Engineering Program Manager

Thea Energy is seeking an experienced and motivated Engineering Program Manager to lead a large, complex custom product development program within the fusion energy industry. This is a highly visible role in the organization leading development of core fusion technology. This role will act as a force multiplier by increasing development velocity and raising the bar on execution standards. You will oversee the design, build, and test phases of critical hardware, ensuring the successful delivery of components that will advance fusion technology.

Define and drive program planning and execution across hardware design, test, supply chain, and manufacturing teams, with a clear plan of record and critical-path ownership

Partner with technical leads to define product requirements, validation strategies, and decision gates, ensuring design tradeoffs are explicitly documented and understood across teams

Own engineering BOM strategy and NPI readiness, working closely with engineers and supply chain to balance performance, cost, availability, and manufacturability

Provide regular, detailed program updates to leadership and stakeholders, highlighting progress, technical challenges, and proposed solutions.

Proactively identify and manage technical, schedule, budget, and quality risks. develop effective mitigation strategies and contingency plans.

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering or a related technical field.
• 3+ years leading complex, multidisciplinary engineering programs ideally involving large scale hardware development in climate tech, aerospace, nuclear, or related industries.
• Demonstrated ability to work deeply with technical teams (physics, mechanical engineering, magnet engineering, manufacturing engineering) and solve first of a kind problems.
• Strong grasp of DFM principles and the realities of design, build, test cycles.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to influence across engineering, operations, and leadership teams
• Proven ability to distill complex technical programs into clear risks, decisions, and priorities for leadership audiences
• Comfortable operating in a fast-moving startup environment, with high ownership and ambiguity.
• Nice to have: product and technology roadmap development experience.