Senior Manager of Capital Cost Management

Oklo•Santa Clara, CA

3h•$185,000 - $205,000•Remote

About The Position

We are seeking an experienced and motivated leader to design, implement, and scale Oklo’s capital project budgeting and cost architecture capability across our first-of-a-kind (FOAK) and subsequent fleet (NOAK) nuclear powerhouses, fuel fabrication facilities, recycling complexes, radioisotope production assets, and supporting infrastructure. This role will establish the foundational cost structures, standards, and systems that enable cost transparency, disciplined capital allocation, and sustained FOAK-to-NOAK cost curve decline across Oklo’s portfolio of capital projects. The successful candidate will own the development, scaling, and direct implementation of standardized cost breakdown structures (CBS), work breakdown structures (WBS), and portfolio-wide capital cost taxonomies to ensure clean, decision-grade cost data across projects and business units. This role will also play a key part in strengthening owner-side cost visibility and control maturity to support the evolution of Oklo’s commercial vendor strategies over time. This role collaborates closely across Engineering, Product, Construction, Supply Chain, Regulatory, Finance, and Business Development to align cost architecture with scope definition, procurement strategy, and capital deployment planning. This role reports to the Director of Project Budgeting and Controls within the Office of the CFO with a strong cross functional relationship to the project deployment capabilities.

Requirements

7+ years of experience in capital project budgeting, cost architecture, or project controls leadership within large-scale power, energy, infrastructure, industrial, or nuclear sectors
Demonstrated experience designing cost breakdown structures and capital cost taxonomies for large capital portfolios (including projects of $100M+)
Strong knowledge of project cost systems, job costing methodologies, ERP integration, and capital governance frameworks
Experience supporting large-scale EPC or construction projects with a strong understanding of owner-side cost control maturity
Demonstrated experience in portfolio cost optimization, benchmarking, and structured cost learning systems
Experience analyzing large datasets to identify cost drivers and structural improvement opportunities
Proven ability to work cross-functionally with engineering, construction, procurement, finance, and executive leadership
Excellent communication skills, including executive and Board-level reporting

Nice To Haves

Experience with nuclear or other FOAK energy infrastructure projects
Familiarity with DOE, NRC, EPA, and OSHA environments
Experience structuring cost systems to support IRA ITC eligibility and compliance tracking
Startup or high-growth company experience

Responsibilities

Ensure consistent application of budgeting standards across projects and business units.
Partner with project controls teams to ensure actuals, forecasts, and reporting align with defined cost structures and methodologies.
Establish cost data governance standards to ensure traceability of budgets, commitments, change orders and actuals.
Develop and institutionalize Oklo’s cost improvement framework.
Establish structured capture of cost learnings across projects.
Build and maintain internal and external benchmarking.
Partner with stakeholders across the org to embed cost improvements into future project budgets and capital planning cycles to drive and support Oklo’s FOAK-to-NOAK cost improvements.
Define the methodology, cost- and work breakdown structures, and governance frameworks for detailed project budgets.
Drive development of detailed project budgets ensuring alignment with cost estimates, scope, resources, and timelines.
Assess and strengthen owner-side cost control maturity required to enable strategic evolution in vendor contracting structures (e.g. T&M vs Firm Price).
Partner with legal, supply chain, and deployment partners to align cost structure maturity with contracting strategies.
Define and directly implement requirements, processes and standards that will be part of integrations of project financial planning and reporting systems with project management and ERP systems.