GIS Manager

Job Summary

The GIS Manager provides strategic, technical, and administrative leadership for CORE Electric Cooperative’s Geographic Information System program. This position oversees GIS operations, personnel, spatial data governance, enterprise applications, system integrations, projects, vendors, and the department budget.
Working collaboratively with Engineering, Operations, Information Technology, Member Services, and other business areas, the GIS Manager ensures GIS data and technology effectively support electric system planning, design, construction, operations, outage response, asset management, and organizational decision-making.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Provides direct or indirect supervision to the GIS staff and any other assigned GIS employees, contractors, or consultants.
Leads the GIS department and establishes goals, priorities, performance expectations, and work plans aligned with organizational objectives.
Assigns work, supervises employees, and supports employee development through coaching, feedback, training, and performance management.
Develops and manages the GIS department budget, contracts, software licensing, vendors, consultants, and technology investments.
Represents GIS on cross-functional initiatives involving Engineering, Operations, Information Technology, Member Services, and organizational leadership.
Plans and manages complex GIS projects, including platform upgrades, data migrations, system integrations, application enhancements, and modernization initiatives.
Oversees the administration, configuration, maintenance, performance, and support of enterprise GIS applications, databases, web maps, mobile solutions, dashboards, and related technologies.
Establishes standards and controls for spatial data creation, maintenance, accuracy, security, availability, integration, distribution, and retention.
Reviews GIS data, maps, analyses, applications, and other work products for quality and compliance with established standards.
Directs GIS integration with customer information, outage management, advanced distribution management, asset management, work management, and utility design systems.
Oversees the development and maintenance of GIS applications, scripts, automated workflows, interfaces, APIs, and data exchange processes.
Performs or directs complex spatial analyses and the development of specialized maps, reports, dashboards, and decision-support tools.
Provides technical leadership and user support for GIS applications and services across the organization.
Ensures GIS systems and data support electric utility assets, connectivity, tracing, field operations, engineering workflows, outage response, and damage-prevention requirements.
Evaluates emerging GIS and utility technologies and recommends improvements to systems, processes, data quality, and service delivery.
Performs other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications of Position

Bachelor’s degree in Geographic Information Systems, geography, engineering, planning, computer science, information systems, public administration, or a related field.
Ten years of progressively responsible GIS experience.
Supervisory or people-leadership experience in a technical environment.
Experience administering or supporting technical systems involving configuration, implementation, programming, integration, analysis, or database management.
Experience managing complex GIS programs or projects in an electric utility, electric cooperative, municipal utility, engineering, infrastructure, or similar operational environment.
Experience supporting enterprise GIS applications, spatial databases, and system integrations.
Equivalent combinations of education and experience may be considered.

Preferred Qualifications of Position

Master’s degree in GIS, geography, engineering, information systems, public administration, or a related field.
Geographic Information Systems Professional certification.
Esri technical certification.
Project Management Professional certification or similar credential.
ArcGIS Utility Network training or certification.
Formal leadership development training or certification.
Experience with Python automation.
Experience implementing, migrating, or modernizing ArcGIS Utility Network.
Experience working for an electric cooperative or utility.

GIS and Technical Skills

Advanced knowledge of or experience with:

ArcGIS Enterprise, ArcGIS Pro, and ArcGIS Utility Network.
Enterprise geodatabases, spatial data architecture, data modeling, governance, and quality management.
Web maps, web applications, dashboards, mobile GIS solutions, and spatial analysis.
ArcGIS Experience Builder, Field Maps, and Dashboards.
SQL and relational databases, including Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, or PostgreSQL.
APIs, web services, system interfaces, data integration, and extract, transform, and load processes.
FME or similar data-transformation tools.
Python or other scripting and automation technologies.
Enterprise system security, access controls, performance, availability, and disaster recovery concepts.

Experience integrating GIS with systems such as:

Customer Information Systems.
Outage Management Systems.
Advanced Distribution Management Systems.
Enterprise Asset Management and work management systems.
Utility design and staking applications, including Automated Utility Design or similar software.
Field and mobile workforce applications.

Knowledge of:

Electric distribution systems and utility asset lifecycle management.
Feeders, circuits, substations, transformers, switches, protective devices, and related equipment.
Network connectivity, topology, tracing, and ArcGIS Utility Network concepts.
Utility planning, design, staking, construction, maintenance, outage response, and field operations.
Outage and advanced distribution management systems.
Work management, asset management, and engineering workflows.
Damage prevention practices and 811 requirements.

Leadership and Management Skills

Strategic planning and decision-making.
Employee coaching, development, and performance management.
Project, budget, vendor, and contract management.
Change management and continuous improvement.
Cross-functional collaboration and relationship-building.
Clear communication with technical and nontechnical audiences.
Ability to balance operational support with strategic initiatives.
Sound judgment, accountability, and problem-solving.
Ability to maintain confidentiality and safeguard organizational and infrastructure information.

Working Conditions and Physical Requirements

The duties and tasks involve sedentary work and may require the ability to lift a maximum of twenty pounds. Exerting up to 10 pounds of force occasionally and/or a negligible amount of force frequently or constantly to lift, carry, push, pull or otherwise move objects, including the human body. Sedentary work involves sitting most of the time, Jobs are sedentary if walking and standing are required only occasionally, and all other sedentary criteria are met.
The worker is not substantially exposed to adverse environmental conditions (as in typical office or administrative work).

Note: This job description is intended to describe the general nature and level of work performed and is not to be construed as an exhaustive list of responsibilities, duties, and skills required. Other duties may be assigned.