Manager- Controls Engineering USA

First Solar reserves the right to offer you a role most applicable to your experience and skillset.

Basic Job Functions:

Manages the initiation and execution of global Controls solutions and support for Manufacturing Enterprise Systems (MES). Relationship management with business executives and stakeholders, and resource management of MES Solutions and Operations Electrical & Controls Engineers.

Experience:

Basic Job Functions:

Manages the initiation and execution of global Controls solutions and support for Manufacturing Enterprise Systems (MES). Relationship management with business executives and stakeholders, and resource management of MES Solutions and Operations Electrical & Controls Engineers.

Experience:

• Minimum 10 years of related work experience
• 2 - 4 years of Lead experience

Education:

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or related field or equivalent years of work experience

Required Skills:

• Accomplished Communication Skills - polished acumen in writing, speaking, hosting meetings and delivering presentations, demonstrated ability to effectively communicate with and convey technical information to both technical and non-technical audiences, assist with conflict resolution, and build consensus across the organization and between cross-functional teams.

• Business Analysis Expertise- Provide the bridge from business needs to software solutions. Expert-level ability to understand and translate business strategy, capabilities and requirements into high-level solution requirements.

• Project and Portfolio Management Skills- Successful track record of project and program management and/or supervision of project managers for complex projects. Enterprise capital budget planning and estimating of software development projects. Agile/Scrum understanding (Scrum Master Certification highly desired). Project management tool expertise required (Planview, Remedy, MS Project desired). Experience with international deployments and support activities.

• Technical Solution Understanding- Competence and familiarity with the capabilities, trade-offs and design principles of modern software solution architectures. Successful track record of innovative and breakthrough solutions introducing new technology, lowering total cost of ownership, improving solution reliability and accelerating business value delivery.

• Understanding and demonstrated competence in:

• Industrial I/O networks

• integration of plant floor systems

• Qualified automation systems include PLC-based control, HMI screens, PC-based applications, and robotics. Experience in managing automation resources in a manufacturing environment is required.

• Ladder-based PLC programming and applications, including Allen-Bradley and Siemens brand systems

• Computer operating systems and software applications

• Relational databases and PC-based console applications

• Electrical engineering practices and standards

• LOTO procedures and safety

• Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) understanding desired

• Cloud solutions understanding desired

• Message Queuing understanding desired

• SQL Server Relational Database Applications (Required)

• OPC Manufacturing connectivity (highly desired)

• ITIL (ITSM Foundation Certification required)

• Lean Six-Sigma understanding (desired)

• Theory-Of-Constraints (TOC) understanding highly desired.

• Failure-Mode Effects Analysis (FMEA) applied understanding desired.

• Commercial Off-the Shelf (COTS) Software and Contract Software Development Integration Skills- Demonstrated expertise at performing industry/vendor searches, ranked functional scorecards, vendor evaluations, RFP analyses and contributing to contract negotiations. Successful track record of managing relationships and partnering with both global internal teams as well as Offshore Development Centers (ODC) in a distributed global enterprise, to deliver global solutions.

• Leadership and Managerial Competency- Ability to lead, understand, empathize with, motivate, inspire, set and follow-up on goals, and resolve conflicts between direct reports.

Essential Functions & Responsibilities:

Primary Responsibilities:

• Lead recurring steering meetings: organize, schedule, prepare presentations for, host/facilitate, capture action items and follow up on commitments and deliverables. Report at recurring MES Director Staff meetings
• MES Operations Support Management: Manage operations support & resources for controls and electrical related systems. Ensure that MES SLAs are met. Report on operation metrics to the rest of MES/IT management. Support problem reporting and root cause analysis.
• Manages The Electrical And Automation Engineers in First Solar's MES Team: Manage team of 5-10 direct reports. Provide annual and quarterly goal planning, manage work assignments and load balancing, hold frequent 1-on-1 meetings with, manage performance assessments, pay planning, training planning and career development planning. Participate in a leadership role in interviewing, hiring of new team members, including interns and candidates for the broader MES department.
• Compliance: Execute Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) controls for software source code management and MES-ERP exception tracking.
• Safety: Ensures adherence to all safety and environmental procedures and good housekeeping standards.
• Mentor: technical resources and advises on critical design reviews. And Support and encourage creativity and innovation.

Key Competencies:

• Reviews information systems for compliance with legislation and specifies any required changes. Responsible for ensuring compliance with organizational policies and procedures and overall information management strategy.
• Takes responsibility for understanding client requirements, collecting data, delivering analysis and problem resolution. Identifies, evaluates and recommends options, implementing if required. Collaborates with, and facilitates stakeholder groups, as part of formal or informal consultancy agreements. Seeks to fully address client needs, enhancing the capabilities and effectiveness of client personnel, by ensuring that proposed solutions are properly understood and appropriately exploited.
• Sets direction and leads in the introduction and use of techniques, methodologies and tools, to match overall business requirements (both current and future), ensuring consistency across all user groups.
• Conducts business impact assessment to identify how the changes from the "as-is" processes, systems, and structures to the "to-be" processes, systems and structures impact specific organizations and roles. Outlines how the organization structure, jobs, teams and roles need to change to enable the future business processes. Aligns existing jobs/organizational structures to new processes.
• Develops and maintains one or more defined communication channels and/or stakeholder groups, acting as a single point of contact. Gathers information from the customer to understand their needs (demand management) and detailed requirements. Facilitates open communication and discussion between stakeholders, using feedback to assess and promote understanding of need for future changes in services, products and systems. Agrees changes to be made and the planning and implementation of change. Maintains contact with the customer and stakeholders throughout to ensure satisfaction. Captures and disseminates technical and business information.
• Conducts job analyses, prepares job descriptions and person specifications, and prepares selection and evaluation criteria for candidates. Manages recruitment campaigns. Locates and selects possible agencies and other suppliers, negotiating terms and conditions, and placing orders with them, ensuring that all obligations are met in accordance with the agreed terms and timescales. Reviews candidate details, manages selection processes, and ensures that account is taken of relevant statutory or external regulations, standards and codes of good practice. Ensures that all relevant parties are informed of the results of interviews and other decisions, and assists in the negotiation of terms and conditions of service.
• Determines the required outcomes for learning or development, from organizational development needs and the training strategy. Mentors assigned practitioners, ensuring alignment with predetermined statements of required development outcomes. Assists each practitioner with the creation of development plans based on the outcome statements. Ensures that each practitioner records evidence of progress. Validates practitioners' records at the end of each cycle of planned development, to ensure that achievements and enhanced capabilities are recorded and referenced to the outcome statements. May contribute to practitioners' performance appraisals.
• Monitors and manages IT expenditure, ensuring that all IT financial targets are met, and examining any areas where budgets and expenditure exceed their agreed tolerances. Assists with the definition and operation of effective financial control and decision making, especially in the areas of service, projects and component cost models and the allocation and apportionment of all incurred IT costs.
• Undertakes strategic analysis, including research into suppliers, markets and product and service categories, to inform and develop commercial strategy and sourcing plans. Advises on policy and procedures covering the selection of suppliers, tendering, and procurement. Leads procurements, managing cross-functional teams as required. Clarifies specifications for key products and services. Ensures that suppliers are approved in accordance with organization's procedures. Typically as part of a wider commercial and legal team, applies commercial strategy and relevant procurement and intellectual property law and assists with negotiations with preferred suppliers, drafting contracts and technical schedules, and developing acceptance procedures and criteria. Manages the tender, evaluation and acquisition process with expert assistance as required and places contracts.
• Collects performance data and investigates problems. Monitors and reports on supplier performance, customer satisfaction, and market intelligence. Resolves or escalates problems. Implements supplier service improvement actions and programs. Monitors performance.
• Oversees the organization's promotional/selling activities to one or more clients, to ensure that such activities are aligned with corporate marketing objectives. Approves medium-scale proposals to clients. Negotiates with client representatives at senior levels on both technical and commercial issues. Ensures that organizational policy and strategy is adhered to. Provides informed feedback that contributes to promotional strategy and to product development.

Compensation:

• $131,200 - 187,000

Please note: potential candidates will meet the education and experience requirements provided on the above job description and excel in completing the listed responsibilities for this role. All candidates receiving an offer of employment must successfully complete a background check, pre-employment drug screen, and any other test that may be required for the role.

Equal Opportunity Employer Statement: First Solar Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE) that values and respects the importance of a diverse and inclusive workforce. It is the policy of the company to recruit, hire, train and promote persons in all job titles without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity. We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a driving force in the success of our company.