Fusion Energy and Light Isotope Science, Group Manager

People Development and Culture

• Recruit, develop, mentor, and retain a high-caliber technical staff.
• Identify and grow the next generation of technical leaders within the group.
• Reinforce the division's operating culture, values, and norms around scientific rigor, collaboration, psychological safety, inclusion, and accountability at the group level.
• Create an environment where researchers are supported, developed, and enabled to do their best work.
• Manage performance, allocate staff and resources across the group's project portfolio, and make sound personnel and investment decisions.
• Foster a strong safety culture and ensure all group work — including tritium handling, byproduct materials handling, and other radiological research activities — is planned and executed safely and in full compliance with environmental, safety, health, quality, and security requirements.
• Ensure appropriate handling of the chemical and mixed hazards associated with fuel cycle and blanket research — including beryllium, lead, lithium, fluorides, and hydrides — alongside radiological hazards such as tritium and activated materials, coordinating with the appropriate SRNL facilities and partners, including the Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative (AMC).

Science and Infrastructure

• Work with the ESE Division Director to translate division and SRNL strategic priorities into the group's technical portfolio and resource allocation.
• Steward the quality, rigor, and reputation of the group's work across its core domains — hydrogen isotope and fuel cycle science, tritium processing and validation, light isotope technologies and production (e.g., helium-3 recovery, heavy water/deuterium production and purification, lithium/boron isotope separation), and high-radiation-environment operability.
• Serve as a credible technical voice to sponsors, peers, and the external research community.
• Cultivate strategic partnerships outside DOE — fusion developers, industry, universities, and other national laboratories — that strengthen the group's capabilities and expand its funding base and impact.
• Grow the fusion fuel cycle capability as a national hub, bringing regional universities and private industry into cost-sharing partnerships that advance hydrogen isotope research, workforce development, and next-generation fuel cycle technology.
• Collaborate with the fusion community and provide input on fusion regulations, fusion nonproliferation, and fusion codes and standards, as well as modeling and communication around tritium emissions and accident scenarios.
• Lead and mentor staff in building and deepening these relationships, positioning the group as a credible, trusted partner to fusion developers, industry, and academia.
• Work with partners in academia and industry to support workforce development efforts, including development of educational materials, support for seminars, and broader support of the fusion ecosystem created by FC-FIRE and other FIRE collaboratives and other collaboration mechanisms.
• Advance SRNL's standing and visibility in fusion fuel cycle and isotope science through publications, presentations, and professional leadership.
• Support the Division Director, SEI Program Office, and Directorate in engaging relevant DOE program offices (e.g., Fusion Energy Sciences, ARPA-E, OTC), translating those relationships into a healthy, diversified project portfolio.
• Manage the group's budget, financial performance, and facility and infrastructure needs, including capital planning for fuel cycle test infrastructure.
• Ensure delivery on scope, schedule, and budget.
• Establish group-level metrics, reporting cadences, and accountability structures.
• Track and communicate progress to the Division Director and SEI Program Office.
• Work within the SRNL matrix structure to align group capabilities with program priorities, surfacing challenges and opportunities that should inform division and directorate strategic planning.