Jill Hruby made history as the first woman to ever head a U.S. nuclear weapons lab, serving as director of Sandia National Laboratories from 2015 to 2017.

[3] Hruby joined Sandia National Laboratories as a member of the technical staff in 1983[4] and retired as the director in 2017.

At Sandia, Hruby held roles of increasing management responsibilities with experiences in nuclear weapons systems and component design, nuclear non-proliferation, defense and homeland security technologies and systems, renewable energy, materials science, engineering sciences, and microsystems technology.

[5] Since her retirement, she served as the inaugural Sam Nunn Distinguished Fellow at the Nuclear Threat Initiative from 2018 to 2019.

[3] On May 13, 2022, Hruby was awarded an honorary doctorate of engineering by her undergraduate alma mater, Purdue University.