Project Manager, Commercial Projects

About the role

The Project Manager will lead development execution for one of Valar's first commercial projects. This role is responsible for managing the project from early site development through major investment and delivery readiness milestones, with continued involvement after handoff to support continuity, decision-making, and alignment with the construction and delivery teams. You will own the integrated development schedule, coordinate across internal teams and external partners, support vendors and internal planning before construction handoff, track development-phase cost and risk inputs, and help define the project control's structure Valar will use as it scales. This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who has managed complex capital projects and can operate in a fast-moving startup environment. The right person will bring strong project discipline without creating unnecessary bureaucracy. Success in this role means building a project development model that is clear, practical, repeatable, and strong enough to support future commercial sites.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Develop and maintain the integrated project development schedule from site development through major investment decision, delivery readiness, and construction handoff.
• Run regular schedule updates, critical path reviews, look ahead planning, and schedule risk analysis during the development and pre-construction phases.
• Drive readiness for key project gates, including early engineering, development milestones, regulatory milestones, customer milestones, and internal investment decisions.
• Own the master milestone list, gate decision log, and project development execution calendar.
• Support internal engineering and major vendor planning during the development and pre-construction phases, including scope definition, schedule inputs, commercial readiness, and handoff preparation, working closely with the Project Delivery team.
• Coordinate with Supply Chain, Engineering, Delivery, and Construction leadership on long-lead equipment planning and major vendor readiness before execution handoff.
• Help define the information, documentation, and decision packages required for a clean handoff to the Delivery and Construction teams.
• Participate in contractor coordination and executive contractor reviews as needed during development and handoff, while supporting the Delivery team as the primary owner of construction execution.
• Maintain visibility into key vendor, internal engineering, schedule, cost, and risk items after handoff to support continuity between project development and construction execution.
• Produce weekly project status reports covering schedule, cost, risk, open decisions, and major actions during the development phase.
• Prepare monthly executive updates and quarterly board-level project updates in coordination with company leadership.
• Maintain the project risk register during development, run regular risk reviews, and escalate major risks to leadership.
• Partner with cost estimating, finance, and project controls teams on estimates, cost reporting, capital planning, and earned value management inputs.
• Help define the project controls function, including tools, reporting structure, cost coding, change control, and document control practices.
• Coordinate closely with Engineering, Licensing, Delivery, Finance, Supply Chain, Real Estate, Public Relations, Government Relations, and executive leadership.
• Serve as a senior project development representative in Utah and support local stakeholder engagement with government, community, and regional partners.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in engineering, business, or a related technical field is required.
• Minimum of 10 years of experience managing complex capital projects in a development or pre-construction role.
• Demonstrated ability to own and drive execution of project schedules, risk registers, and milestone tracking across multiple workstreams.
• Experience coordinating with engineering, supply chain, regulatory, and construction teams in a heavy-industry or energy environment.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills to prepare executive-level updates and interact with senior leadership, regulators, and external stakeholders.
• Proven capability to manage vendors, contractors, and third-party partners while maintaining clear accountability for deliverables.
• Comfort working in a fast-paced, ambiguous startup environment where priorities can shift quickly and decisions must be made with incomplete information.
• Willingness to travel as needed for project visits, stakeholder meetings, and regulatory engagements.

Nice to have

• Experience in nuclear energy, advanced manufacturing, or high-temperature process industries is preferred.
• Familiarity with project controls tools, earned value management, and cost engineering practices.
• Background in Utah or the Intermountain West region and understanding of local regulatory and stakeholder landscapes.

Practical notes

This is a full-time position based in Torrance, California. Occasional travel is required for project visits, stakeholder meetings, and regulatory engagements. Candidates must be authorized to work in the United States without sponsorship for this role.