Senior Director, Infrastructure Services

The Senior Director of Infrastructure Services (IS) reports to the Chief Operations Officer and serves as a member of the Laboratory Senior Leadership Team. The Senior Director is the COO’s principal infrastructure advisor and is responsible for the execution of the Laboratory’s infrastructure strategy, ensuring operational readiness, asset risk management, and aligning investment priorities in addition to contributing to an enterprise operational perspective to the Laboratory strategy, risk management and resource allocation.

The Senior Director leads an organization of more than 400 employees responsible for stewardship and day-to-day management of Argonne’s 1,500-acre site and approximately 5.1 million square feet of facilities. The role provides executive direction and accountability for facilities, utilities, nuclear and non-nuclear waste, site services, and project and portfolio management. The Senior Director establishes the governance, priorities, and decision authorities needed to deliver safe, reliable, compliant, resilient, and cost-effective operations with minimal interruption to the science mission.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead strategic and operational planning across the infrastructure lifecycle, including campus and asset planning, design and construction, operations and maintenance, renovation, modernization, repair, and deactivation in accordance with the laboratory science strategy.
• Demonstrate and nurture a strong disciplined approach to operations with an eye to timely, deliberate decisions that balance mission requirements, safety, security, quality, risk, compliance, cost, schedule, workforce capacity, and long-term stewardship.
• Serve as a clear and independent advisor, constructively challenge assumptions, resolve competing priorities, and establish decision rights and accountability for execution.
• Oversee operating, maintenance, and capital budgets and support the facilitation of the Laboratory Operations strategic project investment portfolio. Establish measurable goals and measures for financial stewardship, asset condition and reliability, maintenance execution, project delivery, staffing, customer service, and long-range campus planning.
• Manage and execute waste operations across the site in accordance with applicable regulatory requirements. Establish measurable performance standards, measures, and processes to allow for the anticipation and early identification of negative operating trends supporting proactive actions with applicable partners.
• Partner with scientific and mission leadership to translate current and future program requirements into executable infrastructure strategies, services, priorities, and projects.
• Use asset-management systems, operational data, analytics, visualization tools, and emerging technologies to improve decision quality, reliability, productivity, transparency, and cost-effectiveness.
• Ensure IS work complies with applicable laws, Department of Energy (DOE) requirements, contractual obligations, codes, standards, permits, and management expectations. Embed safety, security, quality, and environmental stewardship into work planning and execution.
• Establish effective quality assurance, assessment, corrective-action, and lessons-learned processes to identify risks, close performance gaps, and sustain continuous improvement for IS.
• Develop productive relationships with DOE, regulators, the University of Chicago, external institutions, and other national laboratories to advance mission outcomes, benchmarking, and effective business and technical practices.
• Build an accountable, inclusive, and high-performing leadership team; delegate authority effectively; develop succession and organizational capability; and lead significant operational events, conflict, and organizational change with urgency, sound judgment, and calm confidence.

Position Requirements

Knowledge

• Comprehensive knowledge of infrastructure lifecycle management, including campus and asset planning, engineering, construction, operations, maintenance, modernization, and deactivation.
• Strong technical knowledge of facilities, utilities, maintenance, asset management, project and portfolio management, and site or campus planning practices.
• Knowledge of enterprise risk management, performance management, disciplined operations, and continuous-improvement principles applicable to complex operations.
• Knowledge of the DOE national laboratory environment and applicable federal, state, and local requirements, DOE directives, contractual obligations, environmental permits, codes, standards, and safety and health requirements.

Skills

• Ability to establish clear operational goals, delegate responsibility and authority, define measurable commitments, and hold leaders and organizations accountable for results.
• Ability to lead a large, multidisciplinary, technically complex, and highly regulated organization through subordinate leaders and managers, ensuring coordinated execution across multiple disciplines and functions.
• Ability to build consensus and sustain productive relationships among a diverse stakeholder base, including Laboratory leadership, scientific organizations and programs, DOE, regulators, represented and non-represented employees, and external partners.
• Ability to translate scientific and mission requirements into executable infrastructure strategies, priorities, services, and capital/operating projects.
• Ability to leverage asset-management systems, analytics, data visualization, and emerging technologies to strengthen operational insight, transparency, decision making and operational performance.
• Ability to lead significant operational events, conflicts, competing priorities, and organizational change while serving as both a change agent and a stabilizing force.

Experience

• Minimum of 15 years of progressively responsible leadership experience in infrastructure, facilities, engineering, construction, maintenance, project management, campus planning, or operations.
• Demonstrated executive leadership of a large, multidisciplinary, technically complex, and highly regulated infrastructure or operations organization, including leadership through subordinate managers.
• Demonstrated experience directing facilities operations, engineering, maintenance, construction, campus planning, waste management, asset management, or related services for a large research, industrial, university, or government campus, with measurable improvements in reliability, service, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness.
• Experience overseeing significant operating and capital budgets, infrastructure portfolios, major projects, long-range planning, and life-cycle asset investments.
• Experience leading through significant operational events, institutional risks, organizational change, and competing mission priorities.
• Demonstrated experience working effectively with DOE customers, government officials, regulatory agencies, external oversight organizations, scientific stakeholders, and represented and non-represented workforces.

Education and Other Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, architecture, construction, planning, science, business, or a related field. A relevant master’s degree is preferred.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a Q clearance.
• Ability to model Argonne’s Core Values: Impact, Safety, Respect, Integrity, and Teamwork.
• Professional Engineer or architect licensure, project management certification, or a comparable senior-level professional credential is preferred.

Job Family

Job Profile

Worker Type

Time Type

Please note that the pay range information is a general guideline only. The pay offered to a selected candidate will be determined based on factors such as, but not limited to, the scope and responsibilities of the position, the qualifications of the selected candidate, business considerations, internal equity, and external market pay for comparable jobs. Additionally, comprehensive benefits are part of the total rewards package.

Click here to view Argonne employee benefits!

As an equal employment opportunity employer, and in accordance with our core values of impact, safety, respect, integrity and teamwork, Argonne National Laboratory is committed to a safe and welcoming workplace that fosters collaborative scientific discovery and innovation. Argonne encourages everyone to apply for employment. Argonne is committed to nondiscrimination and considers all qualified applicants for employment without regard to any characteristic protected by law.

Argonne employees, and certain guest researchers and contractors, are subject to particular restrictions related to participation in Foreign Government Sponsored or Affiliated Activities, as defined and detailed in United States Department of Energy Order 486.1A. You will be asked to disclose any such participation in the application phase for review by Argonne's Legal Department.

All Argonne offers of employment are contingent upon a background check that includes an assessment of criminal conviction history conducted on an individualized and case-by-case basis. Please be advised that Argonne positions require upon hire (or may require in the future) for the individual be to obtain a government access authorization that involves additional background check requirements. Failure to obtain or maintain such government access authorization could result in the withdrawal of a job offer or future termination of employment.