Head of Capital Projects

American Advanced Materials; Mountain View (CA); On-site; USD 200,000 - 300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Equity compensation

401(k) plan

Flexible PTO

Job summary

American Advanced Materials in Mountain View, CA seeks a capital projects leader to own front-end engineering and capital project execution for a first-of-its-kind advanced materials plant. The projects in scope today are in excess of $1B of CAPEX.

This is a critical operating role where you will be directly accountable for turning ambitious process and facility concepts into a bankable, buildable, and operating industrial project.

Qualifications

• Experience leading complex programs with interdependent stakeholders.
• Capex program experience on the order of $100M-$1B.
• Fluent in process engineering deliverables and utility systems.
• AI/software adoption to accelerate EPC tasks.
• Schedule, cost controls, and scope-change management.
• Experience coordinating external EPC firms, financiers, or regulators.
• Founder-level ownership mindset and proactive execution.
• Excellent written updates, memos, and business cases.
• Strong cost estimation with limited data.
• Experience in advanced materials or related fields is a plus.
• B.S. in engineering is required; PMP/PE/MBA a plus.

Responsibilities

• Own the integrated program plan for FEED, site selection, permitting, procurement, and capital execution.
• Drive FEED deliverables across internal and external teams and vendors.
• Translate objectives into a disciplined execution roadmap with milestones and risk entries.
• Lead project controls for schedule, budget, scope, changes, and procurement status.
• Coordinate core engineering packages including BOD, PFDs, P&IDs, layouts, and cost estimates.
• Own the data room and diligence for financing, government funding, and partners.
• Drive site selection, site-control, and long-lead equipment strategy.
• Coordinate EPC bids, vendor engagement, and early procurement decisions.
• Identify and raise execution risks early, including permitting and utility risks.
• Build an operating cadence for a fast-moving, high-caliber team with engineering rigor.

Skills

Program leadership

FEED & EPC management

Front-end engineering

Process engineering fluency

Project controls

Site selection & permitting

Vendor coordination

Executive reporting

AI/native software adoption

Communication skills

Cost estimation

Credential awareness

Education

B.S. in engineering

PM/PE/MBA credential

Job description

We're looking for an exceptional capital projects leader to own the front-end engineering and eventual capital project execution for a first-of-its-kind advanced materials plant. The projects in scope today are in excess of $1B of CAPEX. This is a critical operating role where you will be the person directly accountable for turning ambitious process and facility concepts into a bankable, buildable, and ultimately operating industrial project. You will act as the beating heart of our internal design & pre-construction EPC team, coordinating with engineering, site operations, utilities, procurement, financial and external EPC+GC parties to ensure construction readiness and eventually smooth project execution across a complex multi-year program. You'll work at the intersection of process engineering, industrial construction, project finance, and software-native execution, making sure every technical, commercial, and schedule-critical workstream converges into a plant that can be built and run at scale.

Responsibilities

• Own the integrated program plan for front-end engineering, site selection, permitting, procurement, commercial readiness, and capital project execution

• Drive front-end engineering (FEED) deliverables across internal engineers, external EPC firms, permitting specialists, equipment vendors, utilities, and commercial counterparties

• Translate technical objectives into a disciplined execution roadmap with clear owners, milestones, risk registers, decision gates, and schedule-critical dependencies

• Lead project controls for a large industrial capital project, including schedule, budget, scope, change control, procurement status, and executive reporting

• Coordinate production of core engineering packages, including basis of design, PFDs, P&IDs, equipment lists, layouts, utility requirements, safety packages, permitting packages, and cost estimates

• Own the project data room and diligence package required for financing, government funding, customer offtake, and partner decision-making

• Drive site-selection and site-control workstreams, ensuring candidate sites are evaluated against engineering, logistics, utilities, permitting, environmental, schedule, and expansion requirements

• Coordinate long-lead equipment strategy, vendor engagement, EPC bids, and early procurement decisions needed to compress time to construction and operation

• Identify and raise execution risks early, especially around permitting, utilities, construction sequencing, vendor lead times, commercial agreements, and technical scope gaps

• Build the operating cadence that lets a small, high-caliber team move faster than traditional capital project organizations without losing engineering rigor

Qualifications

• Proven success leading complex technical programs with many interdependent engineering, commercial, vendor, and executive stakeholders

• Experience managing front-end engineering, FEED, EPC, industrial construction, infrastructure, manufacturing, energy, chemicals, mining, semiconductors, aerospace, or comparable capital-intensive programs of $100M-$1B CAPEX scale

• Strong technical fluency with process engineering and industrial facility design deliverables, including PFDs, P&IDs, equipment specifications, utility systems, layouts, permitting packages, and cost estimates

• AI native: proven track record of fast AI and software adoption to accelerate common jobs and tasks in the scope of desing + estimation EPCs

• Demonstrated ability to build project schedules, own project controls, track critical paths, manage scope changes, and force decisions under uncertainty

• Experience coordinating external engineering firms, EPC contractors, permitting consultants, equipment vendors, utilities, customers, financiers, or government stakeholders

• Ability to operate with founder-level ownership: you notice what is missing, create structure where none exists, and drive workstreams to completion without waiting for perfect instructions

• Excellent written communication skills, including the ability to produce crisp executive updates, technical decision memos, business cases, and diligence-ready project documentation

• Good cost estimation skills and a proven ability to obtain estimates quickly with only limited data available

• Experience with advanced materials, specialty chemicals, energy systems, semiconductors, defense industrial base programs, or critical minerals is a plus

• B.S. degree in engineering, construction management, operations, or a related technical field is required

• PMP, P.E., MBA, M.S. in engineering, or equivalent project leadership credential is a plus

Compensation & Benefits

Base salary: $200K – $300K

Significant equity compensation aligned with public benchmarks for senior early team members

Your actual compensation will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: location, job-related knowledge and skills, education, and experience.

We offer comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage, company 401(k) and other benefits. We have a flexible paid time-off (PTO) policy