Req ID: 49236
Team: O46 PLANT UTILITY OPS
Entity: Newport News Shipbuilding

US Citizenship Required for this Position: Yes

Full-Time
Shift: 1st
Relocation: No relocation assistance available
Virtual/Telework Opportunity: No - Not eligible for telework

Travel Requirements: No

Clearance Required: No - Clearance Not Required to Start

Salary Range: $105,000.00 to $133,000.00

The anticipated salary range represents the estimated base pay for this role. Final compensation will be determined based on experience, qualifications, and other job-related factors, and may vary from the posted range

The Role

Oversees and manages the operational aspects of ongoing projects and serves as liaison between project management and planning, project team, and line management. Reviews status of projects and budgets; manages schedules and prepares status reports. Assesses project issues and develops resolutions to meet productivity, quality, and client-satisfaction goals and objectives. Develops mechanisms for monitoring project progress and for intervention and problem solving with project managers, line managers, and clients.

The Senior Project Manager will support Facilities leadership in executing the Digital Plant initiative: a portfolio of operational technology (OT) opportunities focused on improving reliability, capacity, safety, and workforce effectiveness across NNS.

This role functions as an execution leader within an established leadership team. They should strengthen execution by bringing disciplined prioritization, structured problem framing, and outcome-focused delivery.
The ideal candidate operates at the intersection of operational needs, technical constraints, and business impact. They are comfortable stepping into ambiguous situations, clarifying the real problem to be solved, and translating opportunity into structured action. They focus on measurable outcomes-not just task completion-and are accountable for results.

This position requires intellectual agility, sound judgment, and the ability to influence across functions without formal authority. Excellent communication and presentation skills are a must, including the ability to create compelling visual presentations and articles. The environment includes legacy systems, real-world operational constraints, and multiple stakeholders with competing priorities.

Responsibilities:
Execution Leadership in Industrial Environments
• Support Facilities leadership in translating strategic priorities into well-defined initiatives with clear objectives, scope, and success metrics.
• Drive structured planning that accounts for operational constraints, safety requirements, and integration with existing systems.
Outcome-Oriented Delivery
• Define initiatives in terms of operational impact (e.g., reliability improvement, downtime reduction, capacity gains, cost avoidance).
• Establish measurable success criteria and track performance against them.
• Hold teams accountable for delivering value, not just completing activities.
Opportunity Framing and Prioritization
• Rapidly assess improvement opportunities and frame them in terms of business impact and feasibility.
• Build pragmatic, defensible business cases that quantify expected returns and required investment.
• Support leadership in making impact-based prioritization decisions across a constrained portfolio.
Cross-Functional Alignment
• Coordinate across operations, maintenance, engineering, IT, and support teams to align on objectives and execution plans.
• Identify and resolve misalignment early through clear communication and data-driven reasoning.
• Influence without direct authority by grounding discussions in impact, risk, and operational realities.
Clarity in Ambiguity
• Convert loosely defined improvement ideas into structured initiatives with defined roles, timelines, and outcomes.
• Surface assumptions and critical unknowns early to reduce execution risk.
• Maintain transparency into decisions and tradeoffs.
Disciplined Delivery Approach
• Apply structured project management practices and, where appropriate, iterative delivery principles to accelerate learning and reduce waste.
• Break large initiatives into manageable increments that deliver measurable progress.
• Provide concise, decision-oriented status updates to leadership.

Must Have

Bachelor's Degree and 10 years of relevant exempt experience; Master's Degree and 8 year of relevant professional experience

One of the following may be used as equivalent to Bachelor's Degree to meet minimum qualifications:

• NNS Apprentice School graduate
• Navy Nuclear Power School (NNPS) graduate
• Associate's Degree or other formal 2 year program and 2 years of relevant exempt experience or 4 years of relevant non-exempt experience
• Military Paygrade E-5 or above military experience
• High School/GED and 4 years combined of Manufacturing, Shipbuilding, Trades, Military experience or other relevant exempt experience
• High School/GED and 8 years combined of Manufacturing, Shipbuilding, Trades, Military experience or other relevant non-exempt experience

Nice to Have

Six-Sigma certification, Auto-Cad and Integraph proficiency a plus.

• Experience in industrial, manufacturing, facilities, utilities, or similarly complex operational environments.
• Familiarity with operational technology systems, asset reliability programs, or capital improvement initiatives.
• Experience coordinating initiatives that involve both operational and IT stakeholders.
• Formal project management or Agile Methodology training or certification.
• Value quantification using decision analysis/ sciences techniques
• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional initiatives.
• Strong analytical capability and structured problem-solving skills.
• Ability to build credible business cases and reason quantitatively about impact.
• Clear, concise written and verbal communication skills.
• Comfort operating in environments with ambiguity and evolving requirements.
• Demonstrated ability to influence stakeholders without direct authority.

This role is best suited for a highly capable, intellectually curious leader who learns quickly, thinks around corners, and can move between strategic framing and disciplined execution. The emphasis is on judgment, prioritization discipline, and measurable operational value-not just process compliance or schedule tracking.