LCLS User Program Manager

SLAC; Menlo Park (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Menlo Park, CA, is seeking an experienced User Program Manager to lead the administrative and operational framework for the LCLS user program. You will coordinate proposal intake, scheduling, onboarding, and beamtime execution for a global community of researchers.

The role requires strategic leadership across science operations, cross-institution collaboration, and DOE stakeholder engagement, with responsibility for budgets, compliance, and performance

Qualifications

• Demonstrated strategic leadership and management skills
• Excellent outreach and communications skills
• Extensive planning and organizational skills

Responsibilities

• Oversee all administrative operations supporting the LCLS user community, including proposal intake, peer review coordination, scheduling, user onboarding, and experiment support for 1,000+ visiting researchers annually
• Serve as the primary liaison between LCLS facility leadership and the international scientific community
• Drive development and continuous improvement of user-facing systems, databases, and workflows in collaboration with software developers and scientific staff
• Manage user access policies and associated administrative and legal documentation in collaboration with SLAC administrative service units

Skills

Leadership

Program management

Stakeholder management

Budget management

Communications

Education

Bachelor's degree

Job description

Position Overview

We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced administrative leader to manage the User Program at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, a flagship U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science user facility. LCLS - the world's first hard X-ray free-electron laser, now expanding through the LCLS-II and LCLS-II-HE upgrades - attracts more than 1,000 researchers annually from across the U.S. and internationally, spanning chemistry, biology, materials science, and physics.

The User Program Manager leads the full administrative and operational framework that enables this global scientific community to access, plan, and execute experiments at one of the world's most advanced research facilities. This is a high-visibility leadership role sitting at the intersection of science operations, large-scale program management, and cross-institution collaboration - requiring the ability to align diverse stakeholders, drive national infrastructure initiatives, and represent LCLS at the DOE light source network level.

The User Program Manager is a member of the LCLS management team, reporting to LCLS leadership, and is accountable for ensuring efficient, high-quality, and continuously improving user access and program operations across a facility with an annual operating budget of approximately $255M.

Your specific responsibilities include but are not limited to:

USER PROGRAM OPERATIONS

• Oversee all administrative operations supporting the LCLS user community, including proposal intake, peer review coordination, scheduling, user onboarding, and experiment support for 1,000+ visiting researchers annually
• Serve as the primary liaison between LCLS facility leadership and the international scientific community, ensuring a seamless and high-quality user experience from proposal submission through experiment completion
• Drive development and continuous improvement of user-facing systems, databases, and workflows in collaboration with software developers and scientific staff
• Manage user access policies and associated administrative and legal documentation in collaboration with SLAC administrative service units, including processes for foreign national users and remote access

NATIONAL SCIENTIFIC INFRASTRUCTURE

• Lead SLAC's participation in the Universal Proposal System (UPS), a multi-institution platform developed in partnership with APS, NSLS-II, and other DOE light source facilities to unify proposal submission, user access, and beamtime awards across major U.S. research facilities
• Represent LCLS on cross-facility working groups, steering committees, and national coordination bodies shaping the future of DOE user facility infrastructure
• Drive platform development milestones, stakeholder alignment, and change management across participating institutions
• Interact with DOE and other light source programmanagers for benchmarking, sharing best practices, and coordinating joint activities across facilities

CROSS-DIRECTORATE & CROSS-FACILITY COORDINATION

• Partner with scientific, engineering, operations, and administrative directorates across SLAC to ensure seamless execution of user programs and facility access processes
• Coordinate with DOE program managers, facility directors, and partner laboratory leadership on shared priorities, performance metrics, and strategic planning
• Support laboratory leadership in preparing materials for DOE program reviews, executive briefings, and federal submissions related to user program performance
• Serve as a member of the LCLS upper management team, contributing to facility-wide strategic planning and operational alignment

PERFORMANCE METRICS & REPORTING

• Collect, develop, maintain, and analyze user program metrics to create reports for management, DOE funding agencies, and external review and advisory panels
• Present findings to a range of internal and external audiences, including LCLS leadership and national stakeholders
• Maintain responsibility for handling and archiving user program data in compliance with institutional and federal requirements

EVENTS & SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

• Direct large-scale scientific conferences, international workshops, Users' Meeting, and high-profile facility visits involving 1001,000 participants
• Manage LCLS's interactions with the Users' Executive Committee and serve as liaison and advocate for the LCLS user community
• Represent LCLS at national and international forums advancing the DOE light source user community

STAFF & RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

• Supervise and develop User Program staff, fostering a culture of operational excellence, service orientation, and continuous improvement
• Develop, monitor, and deliver the User Program budget, ensuring responsible stewardship of resources in support of program goals
• Maintain accountability for all aspects of user program administration, including compliance with SLAC, Stanford University, and DOE policies and procedures

* - Other duties may also be assigned

To be successful in this position you will bring:

• Bachelors degree in a field related to science, business administration, engineering, or management, and eight years of relevant experience in such management, or combination of education and relevant experience.

Relevant experience performing above listed responsibilities, including:

• Demonstrated strategic leadership and management skills
• Strong customer service, negotiation and interpersonal skills
• Excellence in building relationships with external and internal constituents and management
• Excellent outreach and communications skills, both in oral and written forms
• Extensive planning experience and advanced organizational skills
• Extensive experience in understanding and interpreting needed information from databases, policies, procedures
• Extensive experience in collecting and analyzing performance data, ability to review and report
• Advanced computer skills and demonstrated experience with various on-line tools and interfaces, and ability to interact with a range of electronic administrative systems.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills

In addition, preferred requirements include:

• Experience at federally funded research and development centers, or scientific or other user facilities

SLAC Manager Competencies:

• Results through Others: Achieves expected results by effectively delegating and managing the work of others.
• Aligns Priorities: Ensures planning and prioritization of resources and work efforts; ensures alignment of direct and matrix reports to support organizational goals and business plans.
• Applies Lab Acumen: Maintains understanding of lab efforts and direction as well as current research and trends, considers technology and customer impacts, and contributes relevant, informed ideas to lab growth.
• Navigates Complexity: Manages a multitude of information and complex circumstances to discern what is most important; demonstrates effective problem-solving, decision-making, and takes appropriate action, even in difficult situations or with conflicting data.
• Builds Trust: Earns trust and credibility from team members, peers and stakeholders; demonstrates SLAC values of respect and integrity.
• Relationships: Builds relationships to foster trust, collaboration, and a positive climate to achieve team, department/directorate and lab goals.
• Communication: Ensures effective information flow to various audiences; delivers clear and appropriate written and verbal communications; makes clear and impactful presentations to a variety of internal and external audiences.
• Self-Awareness: Seeks feedback from others and takes ownership of, and actions to address what is learned; recognizes impact on others and adjusts as needed; pursues continuous learning opportunities; implements a meaningful development plan.
• Team Effectiveness: Effectively motivates team members and fosters a diverse and collaborative team environment; leverages team members strengths for overall team effectiveness; incorporates insights to improve team operations.
• Purpose & Vision: Articulates a clear vision of expected outcomes; inspires others to execute work plans and feel a sense of purpose and ownership for the mission.

Physical Requirements and Working Conditions:

• Consistent with its obligations under the law, the University will provide reasonable accommodation to any employee with a disability who requires accommodation to perform the essential functions of their job.

Work Standards:

• Interpersonal Skills: Demonstrates the ability to work well with Stanford colleagues and clients and with external organizations.
• Promote Culture of Safety:Demonstrates commitment to personal responsibility and value for environment, safety and security; communicates related concerns; uses and promotes safe behaviors based on training and lessons learned.Meets the applicable roles and responsibilities as described in the ESH Manual, Chapter 1 General Policy and Responsibilities: http://www-group.slac.stanford.edu/esh/eshmanual/pdfs/ESHch01.pdf
• Subject to and expected to comply with all applicable University policies and procedures, including but not limited to the personnel policies and other policies found in the University's Administrative Guide, http://adminguide.stanford.edu