Associate Director, Coalition Management

Department

SING EVP Headquarters - Finance & Ops - CoS NL

About the Department

The Office of National Laboratories (ONL) works to provide UChicago researchers, National Laboratories leaders, and scholars with guidance, resources, and central administrative support for their pursuit of new knowledge and novel solutions to the world’s most pressing problems. We work to create possibility, enabling our researchers on campus and at our national laboratories to tackle cutting-edge, big picture scientific research and to better scale their scholarship and research discoveries.

The University’s stewardship of Argonne and Fermilab, on behalf of the Department of Energy, provides institutional support and unique resources that help these National laboratories tackle some of the greatest scientific and technical challenges of our time.

Fermi Forward Discovery Group, LLC (FermiForward) was recently selected by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science as the management-and-operating (M&O) contractor for the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab). FermiForward consists of the University of Chicago (UChicago) and Universities Research Association, Inc. (URA), with Amentum and Longenecker & Associates, Inc. as integrated subcontractors. As part of the new contract, FermiForward secured millions of dollars in commitments from more than 20 partner research universities and organizations to enhance and enable the scientific vision and amplify the impact of Fermilab across the world.

Job Summary

This newly created position is pivotal in driving the success of the FermiForward research coalition by forging strong partnerships and executing high-impact project management to deliver on FermiForward’s commitments. The position requires maintaining key relationships, gathering and analyzing critical data, tracking performance metrics, and developing detailed reports that inform strategic decision-making.

The ideal candidate is highly organized, analytical, and an exceptional writer. They thrive in a fast-paced environment, operates with precision and efficiency, and takes ownership of outcomes. A strong communicator and problem-solver, ideal candidate is proactive, results-driven, and committed to execution at the highest level.

This role will report to the Director of Science Strategy within the Science Strategy Office and works closely with the Office of National Laboratories (ONL). The Science Strategy Office partners with leadership, deans, and faculty to set the University of UChicago’s strategic direction in science and technology. The team enables deep, seamless collaboration between science initiatives and external partners to advance scholarship, discoveries, and technological developments on a global scale. 

Given the critical importance of these commitments to Fermilab’s success, the incumbent will also maintain a close working relationship with the Vice President of National Laboratories to ensure alignment and impact.

Responsibilities

• Creates processes and procedures for managing 20+ partners who have committed resources to Fermilab. 
• Serves as primary point of contact for work related to FermiForward partner commitments. 
• Develops and maintains relations with a range of stakeholders. 
• Researches new partnership opportunities by working closely with the ONL. 
• Creates, tracks, and maintains a database for the committed resources ensuring they are provided as described. 
• Gathers data and develops reports to be used for communication with the VP of National Laboratories, Department of Energy (DOE), partners, and University faculty and leadership. 
• Tracks progress, conducts analysis, as well as prepares for and facilitates project meetings. 
• Develops detailed work plans, project estimates, and status reports.  
• Works somewhat independently to develop detailed work plans, schedules, project estimates, resource plans, and status reports. Assembles and leads a project team, assigns individual responsibilities, identifi