R & D Project Manager

Job Description

Job Description

General Summary / Position Purpose

The R&D Project Manager keeps the research engine behind SUPERWOOD — a molecularly densified wood material — running on schedule. It's a coordination and execution role embedded in the R&D team at an ARPA-E-backed climate-materials company: you'll own project plans for study plans and development milestones, run the team's operating rhythm, coordinate dependencies across Manufacturing, Product, and Sales, and make sure grant deliverables and internal commitments land on time.

This is InventWood's first dedicated project management role in R&D. The team runs many concurrent experiments with shared equipment, shared people, and hard external deadlines — your job is to bring just enough structure that the science moves faster, not slower. We're looking for someone organized, direct, and low-ego who wants to help build a company from the ground up in a high-intensity environment.

Job Duties and Responsibilities

• Owns the R&D project plan — builds and maintains schedules for study plans, experiments, and development milestones; sequences work across the team; and keeps timelines realistic and visible so the CTO and leadership always know where things stand.
• Runs the operating rhythm — facilitates planning sessions, standups, and study-plan reviews; captures decisions and action items; and follows up so commitments don't slip through the cracks.
• Coordinates across functions — aligns R&D work with Manufacturing, Product, and Sales dependencies (materials, equipment time, sample delivery, customer commitments), and surfaces conflicts and trade-offs early rather than letting them collide.
• Tracks milestones and reporting obligations — including deliverables and reporting for grant-funded work (e.g., ARPA-E), ensuring documentation and evidence are ready before deadlines, not scrambled after.
• Manages resources and logistics — tracks equipment availability, material and sample inventory needs, vendor lead times, and procurement timelines that gate experimental work.
• Keeps documentation in order — ensures study plans, experiment records, and decisions are captured in the team's systems of record (project tracking tools and the team's document repositories) and that the plan of record reflects reality.
• Manages risk — identifies schedule, resource, and technical-dependency risks; proposes mitigations; and escalates with options, not just problems.
• Works near the lab — spends time on the floor to understand how experimental work actually progresses. This is not a hands-on technical role, but comfort in a lab and manufacturing environment is essential.
• Follows all safety policies, standards, and regulations; upholds and promotes company Core Values and culture; takes on special projects as directed by your manager; and maintains strict confidentiality.

Minimum Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Required

• 3+ years of project management experience, ideally coordinating technical, engineering, lab, or hardware development work — or equivalent experience running complex, multi-workstream projects in a fast-moving environment.
• Proven ability to build and maintain project plans that people actually use — realistic sequencing, clear owners, visible status — and to keep them current as reality shifts.
• Strong facilitation and follow-through: runs tight meetings, writes clear notes, closes loops. The team should feel that things move faster because you're there.
• Comfortable working with scientists and engineers — able to understand technical work well enough to sequence it sensibly, ask good questions, and know when a slip matters. A science or engineering background is a plus, not a requirement.
• Fluent with modern project and documentation tools (e.g., Airtable, Notion, SharePoint, Asana, Linear, or similar); able to build lightweight tracking structures rather than waiting for someone else to.
• A builder's mindset — comfortable with ambiguity, energized by establishing process where none exists yet, and pragmatic about right-sizing it: enough structure to keep work on track, never so much that it slows the team down.
• Organized and detail-oriented; able to manage multiple projects and deadlines under pressure, with strong emotional intelligence and humility.
• Team-oriented — brings energy, gets excited about building the company, and lifts the team.
• Fluent in English; able to work onsite 5 days a week in Frederick, MD.

Physical Demands

• Must be able to occasionally lift up to 25 pounds.
• Must be able to wear appropriate personal protective equipment when in lab and production areas.