Project Team Strategist

Primary Work Address: 19700 Helix Drive, Ashburn, VA, 20147

Current HHMI Employees, click here to apply via your Workday account.

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Janelia Research Campus is a pioneering research center in Ashburn, Virginia, where scientists pursue fundamental questions in the life sciences. Our integrated teams of biologists, computational scientists, and tool-builders innovate research practices and technologies to solve biology’s deepest mysteries. HHMI launched Janelia in 2006, establishing an intellectually enriching environment for scientists to do creative, collaborative, hands-on work. We share our methods, results, and tools with the scientific community.

About the Role:

The Project Team Strategist will report to the Senior Director of Team Projects and collaborate with other Project Team Leaders. A successful candidate will nimbly shift their efforts to help the portfolio of Project Teams enhance their scientific potential. The Project Team Strategist will excel in a highly collaborative environment and thrive on intellectual interactions and finding connections between diverse groups.

About the Department:

“Janelia’s Project Teams have had a disproportionate impact because the tools and datasets they generate accelerate the work in hundreds of laboratories. Similar activities are rare in academia, largely due to limitations imposed by career structures and funding mechanisms” (Rubin and O’Shea, 2019)

Project Teams provide a unique mechanism for tackling experimentally challenging, trans-disciplinary problems using team science approaches. We produce transformative datasets, reagents and tools. A key principle of Project Teams is that our work products are made open and available early with the aim of enabling rapid scientific discoveries both at Janelia and beyond. More information can be found at Janelia Project Teams.

What we provide:

• An intellectually compelling environment that encourages broad thinking and problem-solving.

• Opportunity to engage with leading scientists across diverse fields

• A diverse team looking forward to exploring how your unique background, talents, and interests could contribute to the Project Team Department's successes.

• A competitive compensation package with comprehensive health and welfare benefits.

• Professional development opportunities.

What you’ll do:

• Provide scientific input and expertise on multiple Project Teams.

• Help launch new Project Team efforts, including directly contributing to and performing research, or analyzing data.

• Compile and analyze and articulate metrics of the scientific impact and reach of Project Team efforts and make recommendations to enhance sharing.

• Provide project management recommendations and support.

• Develop frameworks for data sharing and assessment of progress toward research goals.

• Expand awareness for Janelia’s Project Teams by actively engaging with collaborators and promoting the accomplishments of the teams.

• Assist with written and presentation materials, including scientific manuscripts.

• Develop data management and sharing plans, and collaborate with the communications team, and Innovation & External Relations team to enable synergistic communication and data-sharing strategies.

• Assist with budgeting forecasting.

• Maintain a digital presence for the department and collaborating labs highlighting collective accomplishments.

What you bring:

• A doctoral or advanced degree (Ph.D. or equivalent) in a scientific field is required.

• 3-5 years demonstrated experience with managing projects and working in a scientific environment or research organization.

• Experience communicating with both a scientific and lay audience about science is required.

• Experience developing presentation materials for audiences at different levels of abstraction.

• Experience in a Team Science environment, and experience with project management or willingness to learn.

• Ability to work independently and as part of a highly collaborative team.

• Experience, or openness to learn, project management tools like GitHub, ClickUp, Jira, Notion etc.

• Excellent organization, prioritization, and s