Principal Engineer for Geospatial Computing Infrastructure

Major Duties & Responsibilities

• Strategy & Vision: Develop and refine a strategic roadmap for the GDC, including defining its mission, vision, value proposition, operating model (services, research, partnerships), business case, metrics of success and growth path.
• Asset & Infrastructure Management: Oversee the effective integration, operation, scaling and optimization of the GDC’s compute, storage, networking and geospatial-data assets (existing and planned). Ensure high performance, high availability, cost-effectiveness, data integrity, and operational resilience.
• Service Delivery & Operations: Define, implement and continually improve service offerings (e.g., large-scale geospatial compute pipelines, data ingest/curation/archive, analytics/visualization, user support). Establish operating policies, SLAs, user workflows, resource allocation models and performance metrics.
• Research & Innovation Leadership: Cultivate and lead a research-oriented culture within the center: identify and integrate emerging geospatial/HPC technologies (e.g., ML Ops for geospatial data, real-time analytics, cloud/HPC hybrid, edge geospatial compute, neuromorphic, quantum), pilot new capabilities, foster innovation partnerships (academia, industry, federal sponsors). Serve as principal investigator (PI) or co-PI on research proposals, secure external funding, and help shape the center’s research agenda.
• Team Building & Staffing: Hire, develop, and lead a highly agile and high-performing multidisciplinary team covering, HPC/data infrastructure, data engineering, software engineering, user engagement, and operations. Foster a culture of excellence, collaboration, inclusion and continuous learning.
• Stakeholder Engagement & Partnerships: Serve as the external interface for the center: liaise with sponsors (DOE, other federal agencies, industry, academia), build and maintain relationships, understand user needs, market the center’s capabilities, co-develop new programs. Internally align with ORNL leadership, HPC facility management, ORNL’s National Center for Computational Sciences, data services groups, programmatic divisions and labs.
• Budgeting, Resource & Governance: Develop and manage budgets, resource planning (people, infrastructure, capital investments), cost model, vendor and subcontractor relationships. Define governance structures, policies (data governance, security, access), compliance (cybersecurity, data privacy, export controls).
• Performance Monitoring & Reporting: Define performance metrics and dashboards for the center (e.g., utilization, throughput, time-to-science, user satisfaction, cost per unit, growth of services), regularly report to ORNL leadership, sponsors and stakeholders. Drive continuous improvement and benchmarking against peer organizations.
• Operational Excellence & Risk Management: Ensure robustness of operations (backup/archival, disaster recovery, continuity), manage risk (data loss, data protection, downtime), oversee infrastructure lifecycle (refresh, decommissioning), and uphold industry best practices in HPC/data center operations.

Basic Qualifications

• Advanced degree (MS or PhD) in Computer Science, Data Science, Geospatial Science (GIS/remote sensing), Electrical/Computer Engineering, or a closely related discipline.
• Minimum of 10–12 years of relevant experience (or equivalent) in one or more of the following: geospatial science/engineering, HPC/data center operations, large-scale data infrastructure, research center leadership, service delivery in a technical organization, or related field.
• Solid technical expertise across high performance computing (compute, storage, interconnects, networking), large-scale data management (ingest, curation, archive), geospatial data workflows (remote sensing, GIS, mapping, analytics) and infrastructure-as-a-service models.
• Experience with service delivery models (e.g., user support, resource allocation, service catalogue, SLAs) and/or research infrastructure.
• Experience engaging with federal sponsors (e.g., DOE, DoD, other agencies) or large external stakeholders; demonstrated ability to produce proposals, manage programs, and interface at senior levels.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills: able to articulate vision and technical concepts to senior leadership, sponsors, non-technical stakeholders, and users; comfortable representing the center externally.
• Demonstrated financial/acquisition/contract experience: budget planning, vendor/subcontractor management, procurement, cost-modelling, and governance oversight.
• Demonstrated familiarity with data governance, security, compliance (cybersecurity, export controls, access policies) as applies to HPC/data infrastructure in federal research environments.
• Motivated self-starter with the ability to work independently and to participate creatively in collaborative teams across the laboratory.
• Ability to function well in a fast-paced research environment, set priorities to accomplish multiple tasks within deadlines, and adapt to ever changing needs.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience specifically in geospatial high-performance computing, e.g., leveraging HPC for remote sensing, large-scale mapping, geospatial analytics, Earth system science, real-time geospatial streaming, or associated research infrastructure.
• Experience leading or being part of a research center or institute (or similar) with a mix of service delivery and research mission.
• Experience with leading edge geospatial/HPC technologies: AI/ML for remote sensing/geospatial, cloud-HPC hybrid architectures, geospatial edge compute, real-time analytics, and geospatial big data platforms.
• Demonstrated success securing external funding and managing the resulting programs.
• Familiarity with ORNL-style national laboratory environment (or similarly complex research institution), federal research stakeholders, user facilities, and large-scale infrastructure operations.
• Established professional network in the geospatial, HPC or data infrastructure community; prior leadership of/participation in geospatial or HPC user communities, etc.
• Prior experience with practices of operationalizing research infrastructure: metrics, service catalogue development, business model transition (from support to mission-driven), and growing a team into a standalone organizational entity.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.