Director of Capital Projects

Job Description

Job Description

Company Overview

Lydian is developing the lowest cost sustainable fuels from waste CO2, water, and renewable electricity to decarbonize the aviation industry. Our breakthrough technology replaces oil and gas refining with fully electrified, modular, and flexible reactor systems that produce fuel with 95% lower emissions than traditional jet fuel.

Since our founding in 2021, Lydian has achieved key milestones in record time, including the production of our first liquid fuel from our pilot system. Lydian has raised approximately $60M from top climate investors including Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Congruent Ventures, Galvanize Climate Solutions, Union Square Ventures, Voyager Ventures, and more. We are building a motivated, diverse, and collaborative team that is passionate about addressing the growing climate crisis and is committed to excellence in their work. In particular, we look for tenacious people who are energized by solving the hardest, highest impact problems that come their way.

Position Overview

As we mature to full-scale project execution, Lydian is seeking a Director of Capital Projects who is a dynamic and experienced leader to shape our project development and execution. You will be responsible for the development and delivery of major capital projects (starting with $50-500M CAPEX), ensuring successful execution from conceptual design through construction, commissioning, and handover. You are a scrappy self-starter with a bias to action.

This role requires strategic leadership, cross-functional coordination, and the ability to relentlessly drive projects through stage-gated development while managing cost, schedule, and risk. The ideal candidate will bring deep experience in project management, engineering integration, procurement, and execution strategies within capital-intensive industries such as energy, chemicals, renewables, or infrastructure.

Responsibilities

Project Development & Stage-Gate Execution

• Lead projects from conceptual design through the Front-End Loading (FEL) process (FEL-1 to FEL-3), ensuring stage-gate readiness

• Develop and manage FID-ready (Final Investment Decision) projects, ensuring cost, schedule, safety, and risk profiles meet investment thresholds

• Oversee feasibility studies, site selection, and regulatory compliance efforts, ensuring seamless project progression

• Establish and manage the Project Execution Plan, including contracting strategy, risk mitigation, and stakeholder engagement

• Interface with Company Executives to shape development opportunities in alignment with corporate scaling and growth plans, ensuring project execution aligns with long-term business strategy

Site Selection, Permitting, Regulatory Compliance & Community Engagement

• Lead site feasibility assessments, including geotechnical, environmental, and infrastructure evaluations to determine the optimal project location

• Oversee land acquisition and right-of-way (ROW) negotiations, ensuring alignment with strategic and regulatory requirements

• Manage the permitting process at local, state, and federal levels, ensuring compliance with all regulatory and environmental requirements

• Serve as the primary liaison with regulatory bodies, permitting agencies, and environmental authorities, securing necessary project approvals

• Develop and execute community engagement strategies, proactively addressing stakeholder concerns and fostering positive relationships with local communities

Engineering, Procurement & Contracting

• Work closely with engineering team, EPC/EPCM, and/or fabrication partners on all aspects of engineering design development from conceptual to detailed design to ensure Design for Constructibility and cost-effectiveness

• Negotiate and manage major contracts, ensuring alignment with project goals, risk mitigation, and value optimization

Project Controls, Risk & Stakeholder Management

• Implement project controls, cost tracking, earned value management (EVM), and progress forecasting to ensure financial and schedule discipline

• Lead risk management efforts, identifying potential project risks and proactively implementing mitigation strategies

• Provide regular updates and reporting to executive leadership, investors, and key stakeholders on project performance

• Ensure proactive stakeholder engagement across project phases to align expectations and facilitate decision-making

Construction Execution & Commissioning

• Oversee construction management, ensuring adherence to safety, quality, and environmental compliance standards

• Manage interface between construction, commissioning, and operations, ensuring seamless project transition

• Drive startup, commissioning, and operational readiness efforts, working closely with operations teams to ensure long-term asset performance

• Develop internal project management processes, tools, and governance frameworks to scale future projects

• Foster a culture of excellence, safety, and collaboration within the project teams and across external partners

Qualifications

• You have been directly responsible for the execution of at least one major capital project which has been delivered on a substantially shorter timeline and at lower cost than industry average

• Experience leading projects from conceptual design through FEED, EPC execution, and commissioning

• Strong background in site selection, permitting, regulatory compliance, and stakeholder engagement

• Proven expertise in contract negotiation, procurement, and financial oversight of large-scale projects

• Experience managing multidisciplinary engineering teams and interfacing with EPC partners

• Deep understanding of engineering disciplines (process, mechanical, civil, electrical, instrumentation, automation) and their interfaces

• Strong knowledge of project controls, cost estimating (Class V to Class I), and schedule management

• Extensive experience in regulatory permitting, land acquisition, and environmental compliance strategies

• Hands-on experience with construction oversight, safety programs, and commissioning/startup management

• Has a track record of keeping projects tidy: schedules are current, budgets are reconciled, action items are owned, and nothing lives only in someone's inbox or memory. Treats project management software as a non-negotiable and has experience getting distributed teams to actually use it

Preferred Qualifications

• Engineering or other STEM degree

• 8 to 15+ years of experience in major capital project development & execution ($20M–$500M+ CAPEX)

• Experience in startups or scaling organizations transitioning from R&D to full-scale commercialization

• Familiarity with greenfield industrial projects, energy transition technologies, or sustainability-focused industries

• Experience with chemical process plants

Company Culture and Benefits

• Challenging, collaborative, and meaningful work and an important voice in company development

• Competitive salary commensurate with experience

• Meaningful equity compensation

• Unlimited PTO and expectation that all employees take significant time off to rest, recharge, and enjoy life outside work

• Excellent insurance with 100% of healthcare, vision, and dental premiums covered for the employee, and 80% coverage for dependents

• 401(k) with company match