Product Development Lead, Grids of the Future

Position Overview

About the Global Energy Alliance

The Global Energy Alliance (the Alliance) works for a world where everyone has access to affordable, reliable, clean electricity and the means to use it to improve their lives. Our Alliance builds transformative public, private, philanthropic partnerships to end energy poverty and accelerate green economic opportunity. Founded in 2021 by The Rockefeller Foundation, IKEA Foundation, and Bezos Earth Fund, we design innovative projects/programs, unlock finance, strengthen institutions and transform markets, delivering progress anchored in deep community engagement. By uniting actors across the value chain, from households to heads of state, we go beyond individual projects to drive lasting systems change. With work in more than 30 countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, our Alliance aims to reach 1 billion people with clean electricity, prevent 4 billion tons of carbon emissions and create or improve 150 million jobs. 

Grids of the Future

Grids of the Future is GEA's programme for delivering abundant, reliable, and clean electricity across the Global South. In many emerging economies, the utilities that supply most electricity are held back by aging infrastructure, underinvestment, and a lack of reliable data. Efforts to modernize often remain stuck in isolated pilots rather than reaching the whole grid. The programme works in close partnership with utilities, governments, regulators, and innovators. It supports grid digitalization, the integration of renewables and battery storage, greater demand flexibility, and a stronger network of local innovators. Together, these help emerging economies move from aging, fossil fuel dependent grids to modern grids that are ready for renewable energy. The programme brings together the policy, regulatory, and delivery work that this transition depends on.

Why this role matters

The Product Development Lead will lead the full end to end Product lifecycle for the Open Source solutions/products being developed by Global Energy Alliance with its Alliance partners to ensure that the valuable work being carried out by GEA and other partners in the clean energy ecosystem is supported with the right technology tools.

About the role

The position leads the end to end development including clearly defining requirements, holding the schematics, managing the vendors and delivering to internal and external stakeholders.  This is a critical role to manage the delivery of the technological infrastructure supporting GEA's global Grids of the Future programme.

It supports the Grids of the Future teams across GEA's priority markets, including India, Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Africa. The work helps low-and-middle-income countries modernize their grids and integrate large volumes of low-cost renewable energy in a reliable and financially sustainable way. The role draws on product management experience in the technology field along with strong project management skills.

Accountabilities

Lead End-to-End Product Lifecycle & Technology Delivery

• Lead the end-to-end product lifecycle of Grids of the Future (GOTF) digital and technological infrastructure products, translating programme goals into actionable product roadmaps, clear requirements, schematics, and functional specifications, feature releases.
• Oversee the development, testing, and deployment of technology tools, incorporating AI-powered development, tools, and rollouts to ensure digital solutions meet rigorous standards for Utility and partner deployment. Must be fluent with Open Source Software development.
• Design product requirement documents in conjunction with the GOTF architecture team

Vendor Management, Architecture & Technical Governance

• Manage technology vendors and external development partners throughout the project lifecycle, enforcing strict quality control, version control, risk management, and service-level agreements.
• Oversee technical schematics, architectural frameworks, and project documentation to ensure software and digital tools are scalable, secure, interoperable, and aligned with utility operating environments.
• Maintain comprehensive project management governance, proactively managing project timelines, budgets, multi-stakeholder dependencies, and technical deliverables.

Regional Execution, Stakeholder Alignment & Utility Integration

• Partner closely with regional and country-level GOTF teams across GEAPP priority markets (India, Southeast Asia, Latin America & the Caribbean, and Africa) to tailor product offerings to local grid contexts, regulatory frameworks, and market conditions.
• Hire Design Partners for deployment of the products and nurture relationships with the necessary stakeholders at the Design Partner sites.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders and external partners—including distribution utilities, system operators, regulators, and clean energy ecosystem innovators—to ensure digital products address operational pain points and enable demand flexibility.
• Provide technical guidance, training, and change management support to internal teams and utility counterparts to accelerate the adoption and institutionalisation of new digital grid solutions.

Knowledge Sharing & Continuous Product Innovation

• Track emerging technological advancements, AI tools, and digital grid innovations across advanced and emerging power markets, channelling actionable insights to refine GEAPP's product portfolio.
• Establish product performance metrics and impact indicators to evaluate tool adoption, operational efficacy, and contribution to clean energy access and emissions reduction goals.

Product release and evangelization

• Lead Product release planning and execution with the communications team. Work as the single point of contact for the feature release calendar.

Knowledge, Skills & Experience

The ideal candidate would be a self-starter and be willing to “roll up their sleeves” to adapt to working in a fast-paced, evolving environment. 

Essential qualifications, skills and experience include:

• At least 8 years of work experience as a Product Manager, developing for Power Sector.
• A minimum bachelor's degree in a relevant field such as technology, product design, business management; an engineering or renewable energy qualification will be a strong plus.
• FOSS development experience is a priority. Candidates with already committed projects will be preferred. Understanding of AI (LLMs, inference and coding tools) is a must have.
• Strong network and relationships with power sector stakeholders across one or more of GEA's priority markets; experience spanning both Global North and Global South power systems will be a strong advantage.
• Direct experience of working with AI powered development and roll out.
• Demonstrated commitment to working to improve the lives of others and to working in the impact sector.
• Willingness to travel internationally across GEA's priority markets for project execution, if required.

Behavioural Competencies

The ideal candidate should be able to demonstrate the following:

• Sector knowledge: understanding of FOSS, AI tooling and delivering technology solutions to rigorous client standards. Experience with grid modernization, renewable energy integration, distribution and transmission systems, grid flexibility, and storage in the context of global south electricity sectors, including India is a plus.
• **Experience of working with utilities: **good understanding of utility operations, planning, and working mechanisms, including the institutional and political complexities of state-owned distribution companies.
• **Vendor management: **a track record of delivering technology projects through vendors. High levels of attention to detail, version control, risk management and clear mapping of roles and responsibilities.
• **Communication & Presentation: **excellent interpersonal abilities and listening skills; strong writing and presentation skills; able to present ideas to a range of stakeholders in a clear and compelling way.
• **Project Execution: **strong project management skills; meets deadlines; sense of urgency and responsibility; ability to multi-task and work under pressure; detail oriented.