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 magnet 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.
Key Responsibility Areas:
- 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
- Drive the design, build, and test cycles for complex hardware components.
- 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.
Ideal Experience & Skillsets:
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering or a related technical field.
- 5+ 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.
Company Benefits:
- Salary range $130,000-$180,000
- Comprehensive health benefits (e.g. medical/dental/vision)
- Employee equity stock options
- 20 days PTO
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering or a related technical field.
- 5+ years leading complex, multidisciplinary engineering programs.
- Experience with large-scale hardware development in climate tech, aerospace, nuclear, or related industries.
- Demonstrated ability to work with technical teams (physics, mechanical, magnet, manufacturing) and solve first-of-a-kind problems.
- Strong grasp of Design for Manufacturability (DFM) principles and design-build-test cycle realities.
- Experience owning engineering BOM strategy and New Product Introduction (NPI) readiness.
- Excellent communication skills and ability to influence across engineering, operations, and leadership teams.
- Proven ability to distill complex technical programs into clear risks, decisions, and priorities for leadership.
- Comfortable operating in a fast-moving startup environment with high ownership and ambiguity.
- Product and technology roadmap development experience.
What We Do
Thea Energy is a fusion energy company dedicated to creating a limitless source of zero-emission energy for a sustainable future. By reinventing the stellarator using arrays of mass-manufacturable magnets and dynamic software controls, they aim to commercialize scalable and economical fusion power systems, transitioning from scientific research to practical, commercial operations.
