The U.S. National Science Foundation seeks visionary Frontier Initiative Leads to serve up to three years, guiding thesis-driven efforts that address major scientific opportunities through cross-disciplinary collaboration. These initiatives tackle complex challenges that span multiple fields, including intelligence and cognition, quantum science, advanced materials, and biological design, bringing together expertise across science, engineering, mathematics, computing, and related disciplines.
Summary
The U.S. National Science Foundation seeks visionary Frontier Initiative Leads to serve up to three years, guiding thesis-driven efforts that address major scientific opportunities through cross-disciplinary collaboration. These initiatives tackle complex challenges that span multiple fields, including intelligence and cognition, quantum science, advanced materials, and biological design, bringing together expertise across science, engineering, mathematics, computing, and related disciplines.
This position is open for an Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) assignment. Please see the "Additional Information" section for further information.
Applications will be accepted from all US citizens who meet citizenship and eligibility requirements. Please see the "Additional Information" section for further information.
For more than 75 years, NSF's directorates have sustained the depth of expertise on which American scientific leadership depends. In the intervening period, the organization of scientific practice has changed. Many of the most consequential questions before researchers today do not belong to a single established discipline, and many of the capabilities required to answer those questions are distributed across fields, institutions, sectors, and levels of technological readiness.
The study of intelligence and cognition increasingly draws together computer and information science, mathematics, neuroscience, engineering, biology, and the behavioral sciences. Developing a greater understanding of quantum phenomena depends on advances in fundamental physics, materials, devices, computation, engineering, and advanced manufacturing. The ability to discover, control, replicate, and produce advanced forms of materials and matter requires deep integration across chemistry, physics, computation, and engineering. The next era of biological design and engineering will require foundational and enabling research across biology, mathematics, chemistry, engineering, computation, and the study of complex systems.
Frontier Initiatives will enable ambitious, multidisciplinary efforts, with the explicit mandate to draw on expertise across NSF and the research community to identify how individual areas of science can advance each scientific frontier. Frontier Initiatives will identify emerging opportunities, address scientific bottlenecks, build new scientific capabilities, and mobilize research communities. Leads will connect complementary investments and assemble scientific portfolios to advance consequential frontiers that no single NSF component could achieve alone.
The initial NSF Frontier Initiatives are defined as follows.
Future of Intelligence will advance our fundamental understanding of intelligence, aimed at breakthroughs in the architectures, measurement, and science of learning that will define the next paradigm of super intelligence (SI). Just as neuroscience laid the groundwork for neural networks, the next paradigm will likely come from outside computer science and draw deliberately on physics, mathematics, biology, neuroscience, and engineering.
Frontiers of Quantum Phenomena will advance foundational research in quantum information science and technology, building the physical understanding, materials, and theory needed to compute, sense, and communicate in ways that exceed the capabilities of classical systems. This initiative will also support the engineering and instrumentation breakthroughs required to realize the scientific application of quantum capabilities.
Advanced Materials and Matter will advance the design, discovery, and manipulation of the materials that underpin nearly every other frontier, drawing from expertise in physics, computing, semiconductors, robotics, fusion, and biomanufacturing. This initiative will also advance early-stage research on materials synthesis methods and replication practices that accelerates the cycle of discovery, synthesis, and characterization.
Foundations of Biological Design will advance the measurement and intervention tools to read, write, and reliably control living systems in the physical world. A small number of such tools (e.g., gene editing, low-cost synthesis and sequencing, advanced microscopy) have driven much of modern biology, and the next generation of tools will also draw deliberately on engineering, mathematics, chemistry, and materials science.
FRONTIER INITIATIVE LEADS
Each Frontier Initiative Lead will have full responsibility for the design, development, and implementation of a vision, strategy, and technical roadmap to accelerate discovery and transformative breakthroughs in a Frontier Initiatives.
The NSF Frontier Initiative Leads will work closely with the NSF Director, Chief Science Officer, directorate leadership, and staff across the agency to identify critical scientific bottlenecks; establish agency-wide milestones and goals for the Frontier Initiative; connect diffuse programs across directorates and coordinate with existing research agendas; build and manage a portfolio of activities and programs that leverages discipline-specific expertise to accelerate discovery across every domain of the Frontier; and build partnerships with other federal agencies, the private sector, and philanthropy on behalf of NSF and the U.S. government.
In constructing the portfolio, Frontier Initiative Leads are expected to use the full range of scientific funding mechanisms available, including conventional grant programs, milestone-based funding, and prizes and challenges, matching the choice of mechanism to the underlying scientific questions.
Each Frontier Initiative Lead will report directly to the U.S. NSF Chief Science Officer.
This position is outside the competitive civil service.
Requires an Executive Branch Personnel Public Financial Disclosure OGE-450.
Qualifications
Candidates must possess advanced and/or senior-level professional or technical expertise, evidenced by recognized stature within the relevant community or by unique and extensive industry experience pertinent to NSF's critical mission needs.
Successful candidates for Frontier Initiative Lead positions will:
Serve as recognized experts in their Frontier Initiative area, with demonstrated research excellence, proven leadership experience, and a strong record of effective collaboration.
Represent the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) in engagements with the broader research community, including academic institutions, industry partners, and international stakeholders, to advance and promote Frontier Initiative priorities.
Education
Please refer to the Qualifications section.
Additional information
The position recruited under this announcement will be filled under the following appointment option:
Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) Assignment: Individuals eligible for an IPA assignment with a Federal agency include employees of State and local government agencies or institutions of higher education, Indian tribal governments, and other eligible organizations in instances where such assignments would be of mutual benefit to the organizations involved. Initial IPA assignments are made for a one-year period and may be extended by mutual agreement, with a possible extension for up to an additional two-year period. The individual remains an employee of the home institution and NSF provides the negotiated funding toward the assignee's salary and benefits.
This opportunity is open only to individuals eligible for assignment under the Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) Mobility Program. Applicants must meet all IPA eligibility requirements at the time of application. In accordance with the U.S. National Science Foundation requirements, IPAs must be United States citizens.
It is NSF policy that personnel employed at, or Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) individuals detailed to, NSF are not permitted to participate in foreign talent recruitment programs. Failure to comply with this NSF policy could result in disciplinary action up to and including removal from Federal Service or termination of an IPA assignment and referral to the Office of Inspector General.
The salary referenced above reflects the AD pay band applicable to federal employees. However, individuals serving under an Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) assignment remain employees of their home institutions throughout the duration of the assignment and continue to be compensated through those institutions. For IPA assignments, compensation is based on the individual's current salary at their home institution, annualized for the period of the assignment. If the individual's annualized salary falls below the minimum salary established for the applicable AD pay band, the agency may provide supplemental compensation to bring the individual's total compensation up to the AD minimum. This supplemental amount is paid in accordance with IPA mobility program authorities and does not alter the individual's employment relationship with their home institution. An individual's annualized salary may exceed the AD pay band maximum.
In addition, all IPA assignments require the home institution to provide a minimum cost share equal to 10 percent of the employee's total base salary and fringe benefits.
IPA participants will be eligible for either one year of per diem allowance, in accordance with U.S. General Services Administration rates, or a round-trip household goods move (relocation) to the Washington Metropolitan Area to support the rotational assignment.
Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.
Interested individuals must submit the following materials:
Current resume or curriculum vitae (CV) with Cover Letter
Professional References
Portfolio Strategy Statement (Details Below)
Current contact information
Applicants are asked to include a Portfolio Strategy Statement of no longer than five pages, which should articulate the candidate's view of the scientific frontier and demonstrate how they would construct a portfolio under conditions of genuine scientific uncertainty. Rather than proposing a comprehensive strategic plan, candidates should focus on how they might collect high-quality information to inform a technical roadmap for the Frontier Initiative, their scientific judgement and decision-making approach to prioritize between goals given limited resources, their approach to collaborating with Directorates and the research community, and how they might adjust a portfolio in light of novel information. Specifically, the Portfolio Strategy Statement should:
Identify 3-5 high-impact scientific questions that could substantially influence the future development of the specified frontier over the next decade, and why the candidate decided to prioritize these specific questions;
Explain why those questions are consequential and how answers to them would support NSF's long-term investment strategy across multiple Directorates;
Propose an initial portfolio of research, partnerships, and other initiatives to address those questions and advance the Frontier Initiative;
Describe the types of discoveries or technological developments that would cause the candidate to materially revise their strategy, and how the candidate might go about soliciting such information from Directorate leadership and the broader research community; and
Explain the distinctive role NSF should play within the Frontier Initiative topic, relative to industry, philanthropy, academia, other Federal agencies, and international partners.
US National Science Foundation, Office of the Director
401 Dulany Street
Alexandria, VA 22314
US
Next steps
Applications will be reviewed by a search committee to assess qualifications and alignment with the position requirements. Selected candidates will be invited to participate in interviews. Following the interviews, a final selection will be made, and the chosen candidates will receive information regarding assignment processing, IPA agreement requirements, and onboarding activities.
The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.
Interested individuals must submit the following materials:
Current resume or curriculum vitae (CV) with Cover Letter
Professional References
Portfolio Strategy Statement (Details Below)
Current contact information
Applicants are asked to include a Portfolio Strategy Statement of no longer than five pages, which should articulate the candidate's view of the scientific frontier and demonstrate how they would construct a portfolio under conditions of genuine scientific uncertainty. Rather than proposing a comprehensive strategic plan, candidates should focus on how they might collect high-quality information to inform a technical roadmap for the Frontier Initiative, their scientific judgement and decision-making approach to prioritize between goals given limited resources, their approach to collaborating with Directorates and the research community, and how they might adjust a portfolio in light of novel information. Specifically, the Portfolio Strategy Statement should:
Identify 3-5 high-impact scientific questions that could substantially influence the future development of the specified frontier over the next decade, and why the candidate decided to prioritize these specific questions;
Explain why those questions are consequential and how answers to them would support NSF's long-term investment strategy across multiple Directorates;
Propose an initial portfolio of research, partnerships, and other initiatives to address those questions and advance the Frontier Initiative;
Describe the types of discoveries or technological developments that would cause the candidate to materially revise their strategy, and how the candidate might go about soliciting such information from Directorate leadership and the broader research community; and
Explain the distinctive role NSF should play within the Frontier Initiative topic, relative to industry, philanthropy, academia, other Federal agencies, and international partners.
US National Science Foundation, Office of the Director
401 Dulany Street
Alexandria, VA 22314
US
Next steps
Applications will be reviewed by a search committee to assess qualifications and alignment with the position requirements. Selected candidates will be invited to participate in interviews. Following the interviews, a final selection will be made, and the chosen candidates will receive information regarding assignment processing, IPA agreement requirements, and onboarding activities.
Fair and transparent
The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.
