DOE Participant Program (DPP) Manager

Appointment Type: Full-Time Regular (FTR)

Location: Oak Ridge, TN or Hybrid

*Salary Range: $101,816 - $149,805

This position will require the selected candidate to occasionally work from the Oak Ridge, TN office on an as needed basis.

PURPOSE: The DOE Participant Program (DPP) Manager for STEM Workforce Development Programs (STEM WD) works closely with the Senior Manager to maintain and improve the performance of the DPP group in support of ORISE strategic goals and objectives including technical, quality, and administrative aspects. Additionally, the DPP manager is responsible for management of staff and the administration of workforce development programs for postdoctoral, postgraduate, graduate, undergraduate and precollege students, and for university faculty. Programs include flagship programs for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) with high visibility requiring an experienced professional knowledgeable in program management and professional development.

Leadership

Works collaboratively and in close harmony with the ORISE DPP Senior Manager to identify potential problems and works to find solutions in order to maximize efficiency and maintain and improve communications and performance.
• Partners with cross-functional teams to improve tools and processes to foster alignment across DPP programs.
• Works with other managers to ensure that all administrative support priorities, schedules, tasks, and activities are met.
• Assists Senior Manager and other ORISE/ORAU management staff in program development activities, and the implementation and management of new programs.
• Works with the Associate Managers and other Project Managers to establish standards of performance and implement quality control measures.
• Formulates, prepares, and delivers reports, briefs, evaluations, and other materials.
• Demonstrates a high level of ethics, integrity, enthusiasm, patience, trustworthiness, honesty, and professional dedication.

Program Management

• Provides project management for ongoing and expanding activities related to workforce development programs. Requiring an extensive understanding of the Department of Energy (DOE) and other sponsoring agencies missions and directorates, and their mission areas to interact with hundreds of federal research facilities and university education coordinators, participants, advisors, government and private sector representatives, and program sponsors in response to questions and to provide programmatic and other requested information.
• Implements innovative approaches to DPP activities and support of programmatic initiatives.
• Ensures best practices and innovations are identified and shared across DPP teams, and barriers are identified and overcome.
  • Provides operational support for multiple teams managing all aspects of scholarships, fellowships, internships, and special events programs.
  • Organizes and plans staff work activities and provides oversight to ensure that programs meet sponsors requirements and agreed upon deliverables.
  • Promotes a customer-focused environment with assigned staff.
  • Identifies and solves problems and uses data to evaluate results and make future decisions.
  • Maintains quality control by identifying and solving problems in a timely fashion.
  • Establishes and maintains effective relationships internally within DPP, STEM WD, and externally with sponsors, universities, and other stakeholders.
  • Understands and monitors administrative issues and current practices that affect funding and customer service.
  • Understands and meets ORISE contract performance objectives.

Personnel Management

• Fosters a commitment to excellence in personnel management by promoting ORISE and ORAU institutional culture and values and through organization-wide leadership standards.
• Requires effective leadership and management of staff with scientific, academic, military, and business backgrounds.
• Conveys organizational and group direction and assists staff in motivating and maximizing their contributions to the team.
• Finding, hiring, developing, empowering, and retaining peak performers.

Financial Management

• Monitors and assists Senior Manager in the management of all financial aspects of the DPP operational budget including sales plan and operation accounts.
• Responsible for procurement activities for the group including approvals or requisitions, contracts, business amenities, and funding documents.
• Prepares and monitors budgets and controls expenditures in accordance with agreed upon deliverables and ORISE/ORAU requirements for individually assigned programs.
• Approves appointments, travel, stipend authorizations, and other programmatic expenditures.
• Provides accurate cost reporting to sponsors requiring expertise on financial systems and funding sources.

Other Related Duties

• Represents the organization on various committees and professional societies, and at national meetings and public forums.
• Participates by leading a specific activity or event for one or more internal ORAU or ORISE teams/committees, especially those promoting participant engagement and support of STEM-WD mission and operations and the Annual Lab Plan.

Bachelor's degree in science, education, or other technical field and 6 - 10 years of job-related experience. An equivalent combination of education and experience requiring similar knowledge, skills, abilities, and performing duties as described may be substituted for the minimum requirements.

• Strong record of achievement and performance in leadership, program management, and with supporting staff.
• Experience with strategic planning, financial management, human resource management, project management and risk management.
• Ability to interact with diverse groups of individuals from different educational and cultural backgrounds.
• Ability to work collaboratively with staff and leadership.
• Ability and willingness to engage in business development activities such as writing proposals, identifying potential clients and opportunities, and developing outreach efforts.
• Effective interpersonal and communication skills.
• Ability to organize and manage multiple projects and tasks.
• Ability to use commercially available and custom software programs for daily business communications, presentations, data analysis, report preparation, and other functions.
• Ability to make decisions based on a set of broad guidelines, and to make some decisions where there is no precedent.
• Experience in working with researchers and managers at multiple federal agencies, and the university community of undergraduate, faculty, graduate students, and postgraduates in a broad spectrum of technical and scientific disciplines of relevance to sponsoring agencies.
• Ability design, implement, and operate programs to deliver expected outcomes.
• Experience in working with the federal agencies, laboratories, and organizations involved in education and academic research in order to understand the issues and trends in workforce development at the sponsoring agencies.
• Ability to travel as required.
• Knowledge of the specific tasks associated with undergraduate, graduate, faculty, postgraduate and postdoctoral programs as well as knowledge related to operation, budget, and management of a diverse portfolio of programs.
• Must have Project management experience to develop and implement operational plans, staffing plans, and prepare activities to meet requirements of different programs and multiple sponsors.
• Familiarity with the research initiatives of the federal agencies, with emerging trends and issues in workforce development programs, and with strategies for engaging under-represented groups.
• Ability to develop partnerships and effective working relationships with the wide array of advisors, sponsors, federal agencies, and professional organizations.
• Knowledge of policies, requirements, and procedures involved in the recruiting, application processing, and selection of applicants as well as the administrative tasks related to providing payments to or for, and support to, participants.
• Working knowledge of accounting principles to manage thousands of funding documents and track funding availability. Specifically, this position requires knowledge of the different funding mechanisms used to submit funds to ORISE by DOE (e.g. Field Work Proposals, Work Statement Authorizations, ICP) and other federal agencies supported through the Strategic Partnership Programs.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, ability to forward planning and strategic thinking, and problem solving decision-making, and mentoring skills.
• Ability to deal with difficult situations and help resolve conflicts.
• In-depth knowledge of technology tools for data management, modeling, forecasting, and reporting purposes is desired.
• Requires excellent oral and written communication skills, customer relations/customer service skills, and advanced computer skills (proficient in the use of MS Office Applications including Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint; and knowledge of Web publishing, SharePoint and database applications).
• Ability to conduct research independently and develop and deliver professional development modules for participants.

*The candidate's starting salary will be determined upon hire and ORAU will use salary survey data, internal comparators, and the candidate's qualifications to determine salary.

TOTAL REWARDS

ORAU has a strategic approach to providing total rewards to employees through a fair, equitable, and competitive total compensation package. The goal of our total rewards system is to integrate compensation, benefits, work-life balance, performance, recognition, development, and career opportunities to attract, engage, and retain the talent required to achieve ORAU's business objectives. The benefit component of our total rewards program supports business goals by offering the following benefits based on employee eligibility:

• Legally required benefits
• Group Health insurance including: Medical, Prescription, Dental, and Vision
• Retirement plan contribution matching
• Disability insurance
• Group life insurance
• Travel Accident Insurance
• Section 125 reimbursement accounts
• Other voluntary employee paid benefit and insurance offerings

The ORAU total reward package also promotes work-life balance. Mindful of the need for employees to care for themselves and their families, ORAU offers the following additional work-life benefits based on employee eligibility:

• Telework
• Paid Time Off (PTO)
• Paid Holidays
• Flexible work schedules or compressed work weeks
• Occupational Health and Wellness Programs
• Employee Assistance Program