About the roleThe 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 to support 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
Salary$200,000-$300,000 USD
