Principal Associate Director (PAD) for Engineering

SmartRecruiters, Inc.; Livermore (CA); On-site; USD 522,000 - 670,000; Full time

Job summary

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) invites applications for Principal Associate Director for Engineering. Lead a workforce of ~3,000, sustain engineering capabilities across hardware, software, and digital domains, and shape the Directorate's strategic vision.

You will partner with LLNL's Senior Leadership Team, oversee facilities and budgets, and drive external funding while ensuring safety, security, and quality standards in all programs.

Qualifications

• 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.
• Experience leading and managing a large complex technical organization, including hiring processes, workforce development, resource management, and strategic planning.
• Ability to secure and maintain safety, security, environmental stewardship, and quality assurance standards.

Responsibilities

• Partner with the Senior Leadership Team to create and advance strategies to achieve institutional goals.
• Oversee the operation of engineering facilities, laboratories, and service centers critical to LLNL missions.
• Manage Directorate personnel and budget consistent with Laboratory and DOE policies.
• Pursue external funding for early-stage innovative concepts and grow engineering capabilities.
• Ensure safety, security, environmental stewardship, and equal opportunity across the Directorate.

Skills

Senior leadership

Strategic planning

Engineering management

Budget management

Stakeholder collaboration

AI adoption

Security clearance

Technical communication

Education

PhD in engineering

Job description

Principal Associate Director (PAD) for Engineering

• Full-time
• Organization: Office of the Director
• Employee Referral Bonus: Not applicable
• Job Code 1: 174.0 Principal Associate Dir
• Pre-Employment Drug Test: Required for external applicant(s) selected for this position (includes testing for use of marijuana)
• Pre-Placement Medical Exam: Not applicable
• Security Clearance: Anticipated DOE Q clearance with Sensitive Compartmented Information access (requires U.S. citizenship and a federal background investigation)

Join us and make YOUR mark on the World!

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has turned bold ideas into world-changing impact advancing science and technology to strengthen U.S. security and promote global stability.

Our mission spans four critical national security areas nuclear deterrence, threat preparedness, energy security, and multi-domain defense empowering teams to take on the toughest challenges of today and tomorrow. With a culture built on innovation and operational excellence, LLNL is a place where your expertise can make a real impact.

We have an opening for the Principal Associate Director (PAD) for Engineering. In this key leadership position, you report to the Laboratory Director and are a member of the Laboratory’s Senior Leadership Team (SLT). You are 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. Together with other lab leaders and stakeholders, you will help shape the Laboratory’s strategic vision and develop and articulate a strategy for the Directorate in support of the institution. You will manage discretionary R&D resources and sustain/grow relationships with government agencies that fund engineering capability development.

LLNL houses one of the premier engineering competencies to support national security missions. Work conducted by Engineering personnel supports a broad spectrum of programs across missions, scientific research, and operations and includes weapon engineering, laser and optical engineering, space hardware engineering, pulsed power systems, advanced manufacturing, micromechanical systems, energy technologies, bioengineering, and computational engineering. With a workforce of 3,000 and more than one million square feet of engineering infrastructure, the directorate supports the full spectrum of research and development—from advancing the frontiers of science and technology 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 (additive manufacturing, robotics and automation); digital engineering (data sciences, modeling and simulation) and artificial intelligence tools.

LLNL is one of the nation's premier national laboratories applying leading edge science and technology (S&T) to a broad range of national security missions. LLNL is a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) operated by Lawrence Livermore National Security (LLNS), Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) for the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration. Today LLNL has 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. At our core, we will remain architects and stewards of nuclear deterrence, ensuring the safety, security and effectiveness of the U.S. nuclear stockpile. We are adopting a transformational approach to this mission, seeking to deliver needed capabilities faster and with high confidence while working with our production partners to ensure continuous modernization of our capabilities. Our responsibilities, and the mission we support, extend beyond this foundational role. Our programs in threat analysis and reduction, space superiority, conventional munitions, directed energy, cyber and critical infrastructure resilience, autonomous systems, energy dominance, and biosecurity establish our unique role addressing today’s challenges and preparing for an uncertain future.Underlying all of this, we will continue to be international leaders in strategic areas of science and technology, to both support these missions and send a clear signal of our capabilities.

You will

• 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.

• 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.

Qualifications We Desire

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

Pay Range

$521,580 - $669,864

This is the lowest to highest salary we in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this posting; pay will not be below any applicable local minimum wage. An employee’s position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to, specific competencies, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, seniority, geographic location, performance, and business or organizational needs.

#LI-Onsite

Position Information

This is an At Will, Career Indefinite position, open to Laboratory employees and external candidates. This key personnel position requires a commitment from you to serve at least two years in this position.

Why Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory?

• Included in 2026Best Places to Work by Glassdoor!
• Flexible schedules (*depending on project needs)

This position requires a Department of Energy (DOE) Q-level clearance. Also, you must have the ability to obtain and maintain Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) access.If you are selected, we willinitiate a Federal background investigation to determine if youmeet eligibility requirements for access to classified information or matter. Also, all L or Q cleared employees are subject to random drug testing. Q-level clearance requires U.S. citizenship.

Pre-Employment Drug Test

External applicant(s) selected for this position must pass a post-offer, pre-employment drug test. This includes testing for use of marijuana as Federal Law applies to us as a Federal Contractor.

Wireless and Medical Devices

Per the Department of Energy (DOE), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory must meet certain restrictions with the useand/or possession ofmobile devices in Limited Areas. Depending on your job duties, you may be required to work in a Limited Area whereyou are not permitted to have a personal and/or laboratory mobile devicein your possession. This includes, but not limited to cell phones, tablets, fitness devices, wireless headphones, and other Bluetooth/wireless enabled devices.

Ifyou useamedical device, whichpairs with a mobile device,you must still follow the rules concerningthe mobile device in individual sections within Limited Areas. Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities requireseparate approval. Hearing aids without wireless capabilities or wireless that has been disabled are allowed in Limited Areas, Secure Space and Transit/Buffer Space within buildings.

We are an equal opportunity employer that is committed to providing all with a work environment free of discrimination and harassment. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, marital status, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, protected veteran status, age, citizenship, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws.

Reasonable Accommodation

Our goal is to create an accessible and inclusive experience for all candidates applying and interviewing at the Laboratory. If you need a reasonable accommodation during the application or the recruiting process, please use our online form to submit a request.

CaliforniaPrivacy Notice

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) grants privacy rights to all California residents. The law also entitlesjob applicants, employees, and non-employee workers to be notified of what personal information LLNL collects and for what purpose. The Employee Privacy Notice can be accessed here .

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