NIF Target and Laser Interaction Sphere (TaLIS) Team Lead

Company Description

Join us and make YOUR mark on the World!

Are you interested in joining some of the brightest talent in the world to strengthen the United States’ security? Come join Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) where our employees apply their expertise to create solutions for BIG ideas that make our world a better place.

We are committed to a diverse and equitable workforce with an inclusive culture that values and celebrates the diversity of our people, talents, ideas, experiences, and perspectives. This is important for continued success of the Laboratory’s mission.

Pay Range

$182,310  - $231,180  Annually for the SEL.3 level
$218,700  - $277,344  Annually for the SEL.4 level

This is the lowest to highest salary we in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this posting; pay will not be below any applicable local minimum wage.  An employee’s position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to, specific competencies, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, seniority, geographic location, performance, and business or organizational needs.

Job Description

The National Ignition Facility seeks a leader for the Target and Laser Interaction Sphere (TaLIS) team. This role involves managing a team of scientists and engineers responsible for evaluating the safety and impact when NIF’s 192 laser beams hit the targets at the center of the target chamber. Responsibilities include reviewing experimental proposals, assessing equipment configurations, and recommending safety and performance optimizations to the Facility and User Program management. Configuration related issues often include positioning and alignment of components, interactions and interferences with laser beams, laser-plasma interactions such as backscatter and beam bending, and damage risk due to target debris and shock waves.  The successful candidate will play a crucial role in maintaining operational safety of the laser and experimental systems and enhancing the NIF target chamber's performance. This position is part of the Laser Systems Engineering & Operations Division within the Engineering Directorate.

This position will be filled at either level based on knowledge and related experience as assessed by the hiring team. Additional job responsibilities (outlined below) will be assigned if hired at the higher level. 

In this role, you will

• Provide leadership, supervision, and technical, strategic, and administrative direction, guidance, and support in accomplishing project/program goals and objectives to a multi-disciplinary team of scientists and engineers.
• Establish project objectives and strategies for technical team, guiding workload planning for multiple projects among group members, assigning work, remaining aware of complex technical goals, problems, and solutions, and tracking progress of project schedule, milestones, and involved budgets to ensure deadlines are met.
• Lead the TaLIS expert group in conducting comprehensive reviews of complex experimental configurations to ensure chamber safety and effectiveness.
• Collaborate with NIF Experimental Program physicists, Systems Engineering, and Operations teams to document, review, and approve experimental setups.
• Oversee alignment evaluations for targets, diagnostics, and beams, ensuring compliance with requirements and tolerances.
• Coordinate in-depth analyses and assessments of laser-plasma interactions and backscatter to mitigate optics damage risks, as well as evaluation of unconverted light interactions and control of counter propagating light.
• Manage evaluations and recommend strategies for mitigating target debris, shrapnel, and shock effects, applying advanced knowledge and using innovative methods/technology where applicable.
• Participate in design reviews, providing expert technical analysis and recommendations for design optimization.
• Respond to operational upsets, participate in management review boards, and advise on corrective actions.
• Lead TaLIS campaign reviews to ensure compliance with all safety and operational standards, while also making certain that safety related Laboratory and Directorate policies are understood, applied, and followed.

In Addition, at the SEL.4 Level:

• Act as primary technical contact and work across stakeholder groups to identify and implement process improvements to enable more effective and efficient reviews, and to make recommendations and provide strategic technical advice to the NIF target and diagnostics engineering as well as operations team on the designs and the operations guidelines with respect to TaLIS impacts.
• Utilize subject matter expertise to strategically