Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory; EMSL Director

Overview

At PNNL, our core capabilities are divided among major departments that are referred to as directorates within the Lab, focused on a specific area of scientific research or other function, with its own leadership team and dedicated budget.

Our Science & Technology directorates include National Security, Earth and Biological Sciences, Physical and Computational Sciences, and Energy and Environment. In addition, we have an Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, a Department of Energy, Office of Science user facility housed on the PNNL campus.

The Earth and Biological Sciences Directorate (EBSD) leads critical research in four areas:
Atmospheric, Climate & Earth Sciences;
Biological Sciences;
Environmental Molecular Sciences; and Global Change. Our vision is to develop a predictive understanding of biological and Earth systems in transition. We aim to understand energy and material flows within the integrated Earth system; to understand, predict, and control the response of biosystems to environmental and/or genomic changes; and to model the Earth system from the subsurface to the atmosphere.

The Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science user facility advancing molecular level discoveries that support predictive understanding of biological, environmental, and energy systems. As the EMSL Director
, you will lead one of the nation’s most collaborative scientific user programs, shaping its scientific vision, stewarding its capabilities, and providing operational and strategic leadership for one of the nation’s most impactful and collaborative scientific user programs.

Reporting to the Associate Laboratory Director (ALD) of the newly formed Integrated Discovery Sciences Directorate
, the EMSL Director serves as a key member of the directorate’s scientific leadership team and provides direct oversight to a core EMSL science and operations leadership group of 25‑50 staff. EMSL’s user program mission is to lead molecular‑level discoveries for the DOE Office of Science Biological and Environmental Research (BER) program, ensuring EMSL delivers high‑impact science and predictive insights that translate to predictive biological and environmental understanding and accelerated solutions for national energy and environmental challenges.

You will enable foundational discoveries and predictive capabilities that are critical to DOE’s mission—guiding its future impact and growth.

• Lead the EMSL User Facility and Program, ensuring scientific excellence, program productivity, and safe operations.
• Ensure the smooth transition to operations and ongoing high‑impact science as the $122M EMSL expansion to include the Microbial Molecular Phenotyping Capability (M2PC) project begins construction and eventual commissioning near FY2029.
• Collaborate across BER User Facilities and Enabling Technologies resources to promote, advance, and lead discovery science research with the BER community across biotechnology and critical biology‑Earth‑Energy intersections.
• Develop, articulate, and implement an ambitious, bold forward‑looking scientific vision that enables molecular science discoveries and effectively mobilizes the scientific community to provide the foundations for BER research priorities and our nation’s critical biological, environmental, and energy challenges.
• Enable integrated, cross‑collaboration and engagement among the laboratory and the broader scientific user community.
• Represent EMSL as the primary spokesperson for the User Program in interactions with the DOE, the BER and broader research communities, and other government agencies.
• Accountable for User Program budgets, funding, workforce planning, human resource management, capital acquisitions, environmental health and safety, and facilities management.
• Enhance EMSL’s research programs and capabilities in alignment with emerging mission priorities.
• Strengthen partnerships with academic institutions, national laboratories and other DOE User Facilities, scientific networks, and sponsors to enhance program impact and visibility.
• Provide strategic direction to EMSL research groups and…