Job Description

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

Basic Job Functions:

• Manages the design and execution of global software solutions for Manufacturing and adjacent functions. Ensures availability of needed infrastructure capabilities, provide technical governance, and manage Software Engineering team as direct reports.

Education/Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in IT, Computer Science, Mathematics or related field or equivalent years of work experience Minimum 8 years of related work experience.
• 3 - 6 years of team lead or supervisory experience or 1 year of management experience.
• 6+ years in either manufacturing systems or on software development teams using Microsoft .NET technologies.

Required Skills/Competencies:

• Technical Development Skills – Thorough understanding of and experience 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.
• Demonstrated competence and understanding:
• Software development and design (required)
• Relational database applications (e.g., SQL), scripting, and reporting (required)
• Unit testing frameworks and software development best-practices (required)
• Experienced in Microsoft technologies (e.g., C#.Net, SQL Server) (preferred)
• NoSQL databases such as MongoDB, RavenDB, Cassandra (highly desired)
• Message Queuing (highly desired)
• OPC Data Access (highly desired)
• Theory-Of-Constraints (desired)
• Demonstrated currency and fluency in modern technologies, such as AI Assistants, Large Language Models, and other emerging technologies, and vision for how to integrate them in workflows across the business.
• 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 and transition those solutions to local operation.
• Accomplished Communication Skills – Proficient 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 strategies, capabilities and needs 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 software development projects. Mastery of Agile/Scrum processes (Scrum Master and/or Product Owner certification highly desired.) Project management tool expertise required (Planview, Remedy, and MS Project desired.)
• Leadership and Managerial Competency – Ability to lead by example, mentor, motivate, inspire, set and measure goals, provide career guidance, and resolve conflicts between direct reports.

Essential Responsibilities:

• Primary Responsibilities:
  • MES Solution Portfolio Management: Partner with key business leaders and MES software and controls global team to plan capital solution budgets, consult with business to prioritize requests, propose innovative solutions, assist with the initiation, governance review, and preparation of MES software projects. Supervise architects and software development team members to ensure successful implementation, delivery, and operation of prioritized solutions to meet business goals and IT standards.
  • MES Operational Capability: Oversee local MES operational development activities to support business objectives and service level agreements. Ensure resourcing and throughput of critical incidents and prioritized change requests as identified by business teams and program managers. Implement remediation strategies identified by the problem investigation process within specified timeframes.
  • MES Software Development Team Resource Management: Manage team of 5-15 direct reports (architects, software developers, and Scrum Masters.) Provide annual and quarterly goal planning, manage work assignments and load balancing, hold frequent 1-on-1 meetings, manage performance assessments, pay planning, training planning and career development planning. Play a leadership role in interviewing, hiring, and onboarding of new team members, including interns and candidates for the broader MES department.
  • Project Execution and Technology Governance: Review and approve project designs and staffing plans, ensuring adherence to IT processes and industry best practices. Supervise the evaluation and approval of new technologies to the IT landscape. Promote improvements to Scrum/Agile process implementation through leadership of cross-functional groups.
  • Compliance: Execute Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) controls for software development lifecycle processes.
  • Relationship Management with key global business stakeholders and executive leaders in Manufacturing, R&D, Quality & Reliability, and IT. Participate in recurring steering meetings.
  • Ensures adherence to all safety and environmental procedures and good housekeeping standards.
• 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.
  • Organizes requirements into appropriate categories. Advises on different procurement routes to acquire services and products. Gathers information and uses appropriate techniques to assess benefits and options and make decisions about the most appropriate route of procurement e.g., open market or collaborative framework. Uses knowledge of supplier markets to inform specifications. Evaluates and selects suppliers based on the specification and evaluation criteria. Adapts terms and conditions to reflect the scale of the requirement and encourage good performance. Collects and collates data to support collaboration.
  • Acts as the routine contact point between organization and supplier. Collects and reports on supplier performance data.
  • 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.
• Other duties as assigned.
• subject to change at any time.

Reporting Relationships:

• This position reports to the Senior IT Manager or Director.
• This position will have direct reports.

Travel:

• 5% - 10%

Estimated Salary Range:

• $131,200-$187,000 Annually.

US Physical Requirements:

• Will sit, stand or walk short distances for up to the entire duration of a shift.
• Will climb stairs on an occasional basis.
• Will lift, push or pull up to 37 pounds on an occasional basis.
• Required to use hands to grasp, lift, handle, carry or feel objects on a frequent basis.
• 20/40 vision in both eyes together, with or without correction, is required.
• Must be able to comply with all safety standards and procedures.
• May reach above shoulder heights and below the waist on a frequent basis.
• May stoop, kneel, or bend, on an occasional basis.
• Ability to wear personal protective equipment is required (including but not limited to; steel-toed shoes, gloves, safety glasses, hearing protection, protective jacket or apron and arm guards, and a condition of employment and continued employment (requires little or no facial hair) for those requiring respirator use.

Office Physical Requirements:

All positions in our office require interaction with people and technology while either standing or sitting. To best service our customers, internal and external, all associates must be able to communicate face-to-face and on the phone with or without reasonable accommodation. First Solar is committed to compliance with its obligations under all applicable state and federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. In keeping with this commitment, it attempts to reasonably accommodate applicants and employees in accordance with the requirements of the disability discrimination laws. It also invites individuals with disabilities to participate in a good faith, interactive process to identify reasonable accommodations that can be made without imposing an undue hardship.

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 and any other tests that may be required.

Equal Opportunity Employer Statement: First Solar is an Equal Opportunity Employer 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.