Project Manager 3

Energy And Environment Directorate Project Manager

At PNNL, our core capabilities are divided among major departments that we refer to as Directorates within the Lab, focused on a specific area of scientific research or other function, with its own leadership team and dedicated budget.

The Energy and Environment Directorate delivers science and technology solutions for the nation's biggest energy and environmental challenges. Our more than 1,700 staff support the Department of Energy (DOE), delivering on key DOE mission areas including: modernizing our nation's power grid to maintain a reliable, affordable, secure, and resilient electricity delivery infrastructure; research, development, validation, and effective utilization of renewable energy and efficiency technologies that improve the affordability, reliability, resiliency, and security of the American energy system; and resolving complex issues in nuclear science, energy, and environmental management.

The Energy Processes and Materials Division, part of the Energy and Environment Directorate, creates and delivers real world solutions that support the Department of Energy's goals for national energy security. We deliver new technologies that connect fundamental science to applications in areas such as energy storage, advanced materials manufacturing, applied catalysis, advanced separations, biomass conversions, carbon capture and utilization, and hydrogen production and storage. We employ a systems perspective that includes discovery, technology development, and scale-up as well as economic, regulatory, and market acceptance issues necessary for successful technology commercialization.

Responsibilities

Responsible for the overall direction, coordination, implementation, execution, control, and completion of specific projects ensuring consistency with organizational strategy, commitments, and goals. This includes acquiring resources and coordinating the efforts of team members and third-party resources in order to deliver projects according to plan. Also responsible to define the projects objectives and oversee quality control throughout its life cycle. Key attributes leading to the determination of upward progression in this career family include: project complexity, risk, team size, business volume, contract type, and political/client/business sensitivities.

• Manage execution of complex hydrothermal processing and hydrothermal liquefaction projects with an applied research, scale-up, and deployment focus.
• Work with principal investigators and technical leads to translate technical objectives into executable project plans, milestones, schedules, resource needs, decision points, and deliverables.
• Manage and coordinate scope, schedule, budget, risk, resources, and dependencies across assigned projects and related workstreams.
• Monitor project performance, identify emerging technical and execution risks, and coordinate corrective actions and recovery planning when work deviates from expectations.
• Coordinate activities across multidisciplinary project teams, laboratory organizations, subcontractors, sponsors, and industrial partners.
• Apply effective project-management practices for planning, reporting, risk management, decision tracking, change management, and accountability.
• Serve as a project-management interface with sponsor representatives and external partners, communicating progress, risks, decisions, and upcoming needs.
• Coordinate dependencies involving personnel, equipment, facilities, technical capabilities, partner inputs, and sequencing of technical work.
• Work with technical and organizational leaders to resolve issues that impede successful project execution.
• Collaborate with other project managers and technical staff to promote consistent and effective project-management practices.
• Support program planning, proposal development, and development of future applied research and industrial partnership opportunities.
• Contribute to continuous improvement in project and program execution.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications:

• BS/BA degree in chemical engineering or a related Technical Field and 9+ years of relevant project management experience -OR-

• MS/MA degree in chemical engineering or a related Technical Field and 7+ years of relevant project management experience

• Direct experience with hydrothermal liquefaction and a strong understanding of the technical and operational challenges associated with HTL systems.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Demonstrated experience managing complex, technically challenging research, engineering, demonstration, or technology-development projects.
• Experience managing scope, schedule, budget, risk, resources, dependencies, and deliverables across multiple workstreams or concurrent projects.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively with principal investigators and technical experts while providing project-management leadership and structure.
• Experience managing projects involving industrial partners, subcontractors, technology developers, or other external collaborators.
• Demonstrated ability to identify execution risks, resolve issues, manage changing priorities, and develop practical recovery strategies.
• Strong communication and relationship-management skills, including experience interacting with sponsors, technical leaders, organizational stakeholders, and external partners.
• PMP certification or demonstrated equivalent knowledge of disciplined project-management principles and practices.
• Experience contributing to improvements in project-management practices within a technical or research organization.