Head of PMO

This is a full-time, onsite role based at our headquarters in Denver, CO.

Xcimer Energy is scaling from a single program into a diversified enterprise portfolio, anchored by our Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE) program - which represents the large majority of our work - and a growing Defense program with its own risk and access profile. The Head of PMO owns the vision, mandate, and operating model for Xcimer's enterprise Program Management Office: the governance, standards, tools, and talent that let every program, current and future, plan and deliver with discipline, without becoming the bottleneck to speed.

This is a hub-and-spoke model. The Head of PMO has direct accountability for the enterprise Hub - its governance, standards, tools, reporting, and staff - and a dotted-line coordination relationship with the program managers embedded in Fusion and Defense (the spokes). The Program Leads for Fusion and Defense continue to own their programs end to end and report to the Executives; the PMO's job is to make sure they, and every future program, are supported by a common, high-quality practice rather than each reinventing one.

• You build trust quickly and create alignment across program leaders, functional leaders, and the Executive, even when their priorities and operating rhythms differ.
• You know how to introduce governance and standards in a way that improves speed, clarity, and accountability - not process for its own sake.
• You bring a relentless focus on execution quality: every initiative in the portfolio has clear ownership, practical milestones, visible risk, and the follow-through to deliver.
• You are comfortable building a function from the ground up - shaping the mandate while also standing up the team, routines, and tools that make it real.
• You lead with integrity and partnership, and create an environment where program managers, technical leads, and functional partners all do their best work.

Responsibilities

• Define the PMO's vision, mandate, operating model, and multi-year roadmap in partnership with other department Leadership
• Establish the PMO as a hub-and-spoke function: direct accountability for the enterprise Hub, with a dotted-line coordination model to the program managers embedded in the business.
• Define clear roles, decision rights, engagement models, and escalation paths across the hub-and-spoke model, so it is always clear what the PMO decides, what each Program Lead decides, and where the two need to align.

Governance & Standards

• Establish company-wide program management standards, playbooks, templates, and minimum controls, with common definitions for scope, milestones, financials, resources, risks, issues, dependencies, and value realization.
• Determine the right mix of agile, hybrid, and traditional delivery discipline for a given initiative based on its complexity, risk, and business need.
• Lead independent health reviews and recovery planning for strategically important initiatives when a program needs more support or intervention than it can generate on its own.

Team Leadership (the Hub)

• Hire, manage, and mentor the PMO's core team to support the programs execution objectives setting departmental budgets, performance targets, and career paths.
• Coordinate, without directing, the program managers matrixed into Fusion and Defense, ensuring they share a common practice and community even though they report through their programs day to day.
• Build enterprise program management capability company-wide through assessment, coaching, communities of practice, and talent development - for the PMO's own staff and for program managers embedded in Fusion and Defense.

Qualifications

• Experience: 15+ years in program, portfolio, or PMO leadership, including demonstrated success building, transforming, or resetting a PMO or portfolio management function - establishing its mandate, operating model, governance routines, standards, and adoption roadmap, not just running one that already existed.
• Experience leading large, complex programs (billion-dollar scale preferred) within an engineering-intensive environment (semiconductor, laser, nuclear, space and defense, or similar).
• Experience operating across a matrixed organization and influencing program leaders, functional leaders, and executives without relying on direct authority.
• Experience working in ambiguous environment and demonstrated proficiency in building order and clarity from loosely defined problems.
• Experience leading or supporting a hub-and-spoke PMO model, with direct accountability for a central function and dotted-line relationships to embedded or divisional program managers.
• Strong business and financial acumen - able to connect strategy, execution, financial outcomes, capacity planning, investment choices, and measurable value.
• Exceptional executive presence and communication skills, including the ability to simplify complex portfolio information and facilitate tradeoff decisions with senior leadership.
• Comfortable introducing governance and standards in an engineering, science, or hardware-intensive environment without slowing technical teams down.
• 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

Desired

• Demonstrated proficiency in one or more core engineering disciplines, such as Nuclear, Aerospace, Laser, Optics, Electrical or Mechanical
• Experience with design and construction of one of a kind prototype systems
• Experience in national laboratory, aerospace, defense, energy, or another engineering/science-intensive, regulated, or export-controlled environment.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. government security clearance, given this role's oversight of PMO staff and reporting that touch the Defense program; U.S. citizenship is required for clearance eligibility.

$176,000 - $208,000 a year

Candidates may be considered for other positions at Xcimer Energy, and our actual base salary will be determined on an individual basis and may vary based on job-related knowledge and skills, education, and experience. The range is published in accordance with Colorado Equal Pay for Equal Work Act and California Equal Pay Act.

Benefits

Xcimer offers a comprehensive benefits package designed to support employee health, well-being, and long-term success. Benefits include medical, dental, and vision coverage; basic and supplemental life insurance; short- and long-term disability; paid parental leave for employees at the time of birth or adoption; and a 401(k) with a company match of up to 6%. Eligible employees also receive equity, allowing them to share in the company's long-term success.

Xcimer operates under a flexible Paid Time Off (ATO) approach. Rather than a fixed number of vacation days, employees are trusted to take the time they need to rest and recharge while meeting the expectations of their role and team. In addition, employees receive paid sick time, 13 company-paid holidays, and an annual paid company shutdown. Benefits are available to regular employees, including part-time and fixed-term roles, as well as interns, with eligibility varying by benefit.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.