ESN Associate Program Leader (APL) - Platform and Infrastructure - ACTIVE SECURITY CLEARANCE REQUIRED

Company Description

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.

Job Description

We have an opening for an ESN Associate Program Leader (APL) - Platform and Infrastructure . You will provide strategic and operational leadership to advance ESN and ESN Hub modernization for the infrastructure organization that enables reliable, secure, scalable, and modern enterprise services across ESN. The Associate Program Leader will lead a broad portfolio of technical workstreams and serve as a trusted partner in shaping the future of the ESN infrastructure.

This position is in the Enterprise Infrastructure Services (EIS) Division, within the Computing Directorate, in support of LivIT.

This position offers a hybrid schedule, blending in-person and virtual presence. You will have the flexibility to work from home up to one day per week.

You will

• Lead program direction for ESN modernization by aligning with ESN leadership and architecture, and developing and executing long-term cloud, server, and network strategies to support program growth.
• Lead and coordinate the Platform and Infrastructure portfolio in support of ESN objectives by collaborating with key enterprise and program leadership and NNSA stakeholders to enhance interoperability across ESN and adjacent programs.
• Manage day-to-day operations of on-prem and cloud infrastructure to maximize uptime and efficiency and provide leadership/mentorship to program and technical teams.
• Provide technical and organizational leadership for infrastructure modernization and operational excellence by setting priorities, aligning resources, optimizing staffing, and ensuring effective execution across multiple technical teams.
• Serve as a visionary leader for the future of ESN infrastructure and partner with ESN leadership and stakeholders to deliver resilient, secure, and efficient services.
• Support planning, budgeting, staffing, and supply chain coordination for infrastructure operations and lifecycle management.
• Work effectively with vendors and internal stakeholders by applying a strong understanding of procurement processes and lifecycle acquisition activities to negotiate contracts, establish Service Level Agreements (SLAs), and manage service providers.
• Support governance, IT policies and cybersecurity protocols across the organization.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• This position requires an active Department of Energy (DOE) Q-level clearance or active Top-Secret clearance issued by another U.S. government agency at the time of hire.
• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, or a related field, or equivalent combination of technical training and experience.
• Highly advanced experience leading large, diverse technical organizations in the delivery of mission critical enterprise IT infrastructure with minimal direction in a complex enterprise environment.
• Extensive experience mentoring technical teams on modern VDI architectures, such as Citrix, VMware Horizon, or AVD, hybrid cloud integration patterns, and enterprise-scale network designs that support large user environments, including SD-WAN, QoS policies, protocol optimization, and multi-datacenter load balancing.
• SME experience in enterprise IT vendor management and strategic vendor partnerships, including Microsoft EA/AWS EDP negotiations, licensing optimization across subscription, consumption-based, and perpetual models, RFP/RFQ processes for infrastructure and software platforms, SLA-driven contract negotiations, FinOps and cloud cost governance, and evaluation of emerging technology providers such as Microsoft, AWS, VMware, Cisco, and Oracle.
• Highly advanced strategic leadership experience translating vision into enterprise modernization programs, including cloud migrations, datacenter consolidation, application rationalization, mission-critical infrastructure upgrades, DevSecOps transformation, and BCDR architecture for tier-1 applications.
• Expert experience building technology roadmaps, securing executive sponsorship, and delivering large-scale initiatives with measurable business or mission impact while maintaining operational continuity is preferred.
• Highly advanced skills in communication and collaborative leadership, building trust across infrastructure, application, security, and operations teams while engaging executive stakeholders and C-suite executives (CIO, CISO, CFO) through transparent communication and technical credibility.
• Expert experience leading enterprise infrastructure transformation, including data center modernization, such as hyperconverged infrastructure, VMware vSAN, and Nutanix, network evolution, hybrid cloud architecture using technologies such as VMware Cloud Foundation, Azure Stack HCI, and AWS Outposts, and storage upgrades including flash arrays and NVMe.

Qualifications We Desire

• Experienced infrastructure leader with deep technical credibility, strong people leadership, and a clear vision for evolving ESN to meet future mission requirements.
• Effective in both day-to-day operational leadership and long-term strategy for platform and infrastructure services.

Pay Range

$210,630 - $267,030 Annually

This is the lowest to highest salary we in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this posting. 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.

Additional Information

#LI-Hybrid

Position Information

This is a Career Indefinite position, open to Lab employees and external candidates.

Why Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory?

• Included in 2026 Best Places to Work by Glassdoor!
• Flexible Benefits Package
• 401(k)
• Relocation Assistance
• Education Reimbursement Program
• Flexible schedules (*depending on project needs)
• Our values - visit

Security Clearance

This position requires an active Department of Energy (DOE) Q-level clearance or active Top Secret clearance issued by another U.S. government agency at time of hire.

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 use and/or possession of mobile devices in Limited Areas. Depending on your job duties, you may be required to work in a Limited Area where you are not permitted to have a personal and/or laboratory mobile device in your possession. This includes, but not limited to cell phones, tablets, fitness devices, wireless headphones, and other Bluetooth/wireless enabled devices.

If you use a medical device, which pairs with a mobile device, you must still follow the rules concerning the mobile device in individual sections within Limited Areas. Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities require separate 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.

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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.

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Organization: ComputingCategory: Information Technology/ComputingEmployee Referral Bonus: $1500Job Code 1: SES.4 Science & Engineering MTS 4Pre-Employment Drug Test: Required for external applicant(s) selected for this position (includes testing for use of marijuana)Pre-Placement Medical Exam: Not applicableSecurity Clearance: Active DOE Q clearance (or active Top Secret clearance)Position Type: Career Indefinite