Principal Associate Director (PAD) for Engineering

LLNL•Livermore, CA

10d•Onsite

About The Position

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is seeking a Principal Associate Director (PAD) for Engineering. This is a key leadership position reporting to the Laboratory Director and serving as a member of the Laboratory’s Senior Leadership Team (SLT). The PAD for Engineering is responsible for managing the lab’s engineering workforce of approximately 3000 personnel and for sustaining and enhancing the broad range of engineering (both hardware and computational) capabilities and infrastructure to support the current and future missions of the Laboratory. This role involves shaping the Laboratory’s strategic vision, developing and articulating a strategy for the Directorate, managing discretionary R&D resources, and sustaining/growing relationships with government agencies that fund engineering capability development. LLNL houses one of the premier engineering competencies to support national security missions, with work spanning weapon engineering, laser and optical engineering, space hardware engineering, pulsed power systems, advanced manufacturing, micromechanical systems, energy technologies, bioengineering, and computational engineering. The directorate supports the full spectrum of research and development, from advancing scientific frontiers to pilot-scale manufacturing and qualification of components and systems. The engineering workforce and technological landscape are undergoing significant transformation through the adoption of advanced manufacturing, digital engineering, and artificial intelligence tools. LLNL, operated by Lawrence Livermore National Security (LLNS) for the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration, is a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) with a multidisciplinary workforce of approximately 9000 and an annual budget of more than $3.5 billion. The Laboratory's mission is to meet the nation’s most pressing needs, including nuclear deterrence, threat analysis and reduction, space superiority, conventional munitions, directed energy, cyber and critical infrastructure resilience, autonomous systems, energy dominance, and biosecurity, while remaining international leaders in strategic areas of science and technology.

Requirements

Ability to secure and maintain a U.S. DOE Q/SCI-level security clearance which requires U.S. citizenship.
Ph.D. in engineering or related discipline, or the equivalent combination of education and related experience.
Extensive senior-level experience leading a large-scale, mission-oriented research and development organization.
Expertise and national visibility in areas of engineering and its applications.
Broad knowledge of the DOE/NNSA Laboratory enterprise.
Demonstrated success in managing engineering programs, projects, or organizations and promoting creative contributions to solving complex engineering problems.
Experience leading and managing a large complex technical organization, including hiring processes, workforce development, resource management, and strategic planning.
Ability to manage technical priorities and balance the need to deliver program milestones while maintaining world-class capabilities in engineering.
Exceptional verbal and written communication skills necessary to explain, present, direct, negotiate, influence and coordinate technical or programmatic activities.
Extensive experience in effectively balancing complex technical, budgetary, and personnel priorities to achieve desired results.
Experience ensuring that standards of safety, security, environmental stewardship, and quality assurance are established and appropriately followed.

Nice To Haves

Broad knowledge of national security policy issues.
Established contacts with the relevant academic, national laboratory, industry, and government communities.

Responsibilities

Partner with the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) to create and advance strategies to achieve institutional goals.
Develop and implement strategies for the sustainment and advancement of world class engineering capabilities spanning cutting-edge scientific advances to pilot-scale production and qualification.
Advance Engineering’s role as custodian of LLNL’s engineering rigor and quality.
Oversee the operation of engineering facilities, laboratories, and service centers critical to the execution of LLNL missions.
Manage and grow engineering capabilities by pursuing external funding for early-stage innovative concepts.
Maintain close partnerships with key stakeholders in government, academia and industry including DOE/NNSA.
Work with lab leadership to address technical and workforce challenges and opportunities in engineering with a particular emphasis on adoption of AI, digital engineering, and advanced manufacturing tools.
Collaborate with the SLT on long-term, multidisciplinary initiatives in support of the lab’s future programmatic needs.
Oversee the directorate’s budget consistent with Laboratory and DOE fiscal policies and practices.
Manage Directorate personnel, ensuring an effective system for recruiting, hiring, managing and developing a high-quality engineering workforce.
Provide oversight and personal commitment to safety, security, environmental stewardship, good business practices, compliance, and equal opportunity.