Senior Director - Infrastructure Services
About the job
- Comprehensive knowledge of infrastructure lifecycle management, including campus and asset planning, engineering, construction, operations, maintenance, modernization, and deactivation.
- Strong technical knowledge of facilities, utilities, maintenance, asset management, project and portfolio management, and site or campus planning practices.
- Knowledge of enterprise risk management, performance management, disciplined operations, and continuous-improvement principles applicable to complex operations.
- Knowledge of the Department of Energy national laboratory environment and applicable federal, state, and local requirements, Department of Energy directives, contractual obligations, environmental permits, codes, standards, and safety and health requirements.
- Ability to establish clear operational goals, delegate responsibility and authority, define measurable commitments, and hold leaders and organizations accountable for results.
- Ability to lead a large, multidisciplinary, technically complex, and highly regulated organization through subordinate leaders and managers, ensuring coordinated execution across multiple disciplines and functions.
- Ability to build consensus and sustain productive relationships among a diverse stakeholder base, including Laboratory leadership, scientific organizations and programs, the Department of Energy, regulators, represented and non-represented employees, and external partners.
- Ability to translate scientific and mission requirements into executable infrastructure strategies, priorities, services, and capital and operating projects.
- Ability to leverage asset-management systems, analytics, data visualization, and emerging technologies to strengthen operational insight, transparency, decision making, and operational performance.
- Ability to lead significant operational events, conflicts, competing priorities, and organizational change while serving as both a change agent and a stabilizing force.
- At least 15 years of progressively responsible leadership experience in infrastructure, facilities, engineering, construction, maintenance, project management, campus planning, or operations.
- Demonstrated executive leadership of a large, multidisciplinary, technically complex, and highly regulated infrastructure or operations organization, including leadership through subordinate managers.
- Demonstrated experience directing facilities operations, engineering, maintenance, construction, campus planning, waste management, asset management, or related services for a large research, industrial, university, or government campus, with measurable improvements in reliability, service, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness.
- Experience overseeing significant operating and capital budgets, infrastructure portfolios, major projects, long-range planning, and life-cycle asset investments.
- Experience leading through significant operational events, institutional risks, organizational change, and competing mission priorities.
- Demonstrated experience working effectively with Department of Energy customers, government officials, regulatory agencies, external oversight organizations, scientific stakeholders, and represented and non-represented workforces.
- Bachelor’s degree in engineering, architecture, construction, planning, science, business, or a related field.
- Ability to obtain and maintain a Q clearance.
- Serve as the Chief Operations Officer’s principal infrastructure advisor and execute the Laboratory’s infrastructure strategy, ensuring operational readiness, asset risk management, and aligned investment priorities while contributing to enterprise operational strategy, risk management, and resource allocation.
- Lead an organization of more than 400 employees responsible for stewardship and day-to-day management of the Laboratory’s 1,500-acre site and approximately 5.1 million square feet of facilities.
- Provide executive direction and accountability for facilities, utilities, nuclear and non-nuclear waste, site services, and project and portfolio management.
- Establish governance, priorities, and decision authorities to deliver safe, reliable, compliant, resilient, and cost-effective operations with minimal interruption to the science mission.
- Lead strategic and operational planning across the infrastructure lifecycle, including campus and asset planning, design and construction, operations and maintenance, renovation, modernization, repair, and deactivation in accordance with the Laboratory science strategy.
- Use timely, deliberate operational decision-making to balance mission requirements, safety, security, quality, risk, compliance, cost, schedule, workforce capacity, and long-term stewardship.
- Serve as a clear and independent advisor, constructively challenge assumptions, resolve competing priorities, and establish decision rights and accountability for execution.
- Oversee operating, maintenance, and capital budgets and support the Laboratory Operations strategic project investment portfolio; establish measurable goals and measures for financial stewardship, asset condition and reliability, maintenance execution, project delivery, staffing, customer service, and long-range campus planning.
- Manage and execute site waste operations in accordance with applicable regulatory requirements; establish performance standards, measures, and processes to identify negative operating trends early and support proactive action with applicable partners.
- Partner with scientific and mission leadership to translate current and future program requirements into executable infrastructure strategies, services, priorities, and projects.
- Use asset-management systems, operational data, analytics, visualization tools, and emerging technologies to improve decision quality, reliability, productivity, transparency, and cost-effectiveness.
- Ensure Infrastructure Services work complies with applicable laws, Department of Energy requirements, contractual obligations, codes, standards, permits, and management expectations; embed safety, security, quality, and environmental stewardship into work planning and execution.
- Establish quality assurance, assessment, corrective-action, and lessons-learned processes to identify risks, close performance gaps, and sustain continuous improvement for Infrastructure Services.
- Develop productive relationships with the Department of Energy, regulators, the University of Chicago, external institutions, and other national laboratories to advance mission outcomes, benchmarking, and effective business and technical practices.
- Build an accountable, inclusive, and high-performing leadership team; delegate authority effectively; develop succession and organizational capability; and lead significant operational events, conflict, and organizational change with urgency, sound judgment, and calm confidence.
- A relevant master’s degree.
- Professional Engineer or architect licensure, project management certification, or a comparable senior-level professional credential.
About the company
Argonne National Laboratory advances scientific discovery and sustainability by providing access to large-scale research facilities and high-performance computing for government, academia, and industry partners. Researchers use the Advanced Photon Source for atomic-level materials studies and the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility for complex simulations and data analysis. The lab differentiates itself through its shared-use, multi-institution partnerships and a focus on eco-innovation, net-zero goals, and AI accelerator development. Its aim is to address real-world energy, materials, and data science challenges by combining cutting-edge infrastructure with collaborative research efforts.
Company Size
5,001-10,000
Company Stage
Grant
Total Funding
$19.7M
Headquarters
Lemont, Illinois
Founded
1946
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- UChicago Argonne LLC won a renewed DOE contract in 2026 for five years.
- 2026 launch of ChemGraph, GridMind, and AI inference services deepens Argonne's relevance.
- Activated Materials Lab opened in 2026, expanding nuclear fuels research and user-facility demand.
What critics are saying
- DOE's FY2027 request cuts Argonne funding about $155.8 million, hitting programs and construction.
- 2025 buyouts showed staff pressure; more layoffs follow if Congress accepts budget cuts.
- A prolonged federal reset or shutdown threatens APS, Aurora utilization, and Argonne's operating model.
What makes Argonne National Laboratory unique
- Aurora and APS create a rare AI-plus-X-ray discovery stack for 2026 science.
- Chain Reaction Innovations embeds startups inside Argonne with facilities, mentors, and DOE funding.
- Q-NEXT and other DOE centers keep Argonne central to U.S. quantum research.
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Benefits
Health Insurance
Dental Insurance
Vision Insurance
Life Insurance
Disability Insurance
Paid Vacation
Paid Sick Leave
Paid Holidays
Remote Work Options
Flexible Work Hours
401(k) Retirement Plan
401(k) Company Match
Professional Development Budget
Wellness Program
Growth & Insights and Company News
6 month growth
1%1 year growth
0%2 year growth
1%Scientists at Argonne National Laboratory have developed an AI-enhanced X-ray microscope that researchers can control using natural language commands. The system combines an agentic AI platform with a hard X-ray nanoprobe beamline, allowing users to simply ask the microscope to examine specific areas of interest. The technology addresses a major challenge in X-ray imaging: modern experiments can generate millions of images in hours, requiring days of conventional analysis. Argonne's AI system reconstructs images in real time as data arrives. The microscope can autonomously collect data, process results, and identify additional areas requiring investigation. Computational scientist Mathew Cherukara said the AI-enhanced microscope could benefit numerous scientific fields beyond its initial microelectronics demonstration. The project forms part of the SYNAPS-I initiative, led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory under the Department of Energy's Genesis Mission, launched in November 2025.
Researchers at the US Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory have developed ChemGraph, an open-source framework that uses artificial intelligence to automate computational chemistry workflows. The tool provides a natural language interface, allowing researchers to describe scientific problems in plain language, which the system then maps onto computational tasks and analyses. ChemGraph was developed using resources at the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility, including the Aurora exascale supercomputer. The framework uses AI agents to handle different workflow tasks, from planning to execution and data aggregation. It calls appropriate scientific tools to reduce the risk of AI hallucination, using AI to run physics-based simulations rather than relying solely on existing knowledge. The framework supports applications in combustion efficiency, critical materials, and next-generation batteries, and complements DOE's Genesis Mission to accelerate science through AI.
The US Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory has launched an AI inference service using spare supercomputing capacity to support researchers across DoE labs and the Genesis Mission. The service runs on two clusters: Sophia, with 192 Nvidia A100 GPUs, and Metis, featuring 32 SambaNova SN40L AI accelerators. The platform provides secure access to various large language models, including OpenAI's GPT-OSS, Google's Gemma, and Meta's Llama, through a chatbot-like portal. Researchers are using the service to analyse experimental data in real time, including predicting plasma disruptions in fusion energy research and processing data from particle accelerators and telescopes. Argonne plans to extend the service to its Nvidia GH200-based Tara and B200-based Minerva systems, enabling scientists to experiment with AI without building their own infrastructure.
Researchers at the US Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory have developed GridMind, an agentic AI system designed to assist power grid operators through natural language interaction. The system functions as a reasoning co-pilot for control rooms, simplifying complex grid management tasks. GridMind employs a multi-agent architecture where specialised AI agents handle different functions, such as power scheduling and weather-based contingency planning. Large language models coordinate these agents to analyse situations, reason across different tasks and provide explainable recommendations. The system transforms technical analysis into conversational support whilst maintaining rigorous accuracy. Tests on standard power grid models demonstrated that GridMind consistently produced correct results across multiple state-of-the-art language models. The technology aims to accelerate decision-making by integrating disconnected workflows into a coherent reasoning engine.
A research team led by the US Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory has developed an AI adviser that optimises machine learning algorithms during autonomous experiments, accelerating discovery of advanced electronic materials. The system was applied to Polybot, Argonne's AI-guided robotic laboratory, to investigate mixed ion-electron conducting polymers for wearable electronics and energy storage. The adviser evaluates algorithm performance in real time and communicates insights to scientists who refine experimental plans. It reduced the study to just 64 experiments from over 4,300 possible combinations. During testing, the adviser suggested switching AI algorithms, leading to significant performance improvements, and identified deposition speed as a key performance driver. The research was published in Nature Chemical Engineering and included collaborators from the University of Chicago, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and other institutions.