Space Electronics & Signal Processing Deputy Group Leader; R&D Manager

What You Will Do

The Space Electronics & Signal Processing (ISR-4) Group is seeking an experienced and innovative engineer to join our highly collaborative leadership team! Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Intelligence & Space Research (ISR) Division designs, builds, delivers, and exploits innovative ground‑ and space‑based measurement systems and provides unique analysis and interpretation of data from these systems. We succeed through our cohesive, interdisciplinary teams of engineers, technicians, and scientists working within a highly creative and dynamic R&D environment.

Our projects range from cutting‑edge scientific explorations expanding our knowledge of the universe to ensuring national and global security. ISR’s 400+ instruments fly on over 200 satellites, including numerous NASA missions like Voyager, which has left our solar system, and the last two Mars Rovers.

The ISR‑4 Deputy Group Leader (DGL) will work closely with the ISR‑4 Group Leader (GL) and is a key member of the ISR division leadership team, providing scientific, technical, and operational leadership along with management oversight for a group of over 40 full‑time technical staff members. The DGL will lead strategic initiatives benefiting ISR‑4 staff, capabilities, and project missions, and proactively address tactical needs as they arise across areas ranging from facilities management to dynamic staffing needs.

The GL and DGL, along with five team leaders, form the ISR‑4 Group Leadership Team which is responsible for developing and implementing a vision and collaborations to sustain ISR‑4 into the future. This DGL position offers the opportunity to continue performing technical work in a half‑time capacity, providing the balance between growth in management and contributing directly to project deliverables.

The DGL will be expected to partner with the Group Leader to:

• Develop and implement the strategic direction of the group and the electronics design capability in ISR Division.
• Mentor, coach, and build effective teams, with particular emphasis on individual staff career development.
• Marshal resources and investments for development and sustainment of the group’s technical capabilities and serve as a resource for domain expertise across Los Alamos National Laboratory.
• Work with the ISR Division Leadership Team, program offices, project leaders, and key stakeholders to provide oversight, support, and coordination of work by ensuring safety and security of the workforce.
• Manage workforce and group administration, including performance and salary management, staffing plan development, leading hiring committees, group financial oversight, facility and specialized equipment sustainment and modernization, and processes development to ensure all staff adhere to safety and security requirements.

• Demonstrated record in developing collaborations, promoting teamwork, building consensus, and motivating others through common goals and objectives.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, to communicate effectively with staff, sponsors, and stakeholders with the ability to convey complex concepts or difficult decisions.
• Strong organizational skills, sound technical judgment, and the ability to evaluate tradeoffs. Ability to influence and support project execution or organizational direction.
• Strong active listening skills.

• Proven ability to motivate and lead a team with varied skillsets and expertise through a complex technical risk landscape such as situations with competing or conflicting priorities or within highly constrained funding and schedules.
• Demonstrated ability to model collaborative leadership to develop and sustain a creative,…