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The Structures Group, part of the TMT Telescope Department, is responsible for the telescope structure and its associated mechanical systems. The current plan is that the telescope structure will be provided by the Japanese TMT partner, through a design-build contract placed with a Japanese industrial company.

The primary work location for the Structures Group Leader position will be at the TMT Project office in Pasadena, CA, but travel to Japan and to the other TMT partner countries will be required.

• Developing statements of work, plans and schedules for the principal design-build contract, as well as for additional purchased subsystems and engineering services

• Supervising design, fabrication, trial assembly, transportation, erection and testing of the telescope structure and its subsystems by the design-build contractor

• Developing structural and mechanical designs of some portions of the observatory, and supervising their fabrication and integration

• Developing and executing risk mitigation plans and safety plans

Specifically, the Structures Group Leader will be responsible for:

• Guiding the design of the structure and its mechanical systems
   
• Planning and control of Structures Group activities

• Supervision of staff members and recruitment of new staff

• Managing the work to meet the schedule and budget, and tracking progress using the project earned value management system

• Presenting status reports and presentations to project management

• Organizing and conducting design reviews for the structure and its subsystems

• Ensuring that safety and environmental standards and regulations are met

• Interacting with other project groups including Optics, Controls, Facilities, Instrumentation, Adaptive Optics and Science Operations

• Working with the TMT international partner organizations, particularly in Japan, but also interacting with groups in the United States, Canada, China and India

• Representing TMT through involvement with professional organizations and presentations to international conferences

The Structures Group Leader will also be responsible for the systems engineering of the telescope structure and its subsystems, and will work with the project Systems Engineering Group to maintain, and in some cases complete development of:

• Top-down and bottom-up error budgets

• Design requirements documents and interface control documents for the telescope structure and its subsystems

• Quality assurance plan

• Integration and test plans

• A bachelor's degree in engineering or physics is required; an advanced degree in mechanical or structural engineering is highly preferred.

• 10 years experience in the design, fabrication, installation and alignment of large complex machines or dynamic structures

• 5 years experience leading a team of engineers performing structural and mechanical design of such systems in a multi-discipline team environment

• International travel will be required to partner, vendor and observatory locations.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

Candidate should have:

• Excellent written and oral communication skills in both English and Japanese

• Strong mechanical and structural design skills

• Experience doing finite-element analysis

• Knowledge of the design of large structures, piers and foundations

• Knowledge of steel fabrication techniques

• Experience assembling and aligning large structures

• Knowledge of electrical and control systems

• Experience managing large engineering contracts

Additional knowledge/experience that is highly desirable includes:

• Experience working in large projects

• Experience working in international projects

• Knowledge of structural design practices for earthquake survival

• Experience building large antennas or optical or radio telescopes

• Experience with large astronomical observatories

• Knowledge of formal systems engineering practices