Department Manager, Earth, Oceans, Atmosphere and Space Systems

Roles & Responsibilities

• Plans, develops, and oversees a portion of the Division’s sponsor strategic outcomes focused and safeguarding and growing the U.S. economy.
• Serves as a trusted advisor to NOAA and NASA sponsors, and related federal, state and commercial entities.
• Develops close working relationships with sponsor counterparts.
• Builds and executes a technically credible work program spanning NOAA line offices and relevant NASA centers, with emphasis on Earth, ocean, atmosphere, weather, environmental data, and space systems.
• Shapes and leads science and engineering efforts in areas such as technology development, AI, spectrum, autonomous vehicles, data management, remote sensing, and integrated environmental information systems.
• Serves as a conduit from MITRE’s Internal Research and Development program to NOAA and NASA sponsors.

Essential Job Functions

• Supports the Director by providing deep sponsor/program knowledge and technical expertise across NOAA and NASA mission spaces.
• Partners with the Director and Project Leads to develop close working relationships with sponsor counterparts.
• Develops and shapes a work program to achieve specific sponsor strategic outcomes.
• Closely monitors deliverables for quality, timeliness, and budget.
• Builds and executes a technically credible work program spanning NOAA line offices and relevant NASA centers, with emphasis on Earth, ocean, atmosphere, weather, environmental data, and space systems.
• Accountable for strategic work-shaping opportunities consistent with work program strategy.
• Collaborates with Divisions and Centers to leverage related activities, use of shared resources, and re-use of existing products.
• Ensures the hiring, development, and shaping of the required skills, capabilities, technical depth, and diversity of the department’s workforce through effective hiring, ongoing coaching and staff development, and monitoring of staff engagement.
• Engages staff who fall short of expectations and initiates appropriate and timely actions to address poor performance.
• Ensures product technical quality for all work assigned to their department as identified in the work plan.
• Works with project leaders to ensure that all staff are appropriately assigned to projects and fully planned.
• Represents the needs and perspectives of staff and sponsors to Division leadership.
• Advocates for department competencies and establishes new work within the Division.
• Represents department to internal and external stakeholders by exhibiting technical expertise and deep knowledge of NOAA and NASA structure and mission priorities.

Basic Qualifications

• Typically requires a minimum of 12 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree; or 10 years and a Master’s degree; or a PhD for 7 years’ experience; or equivalent combination of related education and work experience.
• Focus: engineering, physical sciences, atmospheric science, oceanography, Earth systems science, data science, or a related field.
• Technical experience leading science and engineering projects in areas including sensing, AI, cloud migration, spectrum, autonomous vehicles, acquisition, analyses of alternatives and more for technical applications including weather forecasting systems, spectrum, satellite and space communications, ground systems, monitoring in ocean environments and autonomous vehicles.
• Demonstrated building, shaping, and executing work programs aligned to NOAA mission areas including the National Ocean Service; National Weather Service; National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service; and Oceans and Atmospheric Research.
• Must have direct experience collaborating with senior leaders at NOAA and/or NASA, including GS-15, SES, or equivalent executives.
• Demonstrated ability to develop trusted relationships and work collaboratively across MITRE and across sponsors.
• Experience in developing cross-enterprise outcomes and coordinating their implementation within government.
• Demonstrated technical and business leadership.
• Demonstrated ability to shape and drive high-impact, high-quality work programs.
• Demonstrated commitment to the Department of Commerce’s mission and to advancing cross-agency outcomes with NOAA, NASA or comparable science based agency.

Preferred Qualifications

• Significant mission knowledge and 10+ years hands-on experience engineering solutions for NOAA and NASA, with the ability to operate credibly with senior technical and mission leadership.
• 4+ years prior experience managing an delivery of at least 40 FTE annually.
• 4+ years of prior experience translating sponsor (customer) needs into new work programs, through direct tasking and/or transition of Research and Development transition.
• 4+ years prior experience and a proven successful track record of delivering large and diverse work programs with simultaneous projects.
• 4+ years prior experience leading programs involving satellite systems, environmental sensing, Earth observation, weather and climate systems, or integrated ocean-atmosphere-space mission capabilities.
• Advanced degree in engineering, physical sciences, atmospheric science, oceanography, Earth systems science, data science, or a related field.