Title: ADMS Operations Readiness & Vendor/Defect Management Lead
Location: Remote/ travel 2x a month or as needed
Duration: 12 months assignment (Potential conversion and potential extension)

Must Have:
1. Technical expertise with direct exposure to ADMS, DMS, OMS, or SCADA systems
2. Hands on expertise in resolving and fixing defects from operation standpoint
3. Experience in electric utilities in the US

Companies to target: NextEra, Duke Energy, PG&E, PSE&G; if they worked in major utilities companies, they would have experience with ADMS

Role Summary:
The ADMS Operations Readiness & Vendor/Defect Management Lead is a senior delivery role responsible for driving both the operational readiness and the defect/vendor governance of large scale Advanced Distribution Management System (ADMS) deployments. The role spans end to end cutover and go live readiness, organizational change management, and training, alongside ownership of the full defect lifecycle and the vendor liaison function across the multi vendor ecosystem. This individual partners closely with utility client stakeholders, ADMS platform vendors, system integrators, and internal Cognizant delivery teams to ensure successful, low risk transitions to production and business as usual operations.

Key Responsibilities:
Operations Readiness & Cutover
• Lead end to end operations readiness planning for ADMS deployments, including cutover strategy, day one operations support, and hypercare planning.
• Define and execute readiness frameworks covering training, business process redesign, organizational change management, and technology adoption for distribution control centers and field operations.
• Develop and manage Operations Readiness Checklists, RACI matrices, and go live readiness scorecards to track milestones and escalate risks.
• Oversee design and delivery of role specific training curricula for dispatchers, operators, engineers, and field technicians in ADMS workflows and DMS/OMS/SCADA functionality.
• Lead simulation exercises, tabletop drills, and mock go live events to validate operational readiness and identify gaps before cutover.
• Support post go live stabilization, knowledge transfer, and transition to business as usual (BAU) operations.
Defect Lifecycle Management
• Own and manage the full ADMS defect lifecycle intake, triage, classification, prioritization, tracking, resolution verification, and closure across System Integration Testing (SIT), User Acceptance Testing (UAT), and production phases

Job Description:
• Establish and enforce defect management governance standards, including severity and priority classifications, SLA adherence, escalation paths, and metrics reporting.
• Chair regular defect triage meetings, driving accountability for defect resolution across vendors, integrator, and client technical teams.
• Maintain defect tracking in tools such as Jira, HP ALM, Azure DevOps, or ServiceNow, and produce executive level defect status dashboards and reports.
• Analyze defect trends to identify systemic root causes and drive preventive actions across configuration, data migration, interface, and functional workstreams.
Vendor & Stakeholder Management
• Serve as the primary liaison between the utility client, ADMS platform vendors (e.g., GE, Oracle, Schneider Electric), system integrators, and internal Cognizant delivery teams for technical, operational, and defect related escalations.
• Manage the multi-vendor ecosystem and vendor contractual obligations related to bug fixes, patch delivery, and production support SLAs; escalate noncompliance to program leadership.
• Partner with utility client stakeholders including Distribution Operations, Grid Operations, IT/OT, and Engineering to assess readiness gaps and develop mitigation plans.
• Coordinate test environment issues with infrastructure and IT/OT teams, ensuring defect reproducibility and resolution validation are not bottlenecked.
• Manage stakeholder communications and executive reporting related to readiness status, defect status, risks, and mitigation actions.
• Support go/no go readiness assessments by providing clear, data driven readiness and defect status reporting to program leadership and client executives.

Preferred Qualifications:
• 8–12 years of experience in utilities consulting, utility operations, IT/OT delivery, systems integration, or technology program management, with direct exposure to ADMS, DMS, OMS, or SCADA systems.
• Demonstrated experience leading operational readiness, organizational change management, or cutover planning on large scale ADMS or smart grid deployments.
• Proven experience managing defect lifecycles and vendor escalations in large scale enterprise system implementations, preferably within the energy and utilities sector.
• Deep understanding of electric distribution utility operations, including distribution control centers, switching operations, outage management, and field crew coordination.
• Strong understanding of ADMS architecture, data models, and integration touchpoints (e.g., GIS, EMS, CIS, AMI, SCADA) sufficient to triage and classify complex defects.
• Experience working directly with software platform vendors on critical issue resolution, patch management, and contractual SLA enforcement.
• Proven ability to manage cross functional teams and multiple workstreams simultaneously in complex, matrixed program environments.
• Proficiency with defect tracking and test management tools (Jira, HP ALM, Azure DevOps, ServiceNow, or similar).
• Strong client facing, analytical, and communication skills, with the ability to present to C suite and VP level utility executives and to translate complex technical defects into clear business impact summaries.
• Bachelor's degree required, Engineering or Computer Science strongly preferred.
• MBA or advanced degree preferred.

Years of experience: 12 – 15 yrs experience 
 
At SPECTRAFORCE, we are committed to maintaining a workplace that ensures fair compensation and wage transparency in adherence with all applicable state and local laws. This position’s starting pay is: $ 120.00/hr.