Part Time, Program Manager -Generation Ecosystem Experiments

Berkeley Lab’s Earth & Environmental Sciences Area (EESA) is a premier Earth sciences research organization where scientists are tackling some of the most pressing environmental and energy challenges of the 21st Century in order to enable sustainable stewardship and use of the Earth’s resources. We are seeking a highly organized, proactive, and collaborative Program Manager to provide strategic operational and programmatic leadership for several flagship U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Biological and Environmental Research (BER) programs, including the Next Generation Ecosystem Experiments (NGEE-Tropics and NGEE Arctic), the Ameri Flux Management Project, and the Terrestrial Ecosystem Science (TES) Science Focus Area.

These nationally recognized, multi-institutional research programs address some of the most pressing scientific challenges related to climate, ecosystems, and Earth system processes.

Reporting to the Climate & Ecosystem Sciences Division (CESD) Operations Lead, you will partner closely with world‑class scientists and Principal Investigators to help shape and execute complex research programs that span multiple institutions, disciplines, and stakeholders. As a trusted member of the leadership team, you will play a central role in coordinating proposal development, project planning, budgeting, reporting, subcontract management, meetings and workshops, communications, and overall program operations.

This role is ideal for someone who enjoys bringing people together, solving complex organizational challenges, and enabling scientific teams to succeed. You will collaborate with researchers, operations professionals, partner institutions, and federal sponsors to ensure projects are delivered effectively, strategically, and in compliance with sponsor requirements. Success in this role requires exceptional organizational and communication skills, sound judgment, and the ability to manage multiple priorities in a dynamic and mission-driven environment.

The level of independence and responsibility will align with the Program Manager classification (PM1 or PM2).

• Stakeholder and team communications:
  Serves as an important liaison between EESA leadership, DOE program managers, collaborating institutions, and project teams.
• Program Operations & Strategic Support:
  Partner with the PIs to understand their business needs and provide recommendations pertaining to operations activities; oversee the programmatic administrative activities to ensure provision of timely and effective support, including meetings and events, personnel activities, and other program initiatives.
• Proposal Development:
  Coordinate and manage proposal creation and submission, interfacing with PIs, EESA management, and resource analysts to validate that requirements for document assembly, content review, and submission are in compliance with the guidance provided by the funding source or by collaborators (e.g., DOE, other federal agencies, national laboratories, universities, or private industry).
• Progress Tracking, Reporting and Compliance:
  Track project milestones, and deliverables. Create concise and logical scientific technical project progress reports as required. Report generation may require a synthesis of data from a variety of sources – including publications, science highlights, deliverables, datasets, modeling metrics – into a concise summary or conclusion for use by the PIs and/or submission to federal agencies.
• Budget and Finances:
  In collaboration with Resource Analysts, utilize institutional systems to assist with tracking budget/spending and providing PIs with routine financial reports and occasional special reports.
• Subcontracts management:
  Following general guidelines for assessing financial status of subawardees, manage encumbrances and make recommendations for subawardee funding increments. Coordinate and process subcontract requisitions with the Procurement Department and EESA matrixed Financial Staff. Coordinate process for subawardee milestones and deliverables via quarterly newsletters.
• Field Site Safety & Property Management:
  Support field site safety and fieldwork coordination,…