Manager Strategic Cyber Initiatives (Management)

This posting will be open for application submissions for a minimum of seven (7) calendar days, including the ‘posting date’. Sandia reserves the right to extend the posting date at any time.

Sandia demonstrates its commitment to public safety in the national interest by requiring that all new hires be fully vaccinated or have an approved medical or religious accommodation before commencing employment. The requirement also applies to those who are telecommuting and working virtually.

Any concerns about the ability to meet this requirement should be directed to HR Solutions at (505) 284-4700.

$153,900 – $261,500

• Salary range is estimated, and actual salary will be determined after consideration of the selected candidate’s experience and qualifications, and application of any approved geographic salary differential.

Do you want to join a dynamic team that solves significant cybersecurity issues for our nation’s security?

We are seeking a manager (Manager, R&D Science and Engineering) to lead the new Strategic Cyber Initiatives department (8761), leading strategic workforce and partnership initiatives in our cybersecurity R&D mission area. Examples include “Reimagining the Cyber Workforce Model” priority of the Labs’ Cyber Strategy, the D8K Cyber Community of Practice, and a strategic partnership with Women in Cybersecurity. The department is also the home of the Center for Cyber Defenders (CCD) intern institute at the California site. Success requires partnering closely with cyber capabilities across Center 8700, in addition to engagement and collaboration across Divisions and programs. You will be responsible for leading the 8700 strategy for cyber talent acquisition, workforce development, and community building, which will require navigating unclassified-to-classified boundaries and ensuring alignment with expectations of the broader Sandia cyber capability set.

You will also lead 8760’s strategy for building strategic partnerships with sister labs (e.g., PNNL) and universities (e.g., University of Illinois and Purdue), with a primary focus on engagements within the Cyber and Critical Infrastructure Security (CCIS) portfolio, whose primary customers are Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and Science & Technology (S&T). Success in this space is measured by the strength and trust in internal and external partnerships you steward.

Group 8760 is in a phase of growth and development, as our cybersecurity mission spreads across Center 8700, and Sandia’s cyber mission area focuses on a shared Labs’ Cyber Strategy. You will lead a team recruiting and hiring the talent necessary for our programmatic success and ensuring that our workforce receives the coaching and mentorship to empower them and enable their individual success. This includes leadership of CCD, a year-round, premier intern institute for R&D cybersecurity interns from universities across the nation. You will grow this intern institute from a robust summer program to a year-round talent pipeline.

As a manager in Center 8700, you will be expected to engage in Center, Division, and Labs leadership roles, focusing particularly on strategic initiatives associated with Sandia’s cyber workforce and the Labs’ Cyber Strategy. You will use your knowledge and experience to closely collaborate with colleagues at Sandia’s other sites and externally. Given the diverse customers and partners in the Cyber Mission Area, you must be able to leverage synergies between capability and program areas to their mutual benefit while respecting classification and customer sensitivity constraints. Leadership of partnerships and both internal and external collaborations will require travel to multiple Sandia sites, Washington DC, and other locations to meet with partners, collaborators, and other stakeholders.

On any given day, you be called on to:

• Use your knowledge of the cybersecurity domain to deliver results in a dynamic and ambiguous environment
• Engage technically with department staff and collaborating organizations to understand and represent the work
• Ensure that initiative goals are satisfied by managing and coordinating specific deliverables, overall program and project plans, budgets, structures, schedules, and staffing requirements
• Build Sandia leadership support for cyber workforce initiatives and strategic partnerships
• Oversee, manage, and mentor members of the workforce within the department
• Coordinate employee recruitment, selection, training, performance assessment, work assignments, salary, recognition, and disciplinary actions
• Foster a culture of inclusion and take an active leadership role in modeling and growing values in diversity, equity, and inclusion
• Provide oversight of security and need-to-know management procedures spanning unclassified to classified work
• Oversee work that is rooted in the fundamentals of science and engineering and requires a deep understanding of engineering and scientific principles

This position will require at least part-time presence in the SCIF in Livermore, CA. As such, this position requires the ability to obtain and/or maintain an SCI clearance, and the ability to obtain additional clearances, as needed.

This is an amazing opportunity with a fantastic team that is actively defending the nation. Come join us as we shape the future.

• Master’s or PhD in computer science, computer engineering, math, or other related STEM discipline plus 4 years’ relevant experience; or a Bachelor’s degree plus 8 years’ relevant experience
• Three years’ experience leading in the cybersecurity domain, with a strong record of technical leadership and impact
• Willingness to manage a team of staff with flexible work arrangements including onsite unclassified and classified work, virtual work, telecommuting, detailees at customer locations, and matrix agreements
• Ability to obtain and maintain DOE Q and SCI security clearances
• Ability to travel regularly

• Minimum of two years of demonstrated leadership experience
• Experience recruiting, hiring, and retaining diverse and passionate staff
• Demonstrated ability to build trusting relationships with multi-disciplinary teams that include internal stakeholders, external sponsors, national lab partners, academic collaborators, and industry partners
• Ability to lead strong teams of staff and/or managers across multiple organizations while enabling/fostering a culture of innovation, including research and development
• Experience collaborating with the Sandia cyber mission area at both Albuquerque and Livermore sites, including the Threat Intelligence Community and Cyber Enterprise Security
• Demonstrated ability to exercise discretion with highly sensitive information (both classified and unclassified)
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to excel in a team management environment
• Current DOE Q security clearance or DOD TS equivalent
• Current DOE SCI security clearance or DOD SCI equivalent

Sandia is a world-class leader in cybersecurity. Today, cybersecurity is a daunting national security problem, and we’re applying decades of expertise to the task. The Information Security Sciences group (8760) currently focuses on three major areas of research and development: malware characterization and software understanding (8764); cyber systems engineering (8765), and secure cloud computing (8767). With a history of applying research to solve real world homeland security problems, we develop techniques and technologies for preventing disruption and enhancing recovery in vital high-consequence cyber and critical infrastructure systems. In addition, we are actively engaged in cyber internship programs (8761) that prepare students to enter the FFRDC workforce and provide a recruiting pipeline for the Sandia cyber mission area.

Sandia National Laboratories is the nation’s premier science and engineering lab for national security and technology innovation, with teams of specialists focused on cutting-edge work in a broad array of areas. Some of the main reasons we love our jobs:

• Challenging work with amazing impact that contributes to security, peace, and freedom worldwide
• Extraordinary co-workers
• Some of the best tools, equipment, and research facilities in the world
• Career advancement and enrichment opportunities
• Flexible work arrangements for many positions include 9/80 (work 80 hours every two weeks, with every other Friday off) and 4/10 (work 4 ten-hour days each week) compressed workweeks, part-time work, and telecommuting (a mix of onsite work and working from home)
• Generous vacations, strong medical and other benefits, competitive 401k, learning opportunities, relocation assistance and amenities aimed at creating a solid work/life balance*

Sandia is required by DOE to conduct a pre-employment drug test and background review that includes checks of personal references, credit, law enforcement records, and employment/education verifications. Applicants for employment need to be able to obtain and maintain a DOE Q-level security clearance and SCI access, both of which require US citizenship. SCI access also require a polygraph examination. If you hold more than one citizenship (i.e., of the U.S. and another country), your ability to obtain these levels of access be impacted.

Applicants offered employment with Sandia are subject to a federal background investigation to meet the requirements for access to classified information or matter if the duties of the position require a DOE security clearance. Substance abuse or illegal drug use, falsification of information, criminal activity, serious misconduct or other indicators of untrustworthiness can cause a clearance to be denied or terminated by the DOE, resulting in the inability to perform the duties assigned and subsequent termination of employment.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, or veteran status and any other protected class under state or federal law.