Back to jobs

Project Manager - Commercial Projects

Hawthorne

About Valar Atomics

At Valar Atomics, we're redefining what's possible in energy. Our mission is to make clean, high-temperature nuclear power scalable—unlocking abundant energy for industry, hydrogen, and next-generation manufacturing. We are a team of builders, engineers, and operators who believe nuclear energy should be fast to deploy, factory-made, and built for the real world. Our first pilot plant in Orangeville, Utah will demonstrate how advanced nuclear systems and fuel fabrication can power the future. Joining Valar Atomics means becoming part of a company where autonomy, ownership, and impact exist at every level.

About the role

The Project Manager will lead development execution for one of Valar’s first commercial projects. This role is responsible for managing the project from early site development through major investment and delivery readiness milestones, with continued involvement after handoff tosupport continuity, decision-making, and alignment with the construction and delivery teams.

The Project Manager will own the integrated development schedule, coordinate across internal teams and external partners, support vendors and internal planning before construction handoff, track development-phase cost and risk inputs, and help define the project control’s structure Valar will use as it scales. This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who has managed complex capital projects and can operate in a fast-moving startup environment. The right person will bring strong project discipline without creating unnecessary bureaucracy. Success in this role means building a project development model that is clear, practical, repeatable, and strong enough to support future commercial sites.

Key Responsibilities

  • Develop and maintain the integrated project development schedule from site development through major investment decision, delivery readiness, and construction handoff.
  • Run regular schedule updates, critical path reviews, look ahead planning, and schedule risk analysis during the development and pre-construction phases.
  • Drive readiness for key project gates, including early engineering, development milestones, regulatory milestones, customer milestones, and internal investment decisions.
  • Own the master milestone list, gate decision log, and project development execution calendar.
  • Support internal engineering and major vendor planning during the development and pre-construction phases, including scope definition, schedule inputs, commercial readiness, and handoff preparation, working closely with the Project Delivery team.
  • Coordinate with Supply Chain, Engineering, Delivery, and Construction leadership on long-lead equipment planning and major vendor readiness before execution handoff.
  • Help define the information, documentation, and decision packages required for a clean handoff to the Delivery and Construction teams.
  • Participate in contractor coordination and executive contractor reviews as needed during development and handoff, while supporting the Delivery team as the primary owner of construction execution.
  • Maintain visibility into key vendor, internal engineering, schedule, cost, and risk items after handoff to support continuity between project development and construction execution.
  • Produce weekly project status reports covering schedule, cost, risk, open decisions, and major actions during the development phase.
  • Prepare monthly executive updates and quarterly board-level project updates in coordination with company leadership.
  • Maintain the project risk register during development, run regular risk reviews, and escalate major risks to leadership.
  • Partner with cost estimating, finance, and project controls teams on estimates, cost reporting, capital planning, and earned value management inputs.
  • Help define the project controls function, including tools, reporting structure, cost coding, change control, and document control practices.
  • Coordinate closely with Engineering, Licensing, Delivery, Finance, Supply Chain, Real Estate, Public Relations, Government Relations, and executive leadership.
  • Serve as a senior project development representative in Utah and support local stakeholder engagement with government, community, and regional partners.

You will be successful in this role if:

  • You can own a complex development schedule and drive action when the schedule is unclear, incomplete, or off track.
  • You understand how to manage large capital project development without slowing the team down with unnecessary process.
  • You are comfortable working across engineering, licensing, finance, construction, procurement, and external contractors.
  • You can bring structure to a fast-moving project before every process already exists.
  • You communicate clearly with executives, technical teams, contractors, and local stakeholders.
  • You know how to identify project risks early and drive practical resolution.
  • You can build repeatable project practices that help Valar execute future commercial sites more efficiently.
  • You understand the importance of a clean handoff between development and delivery teams.
  • You are willing to be hands-on and operate in both Hawthorne and Utah as the project requires.

Basic qualifications

  • 8+ years of experience on major capital projects.
  • Experience supporting or managing projects with total installed cost of $1B or more.
  • Demonstrated ownership of CPM schedules for infrastructure, industrial, energy, or similar project delivery environments.
  • Working experience with Primavera P6, Microsoft Project, or similar scheduling tools.
  • Experience with stage-gate project development, formal project controls, or major capital project governance.
  • Experience coordinating with contractors, major vendors, or complex contractor teams during development, pre-construction, or execution planning.
  • Strong understanding of project cost, schedule, risk, change control, and reporting.
  • Ability to operate in a fast-moving environment with incomplete information.
  • Strong judgment about when additional controls are useful and when they create unnecessary overhead.
  • Comfort with relocation to, or substantial presence in, Utah.
  • U.S. person status required.

Preferred qualifications

  • PMP certification or equivalent major capital project credential.
  • Experience with LNG, refinery, petrochemical, data center, energy, infrastructure, or industrial megaprojects.
  • Operator-side major capital project experience at companies such as ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, BP, TotalEnergies, or similar organizations.
  • Experience with first-of-a-kind projects, startup project execution, or first-of-program delivery.
  • Experience with hyperscaler or large data center construction programs.
  • Familiarity with earned value management, cost-loaded schedules, WBS/CBS structures, and formal change control.
  • Experience working with regulated industries such as energy, nuclear, aerospace, defense, or heavy manufacturing.
  • Curiosity about advanced nuclear technology. Nuclear experience is helpful but not required.
  • Clear potential to grow into broader project development or program leadership

What we Offer  

  • Competitive base salary 
  • Equity ownership in a rapidly growing advanced energy company 
  • Comprehensive medical benefits 
  • Free daily lunch and dinner provided onsite 
  • High-impact startup environment with significant ownership and autonomy 
  • Opportunities for rapid career growth and internal advancement 
  • Direct collaboration with experienced operators, engineers, and industry leaders 
  • The opportunity to help build and scale transformative energy technology from the ground up

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

Valar Atomics is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected status under applicable law.

We are committed to providing a workplace free of discrimination and harassment and will provide reasonable accommodation as required by law.

Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States as a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident (green card holder).

 

Salary

$200,000 - $300,000 USD

Apply for this job

*

indicates a required field

Resume/CV*

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Cover Letter

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Select...
Select...
Select...

To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in Valar Atomics’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

Select...
Select...
Race & Ethnicity Definitions

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection. As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measure the effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categories is as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.

Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability

Form CC-305
Page 1 of 1
OMB Control Number 1250-0005
Expires 04/30/2026

Why are you being asked to complete this form?

We are a federal contractor or subcontractor. The law requires us to provide equal employment opportunity to qualified people with disabilities. We have a goal of having at least 7% of our workers as people with disabilities. The law says we must measure our progress towards this goal. To do this, we must ask applicants and employees if they have a disability or have ever had one. People can become disabled, so we need to ask this question at least every five years.

Completing this form is voluntary, and we hope that you will choose to do so. Your answer is confidential. No one who makes hiring decisions will see it. Your decision to complete the form and your answer will not harm you in any way. If you want to learn more about the law or this form, visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) website at www.dol.gov/ofccp.

How do you know if you have a disability?

A disability is a condition that substantially limits one or more of your “major life activities.” If you have or have ever had such a condition, you are a person with a disability. Disabilities include, but are not limited to:

  • Alcohol or other substance use disorder (not currently using drugs illegally)
  • Autoimmune disorder, for example, lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS
  • Blind or low vision
  • Cancer (past or present)
  • Cardiovascular or heart disease
  • Celiac disease
  • Cerebral palsy
  • Deaf or serious difficulty hearing
  • Diabetes
  • Disfigurement, for example, disfigurement caused by burns, wounds, accidents, or congenital disorders
  • Epilepsy or other seizure disorder
  • Gastrointestinal disorders, for example, Crohn's Disease, irritable bowel syndrome
  • Intellectual or developmental disability
  • Mental health conditions, for example, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD
  • Missing limbs or partially missing limbs
  • Mobility impairment, benefiting from the use of a wheelchair, scooter, walker, leg brace(s) and/or other supports
  • Nervous system condition, for example, migraine headaches, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS)
  • Neurodivergence, for example, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, dyspraxia, other learning disabilities
  • Partial or complete paralysis (any cause)
  • Pulmonary or respiratory conditions, for example, tuberculosis, asthma, emphysema
  • Short stature (dwarfism)
  • Traumatic brain injury
Select...

PUBLIC BURDEN STATEMENT: According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. This survey should take about 5 minutes to complete.