Chief of Staff

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory • Richland, WA

18d

About The Position

Reporting to the Laboratory Director, the Chief of Staff serves as a key member of the Laboratory Director’s Office (LDO) and executive leadership team. The Chief of Staff is a trusted advisor to the Laboratory Director, providing strategic leadership, coordination, and oversight to align PNNL’s mission, operations, and priorities. This position serves as a force multiplier for the Director, facilitating effective communication, guidance, and prioritization across the Laboratory, and ensuring timely execution and actionable results that advance PNNL’s mission. With a high degree of independence, the Chief of Staff represents the Lab Director/LDO as required in interactions with customers, partners, and senior managers across PNNL and DOE.

Requirements

• Adept at analyzing complex, ambiguous challenges and developing and implementing actionable solutions.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including preparing briefings and presentations for executives, senior leadership, and external stakeholders as well as gathering and synthesizing complex, disparate information for presentation to the Director and Laboratory leadership.
• Ability to build and maintain relationships with external stakeholders, including federal sponsors, industry partners, academic collaborators, and community leaders.
• Superior ability to navigate sensitive or confidential information with discretion and sound judgment.
• Ability to guide decisions and outcomes through relationship-building, collaboration, persuasion, and negotiation.
• Ability to balance multiple priorities in a dynamic environment and delivering results.
• Ability to bring together broad, diverse perspectives to foster collaboration and alignment.
• Ability to anticipate and represent the Director and Laboratory executives’ point of view on wide variety of substantive topics, at times with little notice or consultation.
• BS/BA and 13 years of relevant experience -OR-
• MS/MA or higher and 11 years of relevant experience

Nice To Haves

• Technical or scientific background.
• Proven track record in advising and influencing executives or senior organizational leadership in a large, matrixed organization.
• Demonstrated success in designing, implementing, and executing complex, strategic plans across functions and stakeholders within research, government, or DOE/National Laboratory environment.
• Proven success in engaging executives, senior leadership, and cross-functional teams to align strategies and advance priorities, including the ability to influence without line authority.
• Experience assembling effective teams that can work in dynamic and ambiguous environments, including on short timeframes.

Responsibilities

• Serve as strategic advisor to the LDO in setting and executing key priorities and integrating perspectives across the Laboratory to align stakeholders with the Laboratory’s vision and strategic agenda.
• Provide strategic leadership and management of activities, exercising delegated authority for policy and programmatic decisions.
• Engage with DOE, Battelle, and other key partners to advance priorities and strengthen strategic relationships, in coordination with the LDO and the Executive Director of Communications and External Engagement.
• Translate the Director’s vision and priorities into actionable initiatives and activities, including tracking deliverables, aligning resources, and ensuring timely execution of institutional goals.
• Champion, develop and implement major initiatives with high visibility requiring process redesign and innovation.
• Responsible for the Laboratory’s executive meeting architecture and providing coaching and guidance to leaders to ensure effective use of executive time and alignment with PNNL’s mission and priorities.
• Foster purposeful and influential coordination, information flow, and effective decision-making across Laboratory directorates and offices.
• Provide analysis and recommendations to inform Director decisions, including advice on complex or ambiguous issues or those with disparate perspectives.
• Support the Director in coordination with relevant executive and senior leaders, in driving strategic activities and engagements with internal and external stakeholders, including DOE, sponsors, Laboratory staff, and other key audiences.
• Identify and address systemic issues that impact Laboratory performance, organizational culture, and strategic growth.
• Monitor and track enterprise-level initiatives, ensuring accountability and timely progress.
• Manage sensitive and confidential matters with discretion and integrity.
• Coordinate, develop and ensure high-quality briefing packages and updates for key meetings including those provided to Battelle, the Board of Directors, and their relevant committees.

Benefits

• Employees and their families are offered medical insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, robust telehealth care options, several mental health benefits, free wellness coaching, health savings account, flexible spending accounts, basic life insurance, disability insurance, employee assistance program, business travel insurance, tuition assistance, relocation, backup childcare, legal benefits, supplemental parental bonding leave, surrogacy and adoption assistance, and fertility support.
• Employees are automatically enrolled in our company-funded pension plan and may enroll in our 401 (k) savings plan with company match.
• Employees may accrue up to 120 vacation hours per year and may receive ten paid holidays per year.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Executive