NEON Chief Scientist/Observatory Director

Job Summary

Battelle is seeking an accomplished scientific leader to serve as the NEON Chief Scientist and Observatory Director, providing strategic, scientific, and operational leadership for the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON). This role is based in Boulder, Colorado, and represents a unique opportunity to lead one of the world’s most advanced ecological monitoring platforms.

Battelle is a mission-driven, nonprofit research and development organization committed to applying science and technology to solve the world’s most challenging problems. Guided by a founding mission to do the greatest good for humanity, Battelle invests its expertise, creativity, and resources to deliver impact for customers, communities, and future generations. Battelle operates at the forefront of innovation across national security, health, energy, manufacturing, and environmental research. Our work is grounded in scientific rigor, technical excellence, and a deep commitment to advancing knowledge that makes the world safer, healthier, and more sustainable.

The Chief Scientist/ Observatory Director role for the U.S. National Science Foundation funded National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) will serve as the top-level scientific authority and is responsible for the advocacy of transformative research using the continental scale ecological Observatory. This position will lead the NEON program through close coordination with the ecological and broader science community and ensure that the Observatory fulfills its scientific and educational mission. The NEON Chief Scientist/ Observatory Director leads a multi-disciplinary scientific and technical staff to provide highly reliable data, infrastructure, and scientific resources to various stakeholders. In addition, this position will build impactful external activities with collaborators nationally and internationally.

Responsibilities

• Position NEON as a leader among ecological observing systems.


• Serve as a member of the Battelle-NEON leadership to advocate, support, and ensure the scientific objectives of the Observatory are met.


• Uphold the science requirements for the NEON Observatory, an activity that includes scientific development and management to preserve integrity of science requirements, designs, protocols, and algorithms.


• Represent Battelle-NEON to Federal Agencies, Congress, the Executive Branch, and other key external stakeholders in order to communicate effectively regarding the Program.


• Communicate regularly with NSF as the Battelle point of contact for the program regarding recommendations, partnerships, and impacts related to the program.


• Advise and work directly with Battelle Senior Management and the NEON Program Manager to lead and enable the science functions of the Observatory.


• Oversee, advise, and lead the science activities and staff that are needed for Battelle-NEON to fulfill its scientific mission of providing high-quality data to the research community.


• Oversee the strategy for periodic science validation activities to ensure that NEON achieves its science goals and remains relevant over the course of the Program.


• Interact with staff across Battelle to develop NEON adjacent opportunities and further staff development.


• Ensure the mentoring of the scientific staff with their professional development, build the professional and safety culture within NEON, and establish a high professional standard of performance, ethics, integrity and behavior in the conduct of the Program.


• Ensure close engagement with the science community and assess the long-term direction and strategic plan for NEON and lead periodic Program performance reviews to guide operations.

Key Qualifications

• Ph.D. with at least 10 years of experience following the Ph.D. and established record of outstanding scholarly achievement in ecology, environmental science, or related disciplines advancing ecological thought and managing ecological science.


• Known and respected as a thought-leader with broad, deep, and transformative understanding of the environmental sub-disciplines and complex Earth-system science that span the breadth of the NEON program. Demonstrated success with NSF proposal submissions, experience on panel reviews, and award management.


• Demonstrated experience using a combination of analytical, experimental, and theoretical approaches to solve problems in the sub-disciplines of the NEON program.


• Demonstrated experience with networked science and managing science both internal to the organization and collaboratively with large external stakeholder communities, as well as working experience with Federal Agencies and their funding and reporting processes.


• Demonstrated ability to design and execute effective strategies to advance programmatic and scientific goals, project management, budget design and management, and personnel management.


• Outstanding leadership and interpersonal skills with a management style that encourages open expressions of ideas and opinions. Demonstrated ability to work in and foster a collaborative work environment. Must build consensus, move projects forward, and compromise wisely, oftentimes under deadline pressure. Ability to “lead from the middle,” building coalitions to create progress.


• Demonstrated ability to work effectively and collaboratively with individuals from a wide range of professional backgrounds and career stages, and demonstrated mentoring ability. Ability to bridge competing views and work across diverse cultures,


• Strong personal integrity and work ethic, superior judgment, emotional intelligence, the ability to maintain confidentiality, and the ability to show sound judgment and independent initiative.


• Demonstrated ability to capture external funding and an active publication record.


• Excellent writing and verbal communication skills that reflect an ability to clarify and simplify complicated issues and technical subject matter, with a versatility in tone and technique, depending on the author and/or audience, combined with a demonstrated ability to collaborate with leading research institutions and key funding organizations.


• Must be a U.S. Citizen 

Salary Range & Compensation

Battelle is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. The salary range for this role is $240,000 to $310,000 per year, in addition to our comprehensive benefits package. A candidate’s salary is determined by various factors, including but not limited to education, relevant work experience, skills, and certifications. Salary ranges may vary based on geographic location and market conditions.