Group leader - Manufacturing Systems Analytics

Requisition Id 11943 

ORNL is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science national laboratory, with an extraordinary 80-year history of solving the nation’s biggest problems. We have a dedicated and creative staff of over 6,200 people! ORNL’s decadal vision for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) is to cultivate an environment and practices that foster diversity in ideas and in the people across the organization, as well as to ensure ORNL is recognized as a workplace of choice. These elements are critical for enabling the execution of ORNL’s broader mission to accelerate scientific discoveries and their translation into energy, environment, and security solutions for the nation.

Overview:

We are seeking a senior scientist or engineer to lead the Manufacturing Systems Analytics (MSA) group at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).  This group resides in the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility (MDF - https://www.ornl.gov/facility/mdf/ ) where it focuses on designing, developing, and deploying advanced machine learning and decision science algorithms and techniques for advanced manufacturing applications. The group consists of highly talented experts in image/signal processing, mechanical engineering, data analytics including artificial intelligence and machine learning, and sensing system development. They are collectively engaged in transformational research and development to address advanced manufacturing challenges that can be grouped in four categories: process understanding, process optimization, process prediction, and process control.

The MSA group is within the Manufacturing Sciences Division (MSD), which conducts research supporting DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) along with various national security sponsors.  In addition to the current application spaces, MSA seeks to grow new research and development areas for national energy and security interests to include manufacturing systems modeling and analysis, manufacturing systems reliability, development and integration of new technologies, as well as manufacturing workforce development in the context of augmented intelligence deployment.

Purpose:

Provide RDT&E leadership to the group that strategically advances science and technology consistent with ORNL’s aspiration to be the world’s premier R&D institution and ORNL’s science culture.

The MSA Group Leader brings together a group of peers with the primary goal of pursuing global scientific and engineering leadership in their field, nurtures ORNL’s culture among group members, and continues to build and scale up individual excellence and impact in research and development. The MSA Group Leader reports to and works closely with the RDT&E Section Head to implement the group’s scientific vision; develops group members to enable their career advancement; establishes capabilities that enable programs to excel at the forefront of science and technology; performs RDT&E to advance the field of knowledge and/or technology in one’s respective specialty; sets, implements, and models standards for performance of work consistent with Environment, Safety, Security, Health, and Quality (ESH&Q) requirements and business rules; and ensures a diverse and inclusive work environment where every employee feels safe, heard, and appreciated—a workplace that sets an example for the broader community.

Major Duties/Responsibilities:

Research

The successful scientific or engineering candidate is a recognized leader in MSA areas of technical expertise. The successful candidate will initiate, lead, and perform independent RDT&E on an on-going basis.

Leadership

• Develop a vision and implement a cohesive group research strategy to ensure the success of new and ongoing research projects to position the group for future success.

• Develop and implement plans to exploit new opportunities and/or expand existing efforts including providing leadership and strategic direction of concept papers, proposals, presentations, and the ability to communicate the groups vision and capabilities to broad and diverse audiences.

• Assist staff in setting performance goals consistent with the group’s strategy and members’ long-term career goals. Provide feedback to address performance issues in a timely manner.

• Provide relevant input to assist the R&D Section Head with staff development while providing direct and impactful guidance to staff on regular basis.

• Attract a quality, diverse pool of top candidates and hire staff members who are committed to world-class R&D and aspire to be the best in their field.

• Lead by example by exercising the principles in ORNL’s “Research Code of Conduct” as a guide for proposing, performing, and communicating research.

• Coach and mentor staff regarding Battelle’s “Safe Conduct of Research” principles

• Lead ESH&Q by example and ensure all work is carried out safely, securely, and in compliance with ORNL policies, standards, and procedures

• Exemplify a commitment to “One ORNL” by modeling lab expectations for excellence in research, operations, and community engagement, and by working cooperatively to leverage capabilities across the lab.

• Deliver ORNL’s mission by aligning behaviors, priorities, and interactions with our core values of Impact, Integrity, Teamwork, Safety, and Service. Promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility by encouraging a respectful workplace – in how we treat one another, work together, and measure success.

Service

• Serve as immediate supervisor for staff members in group.

• Encourage staff to “think and dream big,” take appropriate risks in their work, and develop skills that will enable them to pursue new ideas, scientific passions, and research programs.

• Advance the reputation of the group members and standing of the group as a whole through establishing collaborations, Professional Society leadership and involvement, and organization of technical events.

• Support group members by consistently reviewing technical products such as proposals, publications, and artifacts to ensure high quality and consistency with ORNL standards.

• Build strong teams across ORNL.

• Connect staff to your scientific network and professional societies.

• Hold regular scientific/technical group meetings and be visible in the labs and workplace.

• Assume front-line responsibility for safety in the group’s laboratory; mentor and empower the Laboratory Space Managers to create a strong safety culture.

• Effectively communicate the importance of protecting proprietary or sensitive information and complying with ORNL cybersecurity policies and guidelines.

Basic Qualifications:

• Requires a Ph.D. with a minimum of 6 years relevant experience or a M.S. with a minimum of 12 years relevant experience.

• R&D education and experience related to machine learning, computer vision, systems/entity identification and recognition, and algorithm development.

• Qualified candidates should have demonstrated experience in leading RDT&E teams.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Ability to lead and support multi organizational R&D projects

• Experienced in grid operations, planning, integration of new energy technologies, evaluation of strategic cost-benefit, and ability to understand and develop creative- out of the box solutions and apply new thinking to a problem.

• Experience working with DOE office including OE and EERE.

• Extensive academic and industry network including vendors, utilities, trade organizations, and international organizations.

• Experience working with policy issues related to the energy industry

• Excellent written and oral communication skills.

• Motivated self-starter with the ability to work independently and to participate creatively in collaborative teams across the laboratory.

• Ability to function well in a fast-paced research environment, set priorities to accomplish multiple tasks within deadlines, and adapt to ever changing needs.

• Excellent track of records on authoring publications and leading winning proposals.

• Be eligible to obtain and hold a U.S. security clearance.

Accountabilities:

• To group staff, for the quality and safety of their work environment and opportunity for professional growth.

• To RDT&E section head, for world-leading science and technology directions, safe effective, and compliant operations, ownership of assigned staff, facilities, and equipment, and the quality of products and services.

• To customer, for the quality of products and service.

Authorities

• Develop a vision and implement a strategy to pursue world-leading science and technology directions for the MSA group.

• Hold staff accountable for performance.

• Act to ensure safe and effective operations.

• Hire staff.

This position will remain open for a minimum of 5 days after which it will close when a qualified candidate is identified and/or hired.

We accept Word (.doc, .docx), Adobe (unsecured .pdf), Rich Text Format (.rtf), and HTML (.htm, .html) up to 5MB in size. Resumes from third party vendors will not be accepted; these resumes will be deleted and the candidates submitted will not be considered for employment.

If you have trouble applying for a position, please email [email protected].

ORNL is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants, including individuals with disabilities and protected veterans, are encouraged to apply.  UT-Battelle is an E-Verify employer.