Advanced Computing Operations Manager

Posting TitleAdvanced Computing Operations Manager

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LocationCO - Golden

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Position TypeRegular

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Hours Per Week40

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Working at NRELThe National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), located at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Golden, Colorado is the nation's primary laboratory for research and development of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies.

Join the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), where world-class scientists, engineers, and experts are accelerating energy innovation through breakthrough research and systems integration. From our mission to our collaborative culture, NREL stands out in the research community for its commitment to an affordable and secure energy future.  Spanning foundational science to applied systems engineering and analysis, we focus on solving complex challenges to deliver advanced, secure, reliable, and cost-effective energy solutions. Our work helps strengthen U.S. industries, support job creation, and promote national economic growth.

At NREL, you’ll find a mission-driven environment supported by state-of-the-art facilities, multidisciplinary research teams, and strong collaborations with industry, academia, and other national laboratories. We offer robust professional development opportunities, and a competitive benefits package designed to support your career and well-being.

Learn about NREL’s critical objectives: NREL's Mission and Vision.

Job Description

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is seeking an accomplished leader for the role of research operations manager within the Advanced Computing Operations (ACO) Group of the Computational Science Center (CSC). NREL’s ACO Group manages a world class energy efficient data center, high performance computing (HPC), private cloud and public cloud systems to meet the mission requirements of EERE and NREL.

ACO facilitates cutting edge computational innovations and testbeds to find tomorrow's solutions today. Collaboration is at the heart of our work — our staff partner with scientists across NREL to deeply understand their computational challenges, to develop or co-develop tailored solutions, and leveraging our hybrid compute offerings, to provide the technical expertise needed to push boundaries in renewable energy and sustainability.

As the advanced computing research operations manager the successful candidate will manage operations, project planning and execution to implement the group’s strategic plan. Reporting to the ACO group manager, this leader will partner together driving excellence in organizational management, ensure production services are highly available and usable and develop additional capabilities that align with the centers and NREL’s vision, strategy, and mission. The candidate will translate strategic plans into actionable execution, deliver value over time, and maintain an active role in technical contributions.

The research operations manager in ACO will require a combination of technical, managerial, and interpersonal skills.

Technical: the manager will need to have a deep understanding of operations for research computing, technical project management; a familiarity with both on-prem and cloud-based computing resources. Advising on the best approach to balance cost, performance and agility in meeting the needs of researchers with combinations of computing resource, staffing capacity and IT infrastructure.

Leadership: the candidate must possess the ability to implement the group’s goals and align them with broader institutional objectives. They must be proficient in managing complex, multidisciplinary projects, managing vendor relationships, ensuring timely delivery, and operational metrics. The manager must also have experience in optimizing team resources and foster a culture of innovation, and collaboration across multi-disciplinary technical teams.

Interpersonal and communication skills: Enable collaboration and stakeholder engagement, technical communication, conflict resolution, and mentorship and talent development.

Specific duties of this position include:

• Provide operational planning, and leadership to the group breaking down technology roadmaps into actionable projects and tasks.
• Work closely with other technical leads to implement computational projects to address the NREL mission.
• Keep up to date with advancements in data center, HPC and cloud technologies and services applying those advancements to ACO services.
• Provide direction in prioritizing technical projects, dependencies and resolve issues or processes that are slowing progress.
• Manage projects with respect to finances, deliverables and dependencies.
• Provide input on performance reviews, and other administrative functions necessary for proper execution.

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Basic QualificationsRelevant PhD and 9 or more years of experience or equivalent relevant education/experience. Or, relevant Master's Degree and 12 or more years of experience or equivalent relevant education/experience. Or, relevant Bachelor's Degree and 14 or more years of experience or equivalent relevant education/experience.
Clearance: Must be able to obtain and maintain a DOE (L or Q) Security Clearance.
Eligibility requirements: To obtain a clearance, an individual must be at least 18 years of age; U.S. citizenship is required. See DOE O 472.2Afor additional information.

* Must meet educational requirements prior to employment start date.

Additional Required Qualifications

• Experience managing data-to-day computing operations, monitoring system performance, troubleshooting issues and ensuring KPI’s are met.
• Knowledge of security and cybersecurity requirements consistent with NIST-800-53 requirements and authorities to operate.
• Strong analytical skills and creative thinking abilities.
• Previous management, project management, budget development, and/or significant leadership in an individual contributor role required.
• Demonstrated track record of research and/or technology innovation in computational science or related discipline.
• Ability to lead and motivate technical experts in data storage, cloud engineering, systems administration, engineering and networks.
• Excellent customer and solution-oriented problem-solving skills.
• Ability to develop and maintain positive relationships within NREL working with safety, site operations, research operations, cybersecurity and the IT organizations within NREL
• Ability to bridge gaps between facilities, information technology and computing solution language.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Exhibits an exceptional degree of ingenuity, creativity and resourcefulness.
• Outstanding interpersonal, conflict resolution, teaming and communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in both cloud and on-prem solutions.
• Past leadership accomplishments, including managing a diverse multi-disciplinary team.
• Ability to develop multi-year capacity and technical roadmap plans.
• Exceptional leadership potential, including conceptual thinking ability; differentiated interpersonal, collaborative, and negotiating skills; ability to inspire and motivate personnel and model critical leadership skills and values.
• Initiative, creativity, and communication skills necessary to effectively propose new or expanded research computing capabilities to NREL as well as industrial and academic partners.

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Job Application Submission Window

The anticipated closing window for application submission is up to 30 days and may be extended as needed.

Annual Salary Range (based on full-time 40 hours per week)Job Profile: Project Manager V / Annual Salary Range: $117,200 - $211,000

NREL takes into consideration a candidate’s education, training, and experience, expected quality and quantity of work, required travel (if any), external market and internal value, including seniority and merit systems, and internal pay alignment when determining the salary level for potential new employees. In compliance with the Colorado Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, a potential new employee’s salary history will not be used in compensation decisions.

Benefits SummaryBenefits include medical, dental, and vision insurance; short*- and long-term disability insurance; pension benefits*; 403(b) Employee Savings Plan with employer match*; life and accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) insurance; personal time off (PTO) and sick leave; paid holidays; and tuition reimbursement*. NREL employees may be eligible for, but are not guaranteed, performance-, merit-, and achievement- based awards that include a monetary component. Some positions may be eligible for relocation expense reimbursement. Limited-term positions are not eligible for long-term disability or tuition reimbursement.

* Based on eligibility rules

Badging RequirementNREL is subject to Department of Energy (DOE) access restrictions. All employees must also be able to obtain and maintain a federal Personal Identity Verification (PIV) card as required by Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD-12), which includes a favorable background investigation.

Drug Free Workplace

NREL is committed to maintaining a drug-free workplace in accordance with the federal Drug-Free Workplace Act and complies with federal laws prohibiting the possession and use of illegal drugs. Under federal law, marijuana remains an illegal drug.

If you are offered employment at NREL, you must pass a pre-employment drug test prior to commencing employment. Unless prohibited by state or local law, the pre-employment drug test will include marijuana. If you test positive on the pre-employment drug test, your offer of employment may be withdrawn.

Submission Guidelines

Please note that in order to be considered an applicant for any position at NREL you must submit an application form for each position for which you believe you are qualified. Applications are not kept on file for future positions. Please include a cover letter and resume with each position application.

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Equal Opportunity Employer

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard basis of age (40 and over), color, disability, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, domestic partner status, military or veteran status, national origin/ancestry, race, religion, creed, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding), sexual orientation, and any other applicable status protected by federal, state, or local laws.

Reasonable Accommodations

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