Project Manager, Commercial Projects

About Valar Atomics

At Valar Atomics, we're redefining what's possible in energy. Our mission is to make clean, high-temperature nuclear power scalable—unlocking abundant energy for industry, hydrogen, and next-generation manufacturing. We are a team of builders, engineers, and operators who believe nuclear energy should be fast to deploy, factory-made, and built for the real world. Our first pilot plant in Orangeville, Utah will demonstrate how advanced nuclear systems and fuel fabrication can power the future. Joining Valar Atomics means becoming part of a company where autonomy, ownership, and impact exist at every level.

About the role

The 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.

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.
• Cook up 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.

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.
• Able 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.
• 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.