Director of Office of Performance Assurance and Chief Risk Officer

About the Role

The Director of the Office of Performance Assurance (OPA) is a member of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory’s (FNAL, Fermilab, or the Laboratory) Senior Leadership Team and is directly accountable to the Laboratory Director for providing leadership, vision, management, direction, oversight, and strategic and tactical planning for executing all aspects of the Laboratory’s Contractor Assurance System (CAS).

The Laboratory’s CAS program is designed to enable outstanding science and operational excellence, while ensuring compliance with Fermi Forward Discovery Group’s (FFDG) prime contract requirements with the US Department of Energy (DOE) and other applicable requirements.

Responsibilities

• Evaluate Laboratory performance and provide reasonable assurance to FFDG Members and DOE that the Laboratory has a set of management systems and processes that fulfill the requirements of the FFDG/DOE prime contract to manage and operate FNAL.
• Deploy, maintain, and oversee all elements of FNAL’s Performance Assurance management system, including enterprise risk management, management and independent assessment, metrics, feedback and improvement, institutional policies and requirements, and continuous improvement.
• Work with Fermilab’s Office of General Counsel (OGC), manage and maintain the FFDG/DOE prime contract and oversight of the Laboratory’s completion of prime contract deliverables.
• Oversight, advice, and counsel to FNAL management and staff on all CAS and QA-related matters.
• Manage the Laboratory’s PEMP processes including preparation and submittal of periodic FNAL PEMP self-evaluations to DOE FSO and Headquarters program offices and completion of the annual Contract Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) process.
• Lead the Laboratory’s institutional policies within frameworks set by FFDG Members and DOE requirements.
• Oversee and manage the Laboratory’s institutional metrics, assessment, issues management, event reporting and investigation, lessons learned, and quality assurance.
• Partner with Laboratory line management to enable and foster a proactive and integrated suite of management systems that collectively promote an urgent need for critical self-evaluation and sustained improvement through the use of CAS of tools and processes.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree and a minimum of 15 years of relevant experience or a Master’s degree and a minimum of 10 years of relevant experience, or combination of education and relevant experience in operations management, project management, financial management, or risk management.
• Exceptional interpersonal, negotiation and political acumen skills.
• Skills in communicating issues with senior leadership peers to devise responsive, efficient business solutions to program-critical tasks, including demonstrated ability to present complex issues in clear, concise terms.
• Oral and written communication skills and the ability to work within regulatory guidelines, with internal and external contacts of varying level of expertise and authority, and to achieve assigned goals to the benefit of the organization and the Laboratory.
• Ability to supervise and lead multidisciplinary teams, including the ability to develop strategies to attract, develop and retain a high-performing diverse staff.
• Demonstrated ability to exercise executive level judgment and leadership to balance mission, project and operational risk for programs, budget, personnel and institutional assets.
• Established positive experience working with auditors, inspectors and other regulatory personnel/agencies, preferably the DOE or other similar agency.
• Proven ability to exercise independent judgment in situations of ambiguous or unforeseeable outcomes or emergencies.
• Ability to travel and work extended hours when needed.