IFE Program Director

Your tasks

• Oversee and accountable for the design, planning, and execution strategy of a large-scale, billion-dollar class program, ensuring alignment with organizational objectives.
• Provide day-to-day leadership to matrixed engineering, science and operations teams, maintaining technical integrity and quality standards.
• Lead IFE system architecture, from early-stage concept development through engineering design, technology maturation, construction readiness, commissioning, and operational demonstration.
• Manage project budgets, resource allocation, and schedules, implementing proactive risk mitigation and reporting on performance metrics.
• Collaborate with senior leadership and stakeholders, communicating program status, risks, critical path activities, key dependencies, and opportunities for continuous improvement.
• Lead resolution of cross-disciplinary technical issues and trade-offs involving performance, cost, reliability, maintainability, safety, and schedule.
• Ensure that design assumptions, technology development activities, and engineering analyses are consistent across the program.
• Work with element leads and technical authorities to establish appropriate design maturity, validation requirements, and evidence-based readiness assessments.
• Establish effective program governance, reporting, configuration management, change control, and decision-making processes.
• Ensure that near-term technical and engineering decisions support the long-term commercial deployment strategy.

Requirements

• Education: MS in physics, mechanical engineering, nuclear engineering or related technical field.
• Experience: 15+ years leading large, complex programs (billion-dollar scale preferred) within an engineering-intensive environment (semiconductor, laser, nuclear, space and defense, etc.).
• Proven track record of guiding large-scale technical teams through all phases of technical program delivery.
• Demonstrated success translating technical objectives into integrated program plans with measurable milestones, budgets, schedules, and accountable owners.
• Experience coordinating multiple technical disciplines and managing complex system interfaces and dependencies.
• Strong understanding of systems engineering, technology maturation, technical risk management, and engineering design reviews.
• Experience managing program budgets, resource allocation, external contracts, and executive-level reporting.
• Exceptional communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence at all levels of the organization.
• Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum

• Ph.D. in a relevant engineering field.
• Experience in fusion energy development, nuclear technology, advanced energy systems, or another highly complex, capital-intensive technology program.
• Experience with pilot plants, first-of-a-kind facilities, prototype systems, or integrated technology demonstrations.
• Familiarity with fusion plant architectures, including major subsystems such as the laser driver, targets, chamber, and fusion fuel cycle.
• Familiarity with regulatory and compliance frameworks for high-value engineering projects.