The Operations Manager – Shipboard Projects

Kymera International • Chesapeake, VA

2d • $110,000 - $160,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

The Operations Manager – Shipboard Projects is responsible for the overall operational execution of Kymera’s shipboard and field-service activities across multiple projects, customers, and geographic locations. This position provides direct leadership to field personnel and project teams while coordinating workforce planning, scheduling, equipment, materials, subcontractors, logistics, and customer requirements to ensure projects are executed safely, efficiently, on schedule, and in accordance with contractual and quality requirements.
This is a hands-on operations leadership role with significant project management responsibilities. The Operations Manager serves as the primary operational leader for shipboard activities and is accountable for ensuring the right people, equipment, materials, and support are available at the right location and at the right time. The position will manage multiple concurrent projects and locations, often requiring coordination between shipyards, customer facilities, Kymera locations, subcontractors, and remote field teams. The Operations Manager will establish priorities, allocate resources, identify schedule conflicts, resolve operational issues, and provide leadership to ensure consistent execution across all active projects.
The ideal candidate is a strong people leader who can balance daily operational execution with longer term workforce and project planning, while maintaining a high level of accountability for safety, quality, productivity, customer satisfaction, schedule performance, and financial results.

Requirements

• Bachelor's or Associate degree in Operations Management, Engineering, Construction Management, Business, or a related technical field preferred; equivalent relevant experience may be considered.
• 5+ years of experience in operations management, field service, construction, technical services, manufacturing, shipboard operations, or project management.
• Demonstrated experience directly managing employees and leading field or operational teams.
• Experience managing multiple concurrent projects, locations, or work crews.
• Experience managing technical projects with customer-facing responsibilities.
• Ability to travel (50%): Frequent travel is required, including domestic and international travel to customer, shipyard, and field-service locations. Higher travel may be required during periods of significant project mobilization, startup, or operational demand.
• Ability to access government-controlled and shipyard facilities.
• Ability to obtain required DBIDS credentials and other customer/site-specific credentials.
• Ability to obtain necessary security clearances when required.
• Must qualify as a "U.S. Person" under applicable International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) contractual requirements.
• Valid U.S. Passport.
• Valid Driver's License.
• Ability to pass required pre-employment screenings, including criminal background checks.
• Demonstrated experience with workforce planning, scheduling, resource allocation, and field deployment.
• Experience with project scheduling tools; proficiency with Microsoft Project is preferred.
• Competency with Microsoft Office Suite.
• Strong understanding of project financial management, labor utilization, and cost control.
• Ability to read and understand contracts, drawings, specifications, and technical requirements.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to make decisions and establish priorities in a fast-paced operating environment.
• Strong leadership skills with the ability to motivate, coach, develop, and hold employees accountable.
• Continuous-improvement mindset with a proactive approach to resolving employee, customer, and operational issues.
• Ability to work effectively in a small, growing organization where responsibilities may evolve as the business develops.
• Physical Capabilities for Shipyard Operations: The role demands the ability to navigate diverse and challenging environments on naval vessels during the various project phases. This includes: Climbing ladders and navigating stairs, reaching overhead, kneeling, crouching, and walking on uneven or slippery surfaces. Exposure to noise, vibration, and variable weather environments.
• May sometimes require accessing work areas at heights, in confined spaces and maneuvering through tight, restricted areas to assess progress and ensure safety standards.
• Ability to Travel (50%): Frequent travel is required, including international travel, to visit and oversee operations at various remote work sites.
• The Project Manager must be able to adapt to these conditions to monitor and support the successful execution of on-site operations while maintaining a commitment to safety and operational efficiency.

Nice To Haves

• Proficiency with Microsoft Project is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Operations Leadership & People Management
• Project Financial Management: At the onset of a new project, develop a detailed initial budget. Update the project budget regularly by tracking actual incurred costs and adjusting projected costs.
• Scheduling: Develop a project schedule (preferably in MS Project) and track progress against the schedule. Update the schedule regularly, tracking percentage complete and adjusting tasks as necessary to maintain the committed completion date.
• Change Management: Projects rarely progress as originally envisaged for a number of reasons. The PM will understand and utilize the contractually available provisions and maximize TSS’s financial outcome.
• Project Closeout: At project completion, confirm that the terms of all purchase orders and subcontracts have been fulfilled and issue notices that said agreements will be closed.
• Subcontractor Management: Identify and engage subcontractors as needed to fulfill the project’s full scope of work. Oversee and manage subcontractor performance by ensuring that the necessary materials, equipment, and personnel are on-site, properly mobilized, and fully prepared to execute tasks in alignment with the project schedule and quality standards. Ensure effective communication and coordination to maintain project timelines and resolve any issues that may arise.
• Invoicing: Ensure timely and accurate invoicing to the customer based on the agreed-upon milestones, with adherence to Kymera's finance policies and procedures. Monitor invoicing schedules to avoid delays, align with project deliverables, and maintain consistent cash flow throughout the project lifecycle.
• Communication: Hold a regular project meeting (weekly or bi-weekly as necessary) with all stakeholders to keep all informed of the project status and to solicit concerns regarding potential cost or schedule disruptions.
• Contract and Job Site Review: Detail-oriented approach to understanding customers’ and subcontractors’ contracts, with a focus on the implementation of contract terms and conditions.
• Lead operational planning across multiple simultaneous shipboard and field-service projects.
• Develop and maintain a rolling workforce and resource plan covering active and upcoming projects.
• Coordinate personnel, equipment, materials, tooling, transportation, lodging, and other resources across locations.
• Identify potential resource conflicts between projects and establish priorities to maintain customer commitments.
• Coordinate mobilization and demobilization of personnel and equipment between job sites.
• Maintain visibility to upcoming project awards, planned starts, completions, and anticipated resource requirements.
• Work closely with Sales, Estimating, Finance, Quality, Supply Chain, and the General Manager to ensure operational plans align with business commitments.
• Establish standard operating practices for field mobilization, project startup, site execution, demobilization, and closeout.
• Develop contingency plans for schedule changes, employee availability, equipment issues, material delays, customer changes, and other operational disruptions.
• Serve as the operational project leader from project award through completion and closeout.
• Review project scope, contracts, schedules, drawings, specifications, customer requirements, and operational commitments prior to project startup.
• Establish execution plans that define required personnel, equipment, materials, subcontractors, schedule milestones, and operational requirements.
• Develop and maintain project schedules, preferably using MS Project or similar scheduling tools.
• Track progress against established schedules and take corrective action when projects begin to fall behind.
• Coordinate project activities across internal teams, customers, subcontractors, shipyards, and other stakeholders.
• Lead regular project and operations meetings to review schedule, staffing, safety, quality, productivity, cost, and customer issues.
• Establish action plans for operational disruptions and ensure assigned actions are completed.
• Maintain visibility to project risks and escalate significant issues to the General Manager in a timely manner.
• Ensure projects are properly staffed and operationally prepared before work begins.
• Coordinate project turnover and closeout to ensure customer commitments, documentation, equipment, materials, and financial requirements are completed.
• Own the operational scheduling process for shipboard and field-service activities.
• Maintain a consolidated schedule of personnel, projects, locations, and major equipment requirements.
• Coordinate short-term and long-range manpower planning based on current workload and projected demand.
• Balance employee availability, qualifications, travel requirements, customer schedules, and project priorities.
• Anticipate upcoming manpower requirements and identify potential capacity constraints before they affect project execution.
• Coordinate travel, lodging, transportation, site access, credentials, and mobilization requirements.
• Minimize unnecessary travel, downtime, overtime, and resource duplication through effective planning.
• Establish daily and weekly priorities for field teams and ensure personnel understand expectations before deployment.
• Develop and maintain project budgets in coordination with Finance and the General Manager.
• Monitor labor, travel, equipment, subcontractor, material, and other project costs against budget.
• Review actual versus planned labor hours and identify productivity or cost variances.
• Monitor project profitability and communicate potential financial impacts resulting from scope, schedule, staffing, or execution changes.
• Support timely and accurate customer invoicing based on project milestones and completed work.
• Identify opportunities to improve labor utilization, reduce project costs, and improve operational efficiency.
• Participate in forecasting and operational planning for the shipboard business.
• Support the development of annual operating plans, manpower requirements, equipment requirements, and capital needs.
• Identify, coordinate, and manage subcontractors required for project execution.
• Ensure subcontractors are properly qualified, staffed, equipped, and prepared before mobilization.
• Monitor subcontractor performance against schedule, quality, safety, and contractual requirements.
• Resolve subcontractor performance issues and escalate significant concerns as necessary.
• Coordinate subcontractor activities with Kymera personnel and customer schedules.
• Maintain appropriate documentation related to subcontractor performance and project completion.
• Maintain regular communication with customers regarding operational execution, schedules, staffing, progress, and potential issues.
• Establish strong working relationships with shipyard personnel, Navy/DoD stakeholders, port engineers, customer representatives, and other project stakeholders.
• Serve as a primary operational escalation point for field execution issues.
• Ensure customer concerns are addressed quickly and professionally.
• Maintain a strong customer-service mindset while protecting Kymera's contractual, operational, and financial interests.
• Maintain a strong safety-first culture across all shipboard and field operations.
• Ensure personnel comply with Kymera safety requirements, customer requirements, shipyard rules, and applicable regulatory requirements.
• Coordinate with Quality and EHS personnel to address safety, quality, and compliance issues.
• Ensure personnel are properly trained and qualified for assigned work.
• Support corrective action and continuous improvement activities resulting from safety, quality, or operational issues.
• Ensure project execution complies with applicable customer specifications, contractual requirements, ISO/AS9100 requirements, and other applicable standards.
• Stop or escalate work when unsafe or nonconforming conditions are identified.
• Identify operational impacts resulting from customer scope changes, schedule changes, material changes, or other project modifications.
• Coordinate with the General Manager and appropriate functions regarding change orders and potential commercial impacts.
• Identify recurring operational problems and develop corrective actions.
• Establish and improve standardized processes for project startup, workforce planning, field execution, mobilization, and closeout.
• Use operational data and project performance metrics to identify opportunities for improved productivity and profitability.
• Promote a continuous-improvement culture throughout the shipboard operations organization.
• Maintain safe and compliant field operations.
• Successfully staff and execute multiple concurrent projects.
• Meet customer schedule and operational commitments.
• Effectively plan and deploy personnel across multiple locations.
• Maintain appropriate labor utilization and productivity.
• Control project costs and support expected project margins.
• Develop and retain a capable field operations team.
• Minimize schedule disruptions, downtime, and avoidable travel costs.
• Maintain strong customer relationships.
• Successfully execute project mobilization and demobilization.
• Identify and resolve operational issues before they become significant business problems.
• Establish scalable processes that support growth of the shipboard business.
• This position has direct supervisory responsibility for shipboard operations personnel and field service employees and may provide indirect operational leadership to project personnel, subcontractors, and other resources supporting shipboard projects.
• The Operations Manager is responsible for establishing priorities, assigning work, monitoring performance, developing employees, addressing performance issues, and ensuring adequate staffing across multiple projects and locations.

Benefits

• Generous Time Off: 11 annual company-paid holidays and PTO.
• Healthcare Savings: Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA), Health Savings Accounts (HSA), and comprehensive dental and vision coverage.
• Retirement Support: 401(k) plan with a competitive company match.
• Insurance Coverage: Company-paid short-term disability and life insurance, with additional voluntary options like critical illness, hospital care, and long-term disability coverage.
• Competitive pay.
• Team Benefits: A supportive team culture and resources to help you thrive.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager
• Education Level: Associate degree