree or MBA preferred.
- Relevant work experience includes leading project or program delivery across multiple concurrent initiatives.
- PMP, PfMP, or equivalent portfolio or program management certification.
- Demonstrated experience establishing project delivery methodology, standards, or governance that others apply consistently.
- Experience leading and developing a team of project or program managers.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to influence decision-making with senior leaders.
- Ability to manage a portfolio of concurrent initiatives across multiple business units and deliver accurate work within established deadlines.

Preferred Qualifications

- Experience establishing or scaling an enterprise project management office.
- Prior experience in the electric utility industry or another regulated operating environment.
- PgMP, PMI-ACP, SAFe, or equivalent program or agile delivery certification.
- Experience delivering in both traditional stage-gate and iterative or agile modes, and judgment about when each applies.
- Experience selecting and deploying enterprise project portfolio management (PPM) tooling.

Leadership Competencies

- Influence without authority. Earns agreement from business unit leaders who do not report to this role and holds a position when a recommendation is unpopular.
- Executive communication and storytelling. Moves fluidly between technical detail and a three-slide executive narrative; defends methodology and numbers under challenge from senior leadership.
- Financial literacy. Frames every recommendation in terms of earnings, capital efficiency, cost-to-achieve, and payback.
- Talent building. Recruits, develops, and retains scarce specialist skills; builds bench strength rather than becoming the single point of expertise.
- Safety-first mindset. Champions FirstEnergy’s safety culture and ensures transformation work never compromises safe operations.
- Bias to outcomes. Measures success by whether the business operates differently, not by initiatives launched or deliverables produced.

What Success Looks Like in the First 12 Months

- One project management/delivery methodology and stage-gate standard applied consistently across every active initiative.
- Delivery health and forecast reporting that executives trust well enough to act on, including decisions to stop work.
- Resource scheduling that surfaces capacity conflicts in advance rather than at the point of slippage.
- Measurable improvement in on-time, on-scope delivery and in the quality of handover to the business.

Working Arrangements & Requirements

- Travel to work locations across the territory is required on an as-needed basis.
- Participation in storm restoration or emergency response duties as assigned may be required.
- Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the United States without sponsorship.

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.

FirstEnergy takes a market-based approach to pay, which may vary depending on your location. In addition, your actual base salary will depend on various factors such as your skills, qualifications, and experience.

The market rate for this role is: $ 211,000. Certain locations, including the state of New Jersey and Washington DC, include a 20% differential to account for an increased cost of living, making the pay range for NJ/DC (only) $ 227,000 - $ 278,000

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.

Position Classification

Exempt