Nuclear Customer Programs Director & Relationships Lead

System One; Chattanooga (TN); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Dental

Vision

401(k) plan

Life insurance

Job summary

System One is seeking a Director of Nuclear Customer Program Management in Chattanooga, TN to lead the Customer Programs function onsite. You will own executive relationships, drive strategic program reviews, and coordinate across Sales, Manufacturing, Engineering, and Quality to ensure program success.

This role requires 15+ years of experience in customer-facing leadership within industrial, nuclear, or energy sectors, with a proven ability to deliver with urgency and credibility while

Qualifications

• 15+ years of progressive experience in customer-facing leadership, program management, account leadership, or related industrial leadership roles.
• Demonstrated success managing executive-level customer relationships in complex industrial, energy, defense, or nuclear environments.
• Experience leading teams and influencing across Manufacturing, Engineering, Sales, and Quality without direct authority over all participating functions.
• Strong executive communication skills, including customer presentations, strategic updates, and issue-resolution messaging.
• Ability to operate with urgency, judgment, and credibility in multi-program, high-accountability environments.
• Nuclear industry experience, including familiarity with regulated quality and compliance environments such as ASME Section III, NQA-1, and 10 CFR 50 Appendix B.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the senior relationship owner for strategic customer accounts, particularly during ramp periods, first-of-a-kind builds, and critical program milestones.
• Own executive-level customer relationships for assigned strategic programs and act as the primary escalation point for customer-facing issues.
• Lead customer reviews, milestone communications, recovery discussions, and strategic planning touchpoints.
• Ensure the customer’s view of scope, status, risks, and commitments matches internal operating realities.
• Provide a single-threaded ownership model for complex programs that require durable institutional knowledge.
• Strengthen long-term partnerships by combining responsiveness, transparency, and disciplined follow-through.
• Build and lead the Customer Programs function as a structured capability, including hiring, coaching, and defining clear interfaces with Sales, Manufacturing, Engineering, and Quality.
• Establish operating cadence, role clarity, and governance for the Customer Programs team.
• Recruit and develop senior Customer Program Managers with the executive presence to manage demanding industrial and nuclear customers.
• Create standard playbooks, reporting tools, dashboards, and communication templates for customer-facing program management.
• Clarify handoff points between Sales origination, program award, execution support, and long-term account stewardship.
• Establish rhythms that keep leadership informed on customer status, risks, opportunities, and escalations.
• Translate strong customer relationships into measurable business outcomes, including follow-on awards, program growth, and improved internal readiness.
• Develop annual customer program plans that identify follow-on opportunities, relationship risks, and internal readiness needs.
• Partner with Sales on expansion opportunities within existing accounts and adjacent platforms.
• Support strategic planning and capital-readiness discussions with customer-program forecasts and relationship insight.
• Track and report customer-facing performance indicators such as relationship health, follow-on award velocity, and voice-of-customer trends.
• Support cross-functional decision-making so customer commitments are met with urgency, transparency, and operational discipline.
• Use customer feedback to strengthen execution, improve recovery discipline, and raise the standard across future programs.

Skills

Executive leadership

Stakeholder management

Program management

Cross-functional influence

Nuclear industry knowledge

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Business, Operations

Job description

System One is seeking a Director of Nuclear Customer Program Management in Chattanooga, TN to lead the Customer Programs function onsite. You will own executive relationships, drive strategic program reviews, and coordinate across Sales, Manufacturing, Engineering, and Quality to ensure program success.

This role requires 15+ years of experience in customer-facing leadership within industrial, nuclear, or energy sectors, with a proven ability to deliver with urgency and credibility while