Austin Energy
City of Austin, Texas

The City of Austin seeks an experienced and dedicated utility professional to serve in an executive level role as the Vice President, Customer Account Management.   This skilled leader will manage Austin Energy divisions that have some of the first contact with our customers; Billing, Revenue Measurement, and Quality Management.  The talented individual must be able to develop a vision for integrating and implementing new strategies that will move the organization to be best in class in the customer service arena.

This vibrant and dynamic city tops numerous lists for business, entertainment, and quality of life. One of the country’s most popular, high-profile “green” and culturally dynamic cities was selected as the “Best City for the Next Decade (Kiplinger), the “Top Creative Center” in the US (Entrepreneur.com) and #1 on the “On Numbers Economic Index” as the fastest growing economy.

Austin continues to lead the country with its vision of being the “Most livable City in the country,” emerging as a player on the international scene with such events as SXSW, Austin City Limits, Formula I and being home to companies such as Apple, Samsung, Dell, and Seton Healthcare.

From the home of state government and the University of Texas, to the “Live Music Capital of the World” and its growth as a film center, Austin has gained worldwide attention as a hub for education, business, health, and sustainability.

Since 1900, Austin’s population has doubled every 20 years.

The City of Austin is a progressive, dynamic, full-service municipal organization operating under the City-Manager form of government. The Austin City Council has six council members (one serves as Mayor Pro Tem) and a mayor. The entire City Council is elected at large by the voters of the city. Each member serves a staggered three-year term. The City is in the process of transitioning to a 10-1 structure. The Council will be elected from 10 single member districts, with the mayor at large. The Mayor and Council Members may serve in their respective seats for a maximum of six years or two consecutive terms.

The City Council appoints the City Manager who is the chief administrative and executive officer of the city. The City Manager has responsibilities for guiding and directing day-to-day operations as well as providing strategic research, recommendations, and management leadership to the City Council on budget, programs, policies, and services. The City Manager implements the organization’s administrative responsibilities with a strong team of Assistant City Managers and the Austin Energy General Manager.  The City Council and City Manager of Austin are committed to their mission of delivering the highest quality services in the most cost-effective manner. The organization’s vision is to make Austin the most livable city in the country and the City Manager’s resolve is to make it the best-managed city in the country.

Mission
To deliver clean, affordable, reliable energy and excellent customer service.

Austin Energy's Values
Concern for the Environment, Safety, Innovation, Integrity, Diversity, Teamwork, Honest, Open Communication

Austin Energy serves a 437 square mile area that includes the City of Austin, portions of Travis and Williamson Counties and several adjoining municipalities. The utility employs about 1,700 people and serves more than 420,000 electric customers; 14% of the customers reside outside the city limits. Austin Energy is the eighth largest public power utility in the United States with over $3.5 billion in assets and over $1 billion in annual revenue. The utility transfers 12% of its revenues to the City’s General Fund.

The City Council approved a system-wide 7% rate increase for the utility that took effect October 2012 – the first base rate increase since 1994.  Following the implementation of the rate increase, the City Council expects Austin Energy to maintain rates that are among the lowest 50% of Texas utilities.

Austin Energy has exceptional system reliability, a diverse generation portfolio and has been the top utility in the United States for voluntary green power sales for nine years in a row  and the top public power utility in sales since 2001. Austin Energy also was ranked among the top six utilities in the nation for its smart grid development.

The organization’s strong economic and demographic characteristics, competitive retail rates, diverse power supply mix, high liquidity and history of solid operation earned the utility consistent ratings in recent years:  ‘AA- Stable” with Fitch, Inc.; “A1 Positive” with Moody’s; and “AA Stable” with Standard & Poor’s. The utility’s debt-to-equity ratio is 50:50 with $140 million in strategic reserves. Under the rate proposal just approved, the debt-to-equity ratio will be temporarily adjusted to 60:40 with the goal of reducing the ratio back to 50:50 over a five-year period.

The City of Austin and its City Council are responsible to regulate, monitor, and approve annual budgets, retail rate changes, reliability and customer concerns, as well as generation resource construction, planning, and operations. The Texas Public Utility Commission approves transmission rates and interfaces on reliability and wholesale market issues, along with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the state electric grid manager.

The Billing Services division processes more than 450,000 bills a month and bill payments in excess of $1.6 billion annually. All of the payments are processed within 24 hours. Revenue Measurement dispatches up to 1,500 work orders daily for meter representatives to turn service on and off at properties using field automation to open and close orders through laptops in the crews’ vehicles.

This position supervises three direct reports managing Billing, Revenue Measurement, and Quality Management with staffing totaling approximately 125 FTEs.

The following factors of education, experience, leadership, management style, and personal traits have been identified as ideal attributes for the Vice President, Customer Account Management to possess to function effectively and achieve a high level of success:

  • Strong leader and innovative thinker who will integrate and implement new strategies to improve customer service delivery, exceed customer expectations, and expand the value of our services
  • Extensive management experience in utility industry; ideally in public power
  • A visionary with a solid technical understanding of new and existing technological applications, conversant in technical advances, and has an understanding of current and future technology trends that apply to municipal management and customer account management processes
  • A “hands on” financially savvy executive who understands the complexities of the utility’s revenue cycle and making financial decisions to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery methods and procedures in customer service
  • A strong and effective communicator who demonstrates integrity, a high sense of professional and personal ethics, a strong commitment to lead by example, and a deep commitment to the public
  • A strategic leader who sees the “the big picture” and understands the complexities of forecasting, account management, detailed analysis reports to forecast operational needs and economic impacts and develop solutions
  • Comprehensive knowledge of organization performance management and measurement
  • Knowledge of ISO 9000 implementation and auditing/ assessment processes to maintain a compliant quality organization
  • Proven record for implementing a continually evolving workforce planning processes that supports the organization’s strategic business needs
  • Ability to strike a delicate balance between the organizational mission and the community’s needs and expectations
  • Superior presentation skills, coupled with diplomacy, to effectively work in a politically sensitive environment and present to elected officials, legislators, public interest groups, business, and the community

Leadership and Management Characteristics

  • Visionary
  • Futuristic
  • Collaborative
  • Innovative and creative
  • Cool under pressure
  • Results-oriented
  • Politically astute
  • Team builder
  • High integrity and ability to build trust
  • Clear leadership and management perspective
  • Financially savvy
  • Ability to deal with ambiguity

Minimum Qualifications
Graduation from an accredited four-year college or university with major course work in Business, Finance, Economics, Public Administration, Public Policy, or in a field related to the job, plus five (5) years of related utility or related industry experience, five (5) of which were in a managerial or executive capacity. A master’s degree may substitute for two (2) years of the required experience up to a maximum of two (2) years.

Compensation and Benefits
The City of Austin offers a competitive salary of approximately $183,000 annually, an excellent benefits package, and relocation assistance.

How to Apply
Interested candidates can apply online at www.austincityjobs.org.  Please complete the on-line application and attach a resume and cover letter.
Inquiries relating to this recruitment may be directed to:

Meta Kelly
Human Resources Consultant
512-974-3248
Meta.kelly@austintexas.gov

Please note:  Identity of applicants and interview finalists may be subject to public disclosure in accordance with the Texas Public Information Act.