Department Manager, Spatial Computing

at Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho Falls, Idaho, United States

Job Description

Does founding and leading a department at the frontier of spatial intelligence, where physical nuclear facilities, intelligent autonomous systems, and immersive digital environments converge intrigue you? Idaho National Laboratory is seeking a bold, technically deep, and strategically minded leader to establish and grow the Spatial Computing department within the Scientific Computing and AI Division.
This is a founding leadership role. The Department Manager will define the department's technical identity, build its team from the ground up, establish its research agenda, and position INL as a national leader in spatial computing applied to energy, defense, and critical infrastructure missions. You will inherit a set of nascent capabilities and active programs spread across the laboratory and consolidate them into a coherent, high-impact department with a distinctive research portfolio.
You will report to the Division Director, Scientific Computing and AI, and collaborate closely with the Department Managers for Computational Data Science, Computational Frameworks, and Digital Twin and Data Frameworks, where spatial computing intersects with digital twin architectures, data pipelines, and AI/ML methods. As a member of the Division's senior leadership team, you will also contribute to Division-wide strategy, workforce planning, and cross-laboratory engagement.
Responsibilities:
Department Founding & Strategy: Define the Spatial Computing department's technical vision, research agenda, and organizational structure. Establish the department's identity within INL's Scientific Computing and AI Division and articulate its value proposition to internal and external stakeholders.
Team Building: Recruit, hire, and onboard a multidisciplinary team of researchers and engineers spanning AI for robotics and autonomy, computer vision, XR/mixed reality, spatial AI, perception, and human-machine interaction. Build the team thoughtfully to balance near-term program delivery with long-term research excellence.
People Leadership: Manage all department staff; provide quarterly performance evaluations with meaningful critical feedback, personal goal-setting, and career development planning. Support retention through active mentorship and recognition of technical excellence.
Programmatic Growth: Identify, pursue, and win funded research programs with federal sponsors including DOE Office of Science, DOE Nuclear Energy, NNSA, DOD (DARPA, OSD, service research labs), DHS, and NASA. Develop and submit competitive proposals and work authorizations; negotiate scope, cost, and schedule with customers.
Technical Leadership: Maintain active engagement with the technical work of the department; provide strategic and architectural guidance on key research challenges. Serve as a senior technical voice in cross-INL and external forums.
Cross-Laboratory Integration: Integrate the department's capabilities into INL's broader digital engineering ecosystem, including the Digital Innovation Center of Excellence (DICE),the Genesis Mission, and VULCAN. Utilize and build INL's unique digital engineering and AI capabilities including the DeepLynx ecosystem and MOOSE. Partner with the Digital Twin and Data Frameworks and Computational Data Science departments to enable physics-grounded, data-driven spatial computing systems.
Mission Application: Drive application of spatial computing capabilities to INL's core missions including autonomous labs, nuclear reactor autonomous inspection and maintenance, remote handling in radiological environments, immersive operator training for nuclear facilities, spatial situational awareness for critical infrastructure protection, and robotics for extreme or inaccessible environments.
External Representation: Represent INL's spatial computing capabilities at national and international conferences, federal program reviews, DOE laboratory coordination activities, and industry forums. Author or co-author peer-reviewed publications, technical reports, and patents.
Division Leadership: Participate actively in the Division leadership team; contribute to Division strategic planning, budget development, and workforce initiatives. Act as Division Director in times of absence as assigned.
Safety Culture: Champion INL's Integrated Safety Management System (ISMS) and ensure department compliance with all environmental, safety, health, quality assurance, cybersecurity, and export control requirements.
Minimum Requirements:
Master's degree in Computer Science, Nuclear Engineering, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, Systems... For full info follow application link.

Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) employer. It is the policy of INL to provide equal employment opportunities to all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, protected veteran or disabled status, or genetic information.