Execution Project Director

X-energy•Rockville, MD

17h•$213,750 - $242,500•Hybrid

About The Position

The Director of Equipment Execution provides strategic leadership and oversight for the end-to-end delivery of the project’s most complex, highest-value, or strategically essential equipment packages. This role sets the overall execution vision and governance framework, ensuring alignment with enterprise objectives, project performance targets, and organizational standards for Safety, Health, Environmental, Quality, and Security (SHEQS). Acting as a senior technical and commercial authority, the Director leads cross-functional teams through concept development, design stewardship, manufacturing, regulatory compliance, installation, commissioning, and final handover. The Director anticipates and mitigates systemic risks, enables breakthrough solutions, and ensures execution rigor across all assigned scopes. This position represents the organization at the executive level with clients, suppliers, joint-venture partners, and corporate leadership. The Director provides authoritative insights on cost, schedule, risks, opportunities, and strategic impacts, enabling informed decision-making for Project Directors, Program Leadership, and Corporate Management.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Supply Chain, Project Management, or related technical field; Master’s degree or MBA strongly preferred.
Typically demonstrated by 15+ years of progressive experience in large-scale, complex equipment or fabrication project execution, including FOAK or highly technical platforms.
Demonstrated success leading enterprise-level or program-critical equipment execution strategies with significant commercial and technical exposure.
Deep expertise in equipment design, advanced manufacturing, fabrication processes, regulatory compliance, and quality governance.
Extensive experience collaborating with Procurement, Supply Chain, Engineering, Quality, Project Controls, and Field Execution leadership.
Proven ability to manage complex cost, schedule, risk, and performance issues with executive-level accountability.
Strong governance mindset and demonstrated mastery of project management systems, reporting tools, and decision-making frameworks.
Exceptional communication, negotiation, and executive stakeholder management skills.
Demonstrated success leading high-performing, cross-functional teams in fast-paced, ambiguous, or evolving environments.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree or MBA

Responsibilities

Establish and own the strategic execution framework for complex, high-criticality, FOAK, or multi-platform equipment packages across the project portfolio.
Oversee execution strategies that integrate technical maturity, manufacturing readiness, and long-lead procurement risks into enterprise-level planning and decision-making.
Direct and enforce governance for configuration management and change control across engineering, supply chain, quality, and project controls.
Provide executive oversight on design-for-manufacturing principles and steward the resolution of technical issues with significant cost, schedule, or performance implications.
Approve manufacturability, installation, commissioning, and operational readiness assessments prior to commercial award.
Ensure execution outcomes meet or exceed contractual requirements, regulatory expectations, and organizational performance standards.
Deliver high-impact executive reporting and strategic insights, including risk-informed forecasts, performance trends, and scenario planning for project leadership and corporate executives.
Establish governance ensuring transparency, traceability, and auditability of all commitments, changes, forecasts, and decisions.
Partner with Project Controls to shape integrated project schedules, validate cost/schedule exposure, and guide prioritization across competing strategic packages.
Provide executive direction on installation and commissioning strategies, ensuring alignment with field readiness and overall project milestones.
Lead systemic risk identification and quantification across multiple packages or program-level scopes, enabling early executive escalation and intervention.
Serve as the senior authority for Management of Change, ensuring strategic, commercial, and technical impacts are fully evaluated and aligned with project governance.
Champion enterprise lessons-learned initiatives, driving continuous improvement across engineering, manufacturing, and execution functions.
Serve as the primary executive interface with critical stakeholders, including senior client representatives, EPC partners, regulatory bodies, and executive-level supplier leadership.
Lead high-stakes negotiations, resolving issues with major commercial, technical, or contractual consequences.
Provide executive direction to cross-functional teams and ensure alignment on priorities, performance expectations, and risk-response strategies.
Oversee formal executive correspondence, ensuring compliance with legal, contractual, and commercial frameworks.
Provide executive review and approval of complex supplier contracts, bid evaluations, technical specifications, and commercial proposals.
Direct priorities for engineering, supply chain, and supplier documentation flows to ensure adherence to strategic schedule drivers.
Ensure operational, technical, and regulatory requirements are fully integrated into execution packages early in the lifecycle, preventing downstream impacts.