Project Manager

AIJSearch; Rockville (MD); Hybrid; USD 175,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

AIJSearch is seeking a Project Manager for prototype production and federal programs in the Rockville, MD area. You will own the schedule, cost baseline, and risk management for assigned prototype and capital projects, interfacing with a cross-functional team to meet government milestones and deliverables.

This hands-on role requires building the integrated master schedule, coordinating with contracts and CTO, and driving procurement and facility readiness while working in a hybrid

Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience delivering hardware, equipment, or manufactured products against a contract
• Experience managing capital expansion, new production lines, or pilot plants
• Background with federal program work is a plus, OTA experience valued

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain integrated master schedule and cost baseline
• Manage scope, schedule, and cost changes via formal change control
• Maintain risk register with owners and mitigation plans
• Prepare milestone evidence packages and monthly/quarterly reports
• Coordinate with cross-functional teams including procurement, operations, and contracts

Skills

Project delivery

Schedule management

Cost management

Risk management

Cross-functional leadership

Executive communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering or related field

Tools

Primavera P6

Microsoft Project

Excel

Job description

Project Manager, Prototype Production and Federal Programs

Location: Hybrid remote/on-site.

Headquarters: Rockville, Maryland

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. It 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 deliver against 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 commissioning, production readiness, and the reporting and evidence obligations of federally funded prototype work.

The work is contract-driven. The company's current programs are federally funded OTAs rather than traditional FAR-based contracts, and they set the delivery schedule the company is measured on, with milestone-based payments, formal evidence packages, and reporting to the government sponsor. Additional OTA work is expected, and commercial and internal capital projects follow as the production base grows. Prior federal program experience is valued but not required. What matters most is a record of delivering a prototype or product against a customer's contract requirements, schedule, and budget.

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, Primavera P6, or Excel, without relying on dedicated project controls support. The Project Manager does not run the production line. The role owns contract requirements and collaborates with the technical team to ensure the work behind each milestone gets done on time.

What You Will Do

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 with a named owner and mitigation plan for each risk, and report top risks and status during program reviews
• Prepare milestone evidence packages, monthly technical and financial reports, and quarterly program reviews, 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, tracking vendors, purchase orders, lead times, delivery, installation, and warranty terms, and coordinate closure; pilot facility build-out, equipment installation, and commissioning with internal leads and outside engineering and environmental consultants
• 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
• 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 escalating schedule, cost, resource, or performance issues early enough to allow corrective action
• Help establish the business processes and systems a growing company needs to manage contract requirements, track deliverables, and report performance

What You Bring

We are targeting project managers with 7+ years of experience delivering hardware, equipment, or manufactured products against a customer's contract requirements. The strongest candidates have carried a capital expansion, new production line, new facility, or contract production program from plan to delivery. They can describe what slipped, why, and what they did about it.

Candidates may currently hold titles such as Project Manager, Senior Project Manager, Program Manager, Manufacturing Program Manager, Engineering Project Manager,

• Approximately 7 or more years of career experience, with a core focus on leading complex engineering, research and development, capital, or industrial manufacturing projects
• Direct responsibility for sizable projects or programs (ideally $10 million or more in total value)
• Project or program management experience involving physical hardware or capital equipment, such as production equipment, aerospace or flight hardware, medical device or biopharma manufacturing equipment, mechanical systems, or engineered components that must be specified, ordered, tracked through lead times, delivered, installed, and supported under warranty. IT, software, and SaaS project management experience does not meet this requirement
• Experience managing projects or programs against an external customer's contract requirements, such as engineered-to-order, build-to-print, prototype, or contract production work, rather than continuous commodity production
• Bachelor's degree in engineering, physical sciences, 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

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

There are no direct reports at present. 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

• Experience managing federally funded programs, including milestone- or deliverable-based reporting to a government sponsor. Department of War (DoW) program experience is a plus
• Experience accounting with Other Transaction Agreements (OTAs) or other non-FAR instruments, including milestone-based payments, cost-share accounting, and government data rights
• Background in advanced materials, specialty chemicals, energy, nuclear, aerospace, medical devices, biopharma, or defense industrial base manufacturing, including leading a capital expansion, new line, or new plant
• Experience at a supplier or vendor delivering to a prime contractor or other external customer
• Early career experience in hands-on technical or engineering work, for example, an engineering degree holder who worked direct before moving into project management
• PMP, PgMP, PMI-SP, or AACE certification
• Primavera P6 or Microsoft Project fluency
• Capital project delivery carried through installation, commissioning, and turnover to operations
• Earned value management or an equivalent performance measurement discipline
• Experience at a company scaling from pilot demonstration to first commercial plant

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

Location and Work Arrangement

This role is hybrid, with regular on-site presence at the company's Maryland locations, typically about twice a week. Candidates within a one-hour commute of the Frederick and Gaithersburg area are preferred. Candidates willing to relocate are welcome. A primarily remote arrangement with regular on-site visits may be considered on a case-by-case basis. Relocation support is available.

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 -200K, commensurate with experience, relevant certifications, and demonstrated record of delivery
• 10% 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. A security clearance is not required at hire. Future federal program work is expected to require one, so candidates must be able to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government security clearance when needed.

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.