Director, Programs and Quality - Outcomes

Itron is innovating new ways for utilities and cities to manage energy and water. We create a more resourceful world to protect essential resources for today and tomorrow. Join us.

The Director of Programs and Quality is accountable for predictably delivering new products and solutions with high quality within Itron’s Outcomes organization. You will be responsible for a diverse team that includes the Outcomes Program Management Office, Technical Documentation, Technical Training and a newly formed End-to-end Quality Assurance team. You will coordinate closely and cross-functionally with the Devices and Networks business units, Customer Success and CME (sales) organizations to ensure there is broad alignment on how we deliver new and updated existing solutions to the customers. You will take a customer-centric perspective in ensuring we delight the customer and solve their problems. In addition to leveraging the Agile methodology to deliver these solutions, you will focus on improving our interaction with customers, our focus on quality, and meeting our corporate goals with respect to predictability and profitability.

Duties & Responsibilities

- Direct the Program Management Office (PMO), ensuring use of standardized tools (such as Azure DevOps), process documentation, quality metrics and efficiency metrics.

- Drive process and methodology standardization, auditing, and benchmarking across design, implementation, test and deployment.

- Refine our processes and standards for how we release new products to customers and deliver results that enable those customers to serve as vocal references to industry.

- Influence and advance product and process refinement initiatives to ensure solutions have broad market adoption, driving scalable growth and positioning the Outcomes organization to meet long-term corporate goals.

- Develop and implement holistic quality assurance strategies and end-to-end testing plans to validate Outcomes solutions—integrating products from Itron and third-party partners—ensuring they meet rigorous internal standards and exceed customer expectations.

- Participate in cross-functional teams to improve R&D process efficiency, increase throughput, optimize product lifecycles (PLC), and streamline new product introduction (NPI).

- Clarify process accountability gaps within Outcomes to ensure seamless execution and ownership.

- Coordinate R&D program goals, dashboards, and KPIs to maximize product reliability and minimize overall costs.

- Foster collaboration within Outcomes and across Itron to improve cycle time, improve quality, increase organizational efficiency and improve customer satisfaction.

Required Qualifications

- Bachelor’s degree in engineering or a related field.

- Strategic mindset with the ability to make critical decisions that drive organizational success.

- Strong analytical and project management skills.

- At least 10 years’ experience in hands-on product development.

- 5+ years’ experience in managing teams distributed globally.

- Demonstrated success in previous global leadership roles.

- Proven ability to influence large, complex organizations.

- Experience with software systems, embedded firmware, and solutions that involve integration between cloud-based software and widely-deployed hardware products.

Preferred Qualifications

- MBA highly preferred

- Knowledge of, and preferably certification in, Agile or SAFe methodologies; experience with Six Sigma a plus

Itron is committed to building an inclusive and diverse workforce and providing an authentic workplace experience for all employees. If you are excited about this role but your past experiences don't perfectly align with every requirement, we encourage you to apply anyway. In the end, you may be just who we are looking for!

The successful candidate's starting wage will be determined based on permissible, non-discriminatory factors such as skills and experience.

Itron is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. If you require an accommodation to apply, please contact a recruiting representative at 1-800-635-5461 or email Accessibility@itron.com.

Itron is transforming how the world manages energy, water and city services. Our trusted intelligent infrastructure solutions help utilities and cities improve efficiency, build resilience and deliver safe, reliable and affordable service. With edge intelligence, we connect people, data insights and devices so communities can better manage the essential resources they rely on to live. Join us as we create a more resourceful world: www.itron.com