Senior Technical Project Manager

Senior Technical Project Manager

Who we are:

We are on a mission to become a leading supplier of critical materials that enable the green energy and technology revolution. Our materials and technologies are required for the electric vehicle, green energy, consumer electronics, and defense industries, and our battery grade lithium and tech metals are needed for chipsets, semiconductors, and 5G.

We have a substantial interest in the Round Top, Heavy Rare Earth, Lithium and Critical Minerals deposit in West Texas. We have also developed the United States' first rare earth and critical minerals processing facility and we own the only scalable, sintered neo-magnet manufacturing system in the Western Hemisphere. By developing this fully integrated, US-based "mine-to-magnet" critical mineral supply chain, we are poised to become the leading domestic supplier to these industries.

What you can expect:

At USA Rare Earth, we are pioneers and problem solvers, technologists and team players. Together, we:

Build Solutions : If our task was a simple one, it would already be done. We are creative and solution-oriented, and we think outside the box to solve important problems. We know that a range of expertise and technologies is needed for success, and we work across sectors and alongside customers to deliver world-class solutions in sustainable ways.

Deliver Quality : When we do things, we do them well. We believe that top-tier quality leads to industry competitiveness and we hold ourselves to the highest quality standards. We move fast when executing, but safety, quality, and excellence always come first.

Lead responsibly : We have a responsibility to the planet, our consumers, our country, and each other. We put safety at the center of all we do, take accountability for our actions, incorporate sustainable practices in our processes and act with the financial best interest of our investors and consumers in mind.

Win Together : Establishing a rare earth magnet supply chain is a big undertaking - and getting there is a team effort. We communicate openly, work together and challenge each other in pursuit of our goals. With every step we take we learn and get better.

Job Summary:

USA Rare Earth is hiring a Senior Technical Program Manager (TPM) to lead end-to-end execution of a multi-year cybersecurity and IT compliance transformation, anchored by SOX year-end readiness and a NIST 800-53 r5 remediation roadmap spanning 24 prioritized initiatives across corporate IT, operational technology (OT) at mining and processing sites, governance, privacy, and physical security.

The TPM partners with the (incoming) Chief Information Security Officer, the IT Manager, the CFO, the General Counsel, and Plant Operations leadership to drive concurrent initiatives through to operational completion and audit-defensible evidence. The role is high-visibility and cross-functional; it is the operational spine that allows security and IT to deliver on a complex remediation plan while the plant operates on a 24/7 schedule and the company prepares for its next ITGC audit cycle.

This is not a people-management role over a large IT staff. It is a program-leadership role that creates timeline, dependency, vendor, evidence, and executive-reporting structure across in-house teams and a substantial portfolio of outsourced engagements (SOX advisory, MSP, OT cybersecurity specialists, privacy counsel, identity engineering partners, penetration testing, and IR retainer).

Key Responsibilities:

Program Leadership and Execution

• Own the integrated roadmap for USA Rare Earth's NIST 800-53 r5 remediation program. Maintain timeline, dependencies, milestones, and critical path across initiatives spanning IT, OT, governance, privacy, and physical security.

• Run the day-to-day program operating cadence: weekly workstream standups, bi-weekly executive steering committee, monthly CFO and IT Risk Management Board reporting, quarterly board-ready updates.

• Operate the SOX ITGC remediation sprint as the highest-priority workstream through 31 December year-end. Coordinate with the Controller, Internal Audit (where present), and the external audit team so that remediation produces evidence that survives walkthroughs and TOC testing.

• Maintain the program risk register and plan of action and milestones (POA&M). Surface schedule risks, resourcing constraints, and blockers to executive sponsors before they impact delivery.

• Track program budget - committed, accrued, and forecast - against approved capital and operating allocations.

Cross-Functional Coordination

• Serve as the primary internal point of contact for outsourced engagements, including the SOX advisory firm, the managed services provider, OT cybersecurity specialists, privacy counsel, identity engineering partners, the IR retainer firm, and annual penetration testing vendors. Drive SOW scoping, deliverable acceptance, and invoice reconciliation.

• Partner with the IT Manager and the CISO to translate technical execution requirements into project-managed workstreams with clear owners, dates, and success criteria.

• Coordinate with Plant Operations Management to align change windows, maintenance schedules, and security initiatives against the plant's operating schedule. Establish the operating discipline that protects production while still allowing security work to land.

• Drive cross-functional initiatives that span HR (personnel security, access agreements, terminations), Legal (vendor contract standards, breach notification, privacy), Procurement (vendor onboarding gates, third-party risk assessments), and Finance (capital planning, ITGC evidence).

Governance, Risk, and Audit Readiness

• Support the IT risk management function with charter execution, agenda preparation, meeting minutes, action tracking, and risk-acceptance documentation. Operate as the program's secretariat.

• Coordinate evidence collection, walkthrough preparation, and remediation tracking for SOX ITGC testing in change management, logical access, computer operations, and supporting areas.

• Maintain the policy library lifecycle - owner assignments, annual review cadence, event-driven update triggers, acknowledgment tracking - in coordination with the CISO and policy owners.

• Coordinate tabletop exercises, IR retainer engagements, and post-incident lessons-learned documentation.

IT Department Maturation

• Support the IT Manager in maturing IT operational practices: ticketing discipline with no walk-up bypass, change advisory board (CAB) execution, asset and configuration management, vendor management, and ITIL-aligned service management hygiene.

• Build repeatable program-management practice within USA Rare Earth's IT and security functions - templates, status formats, decision logs - that scale as the organization grows.

• Mentor IT and security staff on project-management discipline, dependency management, and audit-grade documentation practices.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Business, or a related field. Master's degree (MBA, MS in Information Security, MS in IT Management) is a plus.

• 8+ years of program or project management experience, including at least 4 years leading enterprise-scale IT, cybersecurity, or compliance transformation programs.

• Demonstrated experience driving SOX IT general controls (ITGC) remediation inside a publicly traded company. Direct experience coordinating with a Big 4 external audit team is strongly preferred.

• Hands-on program-management experience against a recognized cybersecurity control framework (NIST 800-53, NIST CSF, ISO 27001, CMMC, or equivalent). NIST 800-53 r5 experience is strongly preferred.

• Demonstrated ability to run multi-vendor programs with concurrent outsourced workstreams (managed service providers, advisory firms, implementation partners) - including SOW scoping, deliverable acceptance, and budget reconciliation.

• Working knowledge of IT general controls, identity and access management, change and configuration management, vulnerability and patch management, audit logging, backup and recovery, and incident response. Sufficient depth to challenge vendor and engineering proposals on substance, not only schedule.

• PMP, PgMP, PMI-ACP, or equivalent program- or project-management credential.

• Excellent written and verbal communication. Comfortable producing audit-grade documentation, executive-level narrative, and board-ready updates against a CFO and audit committee cadence.

• Experience in operational technology (OT) environments, ideally manufacturing, mining, energy, or critical infrastructure. Direct exposure to IT/OT segmentation programs is a plus.

• Prior experience coordinating tabletop exercises, IR retainer engagements, or annual penetration test scoping and remediation.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience with ERP systems, database management, and standard cybersecurity enterprise tool stacks and concepts (EDR, ITDR, Vulnerability Management, Zero Trust Architecture, etc.)

• Familiarity with state privacy laws (CCPA, TDPSA, CPA, VCDPA) and federal frameworks relevant to defense-adjacent and critical-mineral supply chains (CMMC, DFARS, NIST 800-171). Awareness of Defense Production Act and Department of Commerce considerations for rare earth and critical-materials companies is valued.

• Ability to translate technical concepts into business terms.

• Bias toward documented action - produces meeting minutes, decision logs, risk registers, and status reports that downstream teams reuse rather than rewrite.

• Comfort working in ambiguity, in an environment where governance, ownership, and policy are being built in real time.

• Disciplined operator - defaults to written, structured, and reviewable artifacts over verbal commitments.

• Ability to credibly challenge senior internal stakeholders (IT Manager, CISO, CFO, General Counsel) and external vendors (MSP, implementation partners) on substance while maintaining strong working relationships.

• Treats Plant Operations and OT environments as first-class stakeholders rather than secondary IT consumers.

Physical Demands

The work environment will be a mix of a typical office environment, a manufacturing floor and a construction site. Noise level: Normal office, manufacturing and construction noises.

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned to this job. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, skills required of personnel so classified. The reporting relationship may not reflect the most recent changes to the corporate reporting structure.

USA Rare Earth proudly supports Equal Employment Opportunities

USA Rare Earth's policy is to provide equal employment opportunities to all applicants and will provide reasonable accommodations according to applicable federal, state, and/or local laws.

For assistance applying for employment through this site due to disability, please contact Human Resources, View email address on click.appcast.io (View email address on click.appcast.io) , to discuss reasonable accommodations.

Department: Corporate