Project Manager

AIJ Search; Gaithersburg (MD); Hybrid; USD 175,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual performance bonus

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

Employer-sponsored life and disability

401(k) with employer contribution

Paid time off and paid holidays

Employer-paid training and profesional

Job summary

AIJ Search is seeking a Project Manager for Prototype Production and Federal Programs in a hybrid role based in Maryland (Frederick/Gaithersburg). You will lead day-to-day execution of prototype production projects, manage schedules, costs, and risk, and coordinate with cross-functional teams to meet government milestones and OTA requirements.

The role combines hands-on project management with reporting to senior leadership and government sponsors, including milestone packages and regular

Qualifications

• Approximately 10 to 20 years of career experience leading complex engineering, R&D, capital, or industrial projects.
• At least 5 years managing federally funded programs with milestone- or deliverable-based reporting.
• Hands-on technical/engineering background is a plus.
• Bachelor's degree in engineering or related field; mechanical or chemical engineering is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Lead day-to-day execution of prototype production projects and major workstreams against approved schedules, cost baselines, and milestones.
• Own the integrated master schedule, cost baseline, and risk register without dedicated project controls staff.
• Drive long-lead capital equipment procurement and coordinate facility design, permitting, construction, and commissioning.
• Coordinate cross-functional leads across controls, quality and safety, environmental and health, supply chain, procurement, and operations.
• Provide regular status reporting on schedule, cost, staffing, risks, and required decisions to senior management.

Skills

Project management

Federal programs experience

Schedule & cost control

Risk management

Cross-functional leadership

PMP / PgMP

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering or related technical field

Tools

Primavera P6

Microsoft Project

Cost accounting tools

Job description

Project Manager, Prototype Production and Federal Programs

Location: Hybrid. Frederick & Gaithersburg, MD | Travel: Up to 25%

Lead Delivery of a First-of-Its-Kind Domestic Carbon Materials Production Program

An advanced materials venture is commercializing a proprietary process that converts domestic coal into multiple high-value carbon materials, including synthetic graphite powder, high-density fine-grain graphite blocks, and graphene, using a single integrated production process. Graphite is a designated critical material, and with the United States importing the overwhelming majority of what it consumes, the company's mission is to build a domestic, cost-competitive source of graphite, graphene, and next-generation carbon materials.

The company operates an active research and development laboratory in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and is moving from bench-scale demonstration to pilot production, executing federally funded programs, including work under an Other Transaction Agreement (OTA), to build production capability and meet government milestones.

The company is at the transition point between demonstrated science and manufactured product. That transition is a delivery problem, not a research problem. This role exists to execute it.

The Opportunity

The Project Manager leads day-to-day execution of assigned prototype production projects and major workstreams against approved schedules, cost baselines, milestone structures, and program direction. This spans pilot facility build-out, long-lead capital equipment delivery, commissioning, production readiness, and the reporting and evidence obligations of federally funded prototype work.

This is a hands-on role, not a supervisory layer above a controls staff: the Project Manager personally builds and maintains the project schedule, cost baseline, and risk register, using tools such as Microsoft Project or Primavera P6, without relying on dedicated project controls support.

Schedule, Cost, and Risk Control

• Build and maintain the schedule and cost baseline for assigned scope, including budget development, commitment and accrual tracking, variance analysis, estimate at completion, and resource-loading to the work package level.
• Administer scope, schedule, and cost changes through the program's formal change-control process
• Maintain a risk register in which every entry carries a named owner, quantified likelihood and consequence, a mitigation plan, and defined retirement evidence, and report top risks and status during program reviews.
• Prepare milestone evidence packages, monthly technical and financial reports, quarterly program reviews, and phase-gate decision packages, and provide regular status reporting on schedule, cost, staffing, progress, risks, and required decisions.

Facility, Procurement, and Cross-Functional Delivery

• Drive long-lead capital equipment procurement to schedule, and coordinate facility design, permitting, construction, installation, and commissioning with internal leads and outside architects, engineers, environmental consultants, and land use counsel through to permit closure. re
• Maintain required supply chain data and vendor traceability for assigned scope, and support proposal development across the federal pipeline, including schedule basis, basis of estimate, and staffing plans.
• Coordinate functional leads across project controls, quality and safety, environmental and health, supply chain, procurement, and operations.s
• Hold technical work package owners accountable to committed dates while respecting the CTO's authority over technical content.
• Run the project operating cadence, coordinate with company leadership and the Director of Contracts on agreement administration and flow-down obligations, and elevate schedule, cost, resource, or performance issues early enough to allow corrective action

What You Bring

• Approximately 10 to 20 years of career experience, with a core focus on leading complex engineering, research and development, capital, or industrial projects
• At least 5 years managing federally funded programs, including direct responsibility for milestone- or deliverable-based reporting to a government sponsor. Experience with Department of War (DoW) programs is a plus.
• Early career experience in hands-on technical or engineering work, for example, an engineering degree holder who worked hands-on before moving into project management, is a plus.
• Bachelor's degree in engineering, physical sciences, construction management, or a related technical field. A background in mechanical or chemical engineering is a plus, though not required.
• Demonstrated ability to personally build and maintain an integrated master schedule and cost baseline, including variance analysis, forecasting, and formal change control, without relying on dedicated project controls staff.
• Demonstrated ability to hold senior technical personnel accountable to committed dates without technical authority over their work, and to coordinate multidisciplinary teams and communicate project performance to senior management.
• Background in advanced materials, specialty chemicals, energy, nuclear, or defense industrial base manufacturing, having led a capital expansion, new line, or new plant (ideally under a federal award), or in an EPC or A&E firm that has delivered a government facility build-out.
• Must be able to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government security clearance, and work on a hybrid basis in the Frederick/Gaithersburg, Maryland area, with travel up to 25%.

The Project Manager does not hold overall program authority, direct technical content, or negotiate agreements. The CTO and a Director of Contracts hold those responsibilities, and the CTO currently holds overall program-level accountability in a program director capacity.

There are currently no direct reports.

The Project Manager coordinates matrixed functional leads across project controls, quality and safety, environmental and health, supply chain, procurement, and operations, and promptly communicates progress, issues, and required decisions to company leadership.

Preferred, Not Required

• PMP, PgMP, PMI-SP, or AACE certification
• Primavera P6 or Microsoft Project fluency
• Experience administering Other Transaction Agreements under 10 U.S.C. § 4022 or other non-FAR instruments, including milestone-based payment structures and cost-share accounting
• Capital project delivery carried through construction, installation, commissioning, and turnover to operations
• Earned value management or an equivalent performance measurement discipline
• Familiarity with government data rights and technical data marking, or with environmental permitting and land use approval
• Experience at a company scaling from pilot demonstration to first commercial plant

If you have delivered a first-of-a-kind industrial asset against a government milestone schedule, and can describe what slipped, why, and what you did about it, we want to talk to you.

This is a full-time, exempt position, primarily office-based with regular time on an active laboratory and pilot manufacturing floor, and requires personal protective equipment (safety glasses, safety footwear, hearing protection) when on the production floor. Travel is up to 25%, and extended hours are expected around proposal deadlines, commissioning events, and production campaigns. A hands-on, self-sufficient style is essential; this is a small, fast-moving team without dedicated project controls staff to lean on.

Compensation and Benefits

• Base salary: $175,000–$200,000, commensurate with experience, relevant certifications, and demonstrated record of delivery
• Eligible for an annual performance bonus
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Employer-sponsored life and disability insurance
• 401(k) with employer contribution
• Paid time off and paid holidays
• Employer-paid training and professional certification

Work Authorization

Candidates must qualify as a U.S. Person as defined under applicable U.S. export control regulations, including U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and other protected individuals. Visa sponsorship is not available for this position. Given the federal nature of this program, candidates must also be able to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government security clearance.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Our client is an equal opportunity employer committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce. All qualified applicants will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. Reasonable accommodations are available to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of this role.