Manager IT/ AI

We are committed to fostering a culture of excellence, where employees are empowered to grow, collaborate, and contribute to meaningful work. Just as we strive to provide 5-star customer service to our members, we also hold ourselves to the highest standards in how we work and support one another.

What You Will Do:

The IT and AI Manager - Data, Analytics & Agentic AI is responsible for leading a multidisciplinary team delivering data, analytics, and Agentic AI solutions across the electric cooperative. This role oversees departmental IT operations (excluding network administration), including help desk services and end-user technology, while driving the development and deployment of AI agents that enhance workforce productivity and operational performance.

This position plays a critical leadership role in aligning technology capabilities with business needs, enabling data-driven decision-making, managing data governance and advancing the cooperative's use of AI to support field operations, engineering, member services, and enterprise functions.

Key duties and expectations include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Oversee daily IT operations, including help desk performance, end-user support, incident resolution, and overall service delivery in alignment with service level objectives.

• Manage the procurement, deployment, maintenance, and lifecycle of computers, mobile devices, peripherals, and related accessories.

• Ensure endpoint security, system patching, updates, and compliance with organizational IT, cybersecurity, and data governance policies.

• Lead the architecture, development, deployment, and lifecycle management of agentic AI solutions, including AI copilots, digital assistants, workflow agents, and knowledge assistants used across the organization.

• Direct AI agent development and orchestration, including use-case design, prompt engineering, agent chaining, role-based access, testing, monitoring, and continuous improvement of agent performance and reliability.

• Establish AI governance and operational controls, ensuring AI agents operate within approved guardrails, data-access constraints, privacy requirements, and organizational trust architecture standards.

• Oversee the design and development of enterprise data architecture, including data pipelines, data warehouses/lakehouses, semantic data models, and integration frameworks supporting analytics and AI use cases.

• Performs other duties as required and/or assigned.

• Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, or a related field required; Master's degree preferred.

• Seven (7) to ten (10) years of progressively responsible experience in information technology, data, analytics, or related technology disciplines.

• Three (3) to five (5) years of leadership or supervisory experience managing technical teams.

• Demonstrated experience managing IT operations, including help desk functions and end-user technology support.

• Proven experience delivering data platforms, analytics solutions, or AI/ML initiatives in a production environment.

• Experience working with cloud platforms and modern data architecture (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP) preferred.

• Demonstrated experience in vendor management, procurement processes, and system implementation projects., All candidates must be legally authorized to work in the United States without sponsorship. Trico does not sponsor employment-related visas.

Pulled from the full job description

• Tuition reimbursement
• Health insurance
• 401(k) matching
• Vision insurance
• Dental insurance
• Life insurance
• Pension plan, We offer a comprehensive benefits package to meet the needs of our employees and their families and enhance their well-being. In addition to competitive pay, eligible employees can take advantage of the following benefits:
• Pension Plan (at no cost to the employee)
• 401(k) plan with employer matching
• Medical, vision, dental, and life insurance
• MTO/Catastrophic Leave
• Holiday pay
• Wellness programs (including access to a recreation and fitness facility)
• Tuition assistance for both undergraduate and graduate programs

Trico Electric Cooperative is a member-owned, not-for-profit, distribution cooperative headquartered in Marana, Arizona. We service more than 55,000 Members in rural areas surrounding the City of Tucson across three counties in southern Arizona. Trico is dedicated to making a difference in the communities we serve by providing our Members cost-effective and sustainable energy solutions. In our pursuit of excellence, Trico seeks innovative ways to enhance utility services, ensuring they align with the dynamic needs of our communities. We understand the importance of staying ahead of the curve and are dedicated to exploring cutting-edge solutions that redefine the provision of critical resources. Our present and future success depends on the creative and dedicated employees of our company who demonstrate Trico's Core Values of: Service, Dependability, Innovation, and Integrity., To promote the safety and well-being of our employees, Members, and the communities we serve, Trico is committed to maintaining a drug/alcohol free work environment. Although marijuana may now be legal in Arizona, except as otherwise specified under Arizona law, Trico considers it to be an illegal drug for the purpose of our drug/alcohol policy because marijuana remains illegal at the federal level. Any candidate found to be impaired during the hiring process or who has the presence of an illegal drug or unauthorized substance in their system during the pre-employment drug/alcohol test may be disqualified from further consideration in the hiring process.