Materials Program Manager

About Commonwealth Fusion Systems: 

Commonwealth Fusion Systems is on a mission to deliver the urgent transition to fusion energy.

Combining decades of research, top talent and new technologies, we’re designing and building commercially viable fusion power plants. And working with policymakers and suppliers to build the energy industry of the future. 

We’re in the best position to make it happen. Since 2018, we’ve raised over $2 billion in capital – more than any other fusion energy company in the U.S.

Now we’re looking for more thinkers, doers, builders, and makers to join us. People who’ll bring new perspectives, solve tough problems, and thrive as part of a team. 

If that’s you and this role fits, we want to hear from you.

Join the power movement as a Materials Program Manager 

The Materials Department at CFS supports design engineers, supply chain, and manufacturing by selecting materials, unambiguously defining materials and their properties, validating and measuring those materials and their properties, and conducting R&D to develop new materials and processes to enable fusion power deployment. The work is undertaken in support of delivering SPARC, the net energy tokamak under construction in Devens, MA, and ultimately in designing the ARC fusion power plant. These devices pose unique materials challenges including neutron fluxes produced by deuterium-tritium fusion, high heat loads, molten salt coolant systems, complex component topologies, high magnetic fields, and high cryogenic mechanical loads. The Materials Department is seeking to hire a Materials Project Manager to administer a portfolio of projects and engineering support activities in the domain of materials and processing technologies. In addition to managing and roadmapping the materials projects portfolio, this role will be responsible for data tracking and reporting to department and division leadership.

• Monitor projects on an ongoing basis, evaluate progress, identify risks, and manage issue resolutions. Communicate status, issues, and key risks
• Use disciplined project management methodology to define scope and develop project milestones that deliver the project outcomes within cost and schedule
• Act as the link between the project teams, key stakeholders, and external partners to ensure alignment. This includes frequent reporting to department, division, and company leadership
• Partner with technical leads to ensure proper testing and analysis is planned to accomplish defined goals
• Understand priorities across departments and prioritize resources between projects to mitigate risk
• Administer the CFS-wide Materials Engineering Support request infrastructure (JIRA-based), working with stakeholders to understand needs and dispositioning issues to the appropriate technical leads for resolution
• Coordinate department continuous learning activities for inter-department and cross-functional education 
• Work with the Open Innovation department at CFS to leverage external government/industry/academia money and partnerships for materials project(s)
• Coordinate within the R&D division for resources to support materials project(s)
• Serve as the Materials team subject matter expert on project management, scheduling, budgeting, and reporting, and impart best practices to team members
• Work with supply chain, finance, legal, engineering, and R&D as needed to facilitate completion of project objectives

• Bachelor's degree in a science or engineering or applied science discipline
• At least 5 years experience project managing materials or hardware engineering projects which involve 3 or more staff members
• Experience using project/product management tools and tracking of projects (JIRA preferred)
• Working with diverse stakeholders, including technical teams at vendors, finance, production, and legal stakeholders
• Strong communication and organizational skills
• Creating milestones, performing resource estimation (time and money), and keeping team accountability for deliverables 
• Strong time management skills
• Self - motivation and autonomy
• Project management and task execution
• Ability to manage cross-functional teams in a matrix environment
• Understanding of materials, and materials processing, and/or hardware preferred

• PMP certificate or Master’s in Engineering Management
• Experience applying for and capturing government proposals, and the subsequent management of the effort with the government PM
• Taking under-defined problems and driving them to a state of completion
• Operating in a flexible, service-oriented engineering domain team

• Perform activities such as stooping, typing, standing, sitting, and welding for extended periods of time
• Dedication to safety to mitigate industrial hazards that may include heat, cold, noise, fumes, strong magnets, lead (Pb), high voltage, and cryogenics
• Willingness to travel or work required nights/weekends/on-call occasionally. Travel expected up to 15%

#LI-Hybrid

At CFS, we excel in fast-paced environments, driven by our values of integrity, execution, impact, and self-critique. As we grow, we’re eager to bring on mission-driven folks who offer diverse perspectives and fresh ways to tackle challenges.

We value diversity deeply and are proud to be an equal opportunity employer by choice. We consider all qualified applicants equally, regardless of race, color, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, protected veteran status, religion, physical or mental disability, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, or any other basis protected by law.