Director, Technical Program Management — Complex Hardware NPI & Production Readiness

Note: This position is onsite in West Palm Beach, FL area and will require relocation. Relo is provided.
About the Company
A rapidly growing advanced energy company is building a first-of-a-kind commercial power generation platform designed to deliver near-term power solutions while supporting a longer-term advanced nuclear roadmap.
The company is developing an advanced power platform involving supercritical CO₂ power conversion, compact heat exchanger technology, external heat source integration, advanced manufacturing partners, hardware testing, supplier qualification, manufacturing readiness, and eventual commercial production.
This is a hands-on, execution-focused leadership role for someone who has successfully driven complex hardware programs from development through test, supplier readiness, production readiness, and fielded deployment.
This is not a software program management role. This is not a construction-only role. This is not a pure business development role.
This role is for a technical program leader who has lived in the world of complex hardware, engineering tradeoffs, suppliers, test readiness, manufacturing readiness, schedule pressure, executive reporting, and first-of-a-kind product execution.
Position Overview
The Director, Technical Program Management will serve as the execution owner for a first-of-a-kind advanced energy hardware program.
This person will coordinate across engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, quality, test, finance, suppliers, and executive leadership to drive the program from development into testing, qualification, supplier readiness, manufacturing readiness, and commercial deployment.
The ideal candidate has experience in environments such as aerospace, space systems, defense hardware, launch systems, satellite hardware, advanced manufacturing, robotics, turbomachinery, thermal systems, energy systems, or complex industrial equipment.
The company already has technical leadership. This person does not need to be the chief engineer. They need to be the person who can turn technical ambition into an executable program plan — with clear milestones, owners, risks, schedules, suppliers, decision points, and recovery plans.
Key Responsibilities
Lead execution of a complex advanced hardware program from development through testing, qualification, supplier readiness, manufacturing readiness, and commercial production.
Own the integrated program plan, including schedule, budget, milestones, risks, dependencies, decision gates, and executive reporting.
Build and maintain an integrated master schedule across engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, quality, testing, suppliers, finance, and leadership.
Drive supplier execution, including supplier selection support, contract milestones, technical deliverables, quality expectations, long-lead procurement, delivery performance, and recovery plans.
Coordinate test readiness, hardware readiness, design reviews, qualification planning, system integration, validation activities, and production-readiness gates.
Partner closely with engineering leadership to understand technical risks, interface dependencies, requirements maturity, design tradeoffs, and critical path decisions.
Translate complex technical issues into clear executive-level program updates, including risks, decisions needed, budget impacts, and schedule recovery options.
Establish operating cadence for program reviews, supplier reviews, risk reviews, readiness reviews, and leadership updates.
Create visibility and accountability across a fast-moving technical organization without adding unnecessary bureaucracy.
Support transition from prototype / demonstration hardware into repeatable manufacturing, supplier qualification, and scalable production execution.
What This Role Needs
10+ years leading complex technical or hardware programs.
Experience moving hardware from prototype, development, demonstration, or low-rate build into production readiness.
Strong background in technical program management, hardware NPI, manufacturing readiness, supplier execution, test readiness, and cross-functional delivery.
Experience managing integrated schedules, program budgets, risk registers, supplier milestones, and executive-level reporting.
Ability to work across engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, quality, testing, finance, and executive leadership.
Experience in one or more of the following environments:
space systems, aerospace, defense, launch systems, satellite hardware, advanced manufacturing, robotics, energy systems, turbomachinery, thermal systems, nuclear, industrial equipment, or complex electromechanical systems.
Comfort operating in a fast-moving, first-of-a-kind technical environment where structure needs to be built while the program is already moving.
Strong communication skills with the ability to drive accountability across senior technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Strongly Preferred Background
Experience with aerospace, space, launch, defense, or advanced hard-tech programs.
Experience with hardware NPI, prototype-to-production, low-rate initial production, manufacturing scale-up, or production readiness.
Supplier or contract manufacturing management experience.
Test, qualification, validation, launch readiness, flight readiness, hardware readiness, or system readiness review experience.
Experience with complex mechanical, thermal, RF, electrical, propulsion, energy, or industrial hardware systems.
Experience building program dashboards, executive reporting, milestone tracking, risk registers, or schedule recovery plans.
PMP, Lean Six Sigma, systems engineering, aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, or similar technical background preferred.
This Role Is Not a Fit For
Software-only program managers.
IT, ERP, SaaS, cloud, cybersecurity, or digital transformation program managers.
Construction-only project managers without complex hardware, product development, or manufacturing readiness experience.
Pure EPC candidates who have not driven product development, testing, qualification, or prototype-to-production programs.
Business development or strategy leaders without hands-on execution ownership.
Consultants who have advised programs but have not owned schedule, budget, supplier execution, and delivery accountability.
Why This Opportunity Is Compelling
This is a rare opportunity to step into a highly visible leadership role at an advanced energy company building a first-of-a-kind power generation platform.
The person in this role will have direct exposure to executive leadership and will be responsible for creating the program structure, execution discipline, supplier accountability, and production-readiness path needed to commercialize a complex hardware platform.
The role offers significant compensation, meaningful equity upside, and the opportunity to help build a company at the intersection of advanced energy, hard-tech commercialization, and long-term nuclear innovation.

Work arrangement
Yes