Manager of Lab Strategy & Technical Operations

Manager of Lab Strategy & Technical Operations

Location:

Overland Park, KS, US

Company:
Black & Veatch Family of Companies

Opportunity Type:
Staff

Project Only Hire:
No

The Lab Manager is responsible for technical support, strategy, governance, coordination, and long‑term effectiveness of a multi‑disciplinary Smart Utility / Advanced Technology Lab. This role serves as a single point of coordination and technical support across Black & Veatch participating technical disciplines while enabling those teams to independently define and execute their technical objectives. The Lab Manager operates at the intersection of business and technical strategy, operations, governance, and stakeholder alignment, ensuring the lab functions as a shared, scalable enterprise asset.

This role is hands‑on and execution‑focused, combining day‑to‑day lab operations with technical implementation and troubleshooting of a broad range of operational technology (OT), networking, and infrastructure platforms. The Lab Manager ensures the lab is operational, secure, organized, and ready to support project delivery, internal research, client demonstrations, and cross‑discipline collaboration.

The position requires strong technical aptitude, a willingness to learn across domains, and the ability to serve as trusted “remote hands” for engineers, project teams, and partners leveraging the Smart Utility Lab.

• Establish and maintain the overall governance model for the lab, including roles, responsibilities, and cross‑discipline coordination.
• Maintain schedules for both project‑driven lab activities and ongoing lab infrastructure upgrades and maintenance, usage prioritization, and milestone tracking as part of formal lab governance.
• Define and manage process and artifact documentation such as lab layout, milestone plans, and future expansion roadmaps, treating the lab as a program‑level initiative.

• Act as a single point of coordination for lab activities across participating teams, including Power / Distribution SCADA, Networks & Cybersecurity, Wireless / Telecommunications, Digital Substation, Water Automation, and additional solution teams as onboarded.
• Ensure disciplines retain ownership of their technical requirements, while the Lab Manager enables integration, scheduling, and shared resource usage.
• Facilitate alignment across teams during lab planning, testing windows, stakeholder reviews, and client facing activities.
• Manage the coordination and relationship between stakeholders and BV Facilities.

• Maintain visibility into lab assets, including shared equipment spanning grid, network, wireless, and automation platforms, as documented in lab asset and equipment inventories.
• Coordinate transitions and consolidation of lab equipment as part of long‑term facility planning and lab evolution initiatives.
• Support broader strategic initiatives (e.g., Grid Modernization, Private Networks) by improving lab utilization and alignment with enterprise priorities.
• Own strategic vendor and ecosystem relationships related to lab‑based services, including identification of target technology partners, joint solution concepts and co‑development opportunities, alignment with BV’s broader vendor and alliance strategies, coordination with discipline SMEs and the Strategic Lab Manager to enable vendor participation in lab pilots, demos, and evaluations, support joint client demonstrations and proof points, and ensure vendor engagement supports BV differentiation and service maturity, not one‑off technical testing.

• Coordinate budget inputs and sponsorship commitments from participating organizations and solution teams.
• Work with Engineering Managers and Resource Leaders to align staffing contributions supporting lab operations, testing, and planned initiatives.
• Provide visibility into labor and usage patterns to support management decision‑making (e.g., hours tracking, utilization planning).