Director of Manufacturing Strategy

Thanks for your interest in Oklo! We are searching for a Director of Manufacturing Strategy to join our team. Position Description The Director of Manufacturing Strategy will define and continuously refine how Oklo converts ambitious product and deployment plans into an executable manufacturing system. Reporting to the Head of Supply Chain, this leader will integrate engineering judgment, supplier-market intelligence, commercial inputs, and strategic analysis to help Oklo achieve aggressive lead-time, cost, quality, and scalability goals. During Oklo's first-of-a-kind (FOAK) build, the Director will work directly with Responsible Engineers and suppliers to develop and improve component-level manufacturing strategies, resolve industrialization challenges, and assess whether supplier processes can produce conforming hardware at the required rate. The role will translate these findings into company-wide make-vs-buy recommendations and manufacturing roadmaps. This is a hybrid technical and commercial strategy role. It requires enough manufacturing depth to evaluate processes, tooling, qualification needs, quality controls, production constraints, and recovery plans, as well as enough commercial fluency to compare market options and support scenario modeling. The role partners closely with Engineering, Procurement, Strategy, Quality, Program Management, and Oklo's internal fabrication leadership. This role develops the strategy for how Oklo will manufacture at scale; it does not establish, manage, or operate factories. When Oklo elects to make a product internally, execution transitions to the internal fabrication organization. Procurement retains ownership of supplier commercial strategy, sourcing, negotiations, and contracting. Specific responsibilities may include: Own Oklo's enterprise manufacturing strategy, connecting product and deployment plans to executable manufacturing pathways across external suppliers and internal fabrication. Lead cross-functional make-vs-buy analyses and recommendations using technical feasibility, supplier capability and capacity, lead time, cost, quality, schedule risk, capital requirements, intellectual property, and long-term scalability. Build decision frameworks and provide supply-market intelligence to the Strategy team so alternative manufacturing scenarios can be modeled with credible assumptions and sensitivities. Partner with Responsible Engineers during FOAK execution to define supplier manufacturing strategies, review process plans, identify manufacturability risks, and improve the likelihood of delivering conforming hardware on schedule. Assess suppliers' manufacturing processes, equipment, workforce, quality systems, special-process controls, qualification paths, current loading, surge capacity, and ability to meet Oklo's forecast production rates. Translate supplier assessments into actionable technical recommendations for Engineering and clear capability guidance for Procurement, while preserving Procurement's ownership of commercial negotiations, contracts, and supplier relationships. Identify critical manufacturing constraints and fragile supply-chain nodes; develop mitigation options such as alternate processes, supplier development plans, second sources, design changes, phased capacity investments, or selective insourcing. Support technical vetting and due diligence of potential suppliers alongside Engineering, Quality, and Procurement, including site visits, process reviews, readiness assessments, and production-rate validation. Develop industrialization and manufacturing-readiness roadmaps that bridge FOAK builds to repeatable production, including learning-curve assumptions, yield and throughput improvement, tooling, automation, qualification, and capacity ramps. Establish and track manufacturing-strategy metrics and decision milestones related to lead time, cost, quality, capacity, scalability, risk retirement, and make-vs-buy outcomes. Provide leadership with concise recommendations, trade studies, and portfolio-level views of manufacturing readiness, constraints, and investment choices. Create reusable standards, playbooks, and lessons learned that strengthen manufacturing planning across programs without adding unnecessary process Minimum Qualifications: Bachelor's degree in mechanical, manufacturing, industrial, materials, aerospace, nuclear, or a closely related engineering discipline. 10+ years of progressive experience in manufacturing engineering, industrialization, production engineering, supplier manufacturing, operations strategy, or a related hardware-manufacturing field, including meaningful leadership responsibility. Demonstrated ability to understand and evaluate manufacturing processes, process capability, tooling, qualification, yield, cycle time, throughput, capacity, quality controls, and production risk. Experience supporting complex, low-volume or FOAK hardware through supplier selection, development, qualification, and transition toward repeatable production. Experience leading make-vs-buy, manufacturing-footprint, capacity, cost, or industrialization analyses with cross-functional stakeholders. Ability to combine incomplete technical, commercial, and schedule information into practical recommendations and clearly state assumptions, tradeoffs, risks, and decision points. Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to work effectively with Responsible Engineers, suppliers, procurement professionals, executives, and program leaders. Willingness to travel to supplier sites, manufacturing locations, and Oklo headquarters as business needs require. Bonus Qualifications: Master of Business Administration (MBA), master's degree in engineering, or equivalent commercial, finance, corporate strategy, or business-development experience. Experience in nuclear energy, aerospace, defense, semiconductors, energy systems, advanced industrial equipment, or another highly regulated hardware environment. Direct experience across both technical manufacturing and commercial or strategic decision-making, including should-cost analysis, total-cost modeling, capacity investment cases, or supplier business assessments. Experience with fabrication and special processes such as machining, welding, forming, casting, forging, additive manufacturing, heat treatment, coatings, nondestructive examination, or complex assembly. Experience scaling from prototype or FOAK builds into low-rate initial production and higher-rate manufacturing. Familiarity with nuclear-quality, export-control, or other regulated supply-chain requirements. We are looking for a Director of Manufacturing Strategy who is: Strategic and technically grounded: Connects manufacturing details to enterprise choices without losing sight of what must happen on the shop floor. Commercially fluent: Understands that supplier capability, price, lead time, investment, risk, and incentives must be evaluated together. A systems thinker: Recognizes dependencies across design maturity, qualification, sourcing, capacity, schedule, and production scale. A decisive collaborator: Builds alignment across Engineering, Procurement, Strategy, Quality, Programs, and Fabrication while maintaining clear decision ownership. Comfortable with ambiguity: Can structure incomplete FOAK problems, test assumptions, and recommend a path forward. Credible with suppliers: Can enter a manufacturing environment, ask the right questions, identify constraints, and work constructively toward solutions. An effective communicator: Explains complex technical and commercial tradeoffs clearly in modern, active language. Mission-driven and pragmatic: Is excited to make advanced fission a reality and balances creativity with disciplined execution. Who you are: A startup person: You aren't driven by titles or hierarchy, and prefer efficiency to excess process. You don't need or expect to have a lot of guidance but you enjoy working in a fast-pace team. If you prefer the culture and feel of a large organization, that is great, but you likely won’t enjoy working with us! There is plenty of important work and plenty of good opportunities with organizations like that. You value outcomes over hierarchy, move quickly with limited guidance, and use process only when it improves the work. Motivated: You are self-motivated. You bring an enthusiasm to the team, and imbue a sense of passion that goes beyond clocking in and clocking out. This isn’t about a fake or arbitrary 'pieces of flair' mentality or lack of work-life balance! It is about being a part of the vision and feeling a part of reaching team goals. You bring energy, initiative, and a genuine commitment to team and company goals. A team-player: Oklo genuinely is a team. We aren’t about taking credit for ourselves, and we aren’t about pushing blame to others. We do incredible things because we work as a team. You share ownership, give credit freely, and solve problems across organizational boundaries. An excellent communicator: We need a person who is not only technically competent but also a clear and upbeat communicator. Creative: Being creative means that when things fall outside clear scopes or processes or problems arise without clear solutions, you are able to identify it as well as invent ways to solve a problem or fill a need without micromanagement. The successful person in this job will not only be creative, but also enjoy being creative and solving open-ended problems which may change day-by-day. You enjoy open-ended problems, recognize when no standard path exists, and invent practical ways forward. Detail-oriented: This focus is a big part of excellence, consistency, and quality. Excellent grammar and spelling matter for both good communication as well as the image of the company that we put forward. You understand that disciplined analysis, accurate assumptions, and clear documentation are essential to high-quality decisions. About Oklo travel requirements: This role is expected to travel approximately 25% of the time to supplier and manufacturing sites and to Oklo's headquarters, based on program and business needs. Remote employees are also expected to travel to headquarters or another designated location twice per quarter for team meetings, off-sites, and company events, as needed. About Oklo compensation: Salary: $170,000-$220,0000 Oklo offers competitive pay, equity, flexible time off, a 401(k), health insurance, a flexible spending account, flexible work hours, and other benefits. The complete compensation package will reflect the role's scope, the candidate's experience, and applicable market and location factors. This position may involve access to information subject to U.S. export control laws. Only applicants who meet applicable eligibility requirements may be able to access certain controlled information. About Oklo Inc.: Oklo Inc. is developing fast fission power plants to deliver clean, reliable, and affordable energy at scale; establishing a domestic supply chain for critical radioisotopes; and advancing nuclear fuel recycling to convert nuclear waste into clean energy. Oklo was the first to receive a site use permit from the U.S. Department of Energy for a commercial advanced fission plant, was awarded fuel material from Idaho National Laboratory, and submitted the first custom combined license application for an advanced reactor to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Oklo is also developing advanced fuel recycling technologies in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. National Laboratories. #CHOP: Oklo's Values Collaboration: We go further, together. We bring diverse perspectives, listen actively, and build trust through transparency and respect. We work across disciplines, sharing ownership to turn complex challenges into shared successes. Humility: We are team players who act for the good of the company and for the world. We are focused on our mission, not personal recognition. Ownership: We take pride in what we do and how we do it. We are proactive in finding solutions and see tasks through to completion. We are committed to delivering on our promises to provide clean, reliable, and affordable energy. Pathfinding: We chart new ground where no path exists by approaching challenges with curiosity, courage, and creativity while navigating ambiguity. Candidates should be aware that employment may be contingent upon successful completion of a drug screening, and employees may be subject to drug testing at any time in accordance with company policy and applicable laws. #J-18808-Ljbffr