Senior Engineering Program Manager

Job Description

Job Description

About Thea Energy:

Thea Energy is leveraging recent breakthroughs in stellarator physics and engineering to create a faster and simpler approach to commercializing fusion energy. The company is reinventing the stellarator using computer-controlled arrays of planar coils thereby replacing the intricate, complex modular magnets required in all other stellarator architectures. Thea Energy is on a mission to create a limitless source of zero emission energy for a sustainable future.

Position Overview:

Thea Energy is seeking a highly structured, collaborative, and proactive Senior Engineering Program Manager to drive the execution of our cutting-edge hardware development programs. In this role, you will define and drive program planning across multidisciplinary hardware design, test, supply chain, and manufacturing teams, owning critical-path delivery for complex hardware components. You will partner closely with technical leads to establish requirements, manage engineering BOM strategies, and orchestrate design-build-test cycles, ensuring seamless integration across physics and engineering boundaries while proactively mitigating technical and schedule risks. The ideal candidate has a deep technical background in large-scale hardware engineering (such as climate tech, aerospace, or nuclear), excels at translating complex progress and risks into clear strategic decisions for leadership, and thrives in a fast-moving, high-ownership startup environment. Thea Energy’s dynamic team is made up of self-motivated individuals with an excitement for solving complex problems.

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.

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Company Benefits:

• Salary range $130,000-$180,000
• Comprehensive health benefits (e.g. medical/dental/vision)
• Employee equity stock options
• 20 days PTO

It’s not necessary to meet all of the skillsets outlined above. Please feel free to send us a note and tell us why you would still be a great fit for this role or Thea Energy.

Diversity and Inclusion:

Thea Energy is an equal opportunity employer committed to creating a company of diverse backgrounds. By creating a diverse environment, we will bring new ideas and approaches to solving some of the world’s hardest (and most important) problems. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, family or marital status, age, disability, veteran’s status, or other characteristic protected by applicable laws and regulations.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.