Project Manager, Manufacturing

Subcritical Systems; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Job summary

Subcritical Systems in Austin, TX, seeks a driven Senior Project Manager to lead the expansion of our accelerator cavity factory from design through production readiness. You will align engineering, manufacturing, procurement, and operations to meet schedules, budgets, owners, and milestones while deploying ATLAS across programs.

The role calls for coordinating complex, multi-team initiatives with a focus on AI-enabled process improvements and scalable manufacturing readiness.

Qualifications

• Experience moving hardware from prototype to repeatable manufacturing.
• Delivery of complex manufacturing projects with scope, schedule, and budget results.
• Experience managing construction and build-outs with contractors and schedules.
• Ability to coordinate cross-functional teams across engineering, manufacturing, procurement, and operations.

Responsibilities

• Develop and deploy integrated schedules, budgets, dependencies, risks, and milestones for factory expansion from design to production readiness.
• Translate program priorities into executable plans for prototypes and repeatable production with clear ownership and dates.
• Lead reviews, track commitments, and resolve blockers with recovery plans for delivery risks.
• Identify opportunities to apply ATLAS to planning, coordination, procurement tracking, and reporting.
• Coordinate design releases and ATLAS outputs, ensuring drawings and specs are available when needed.
• Manage supplier commitments and contractor performance with long-lead procurement against scope and quality.
• Maintain cost forecasts, assess impacts, and secure approvals per authority limits; report performance to leadership.

Skills

Project management

Cross-functional leadership

Scheduling

Budgeting

Risk management

AI-enabled workflows

Multidisciplinary coordination

Vendor/contract management

Education

Engineering or related technical education

Tools

ATLAS AI platform

Job description

ABOUT SUBCRITICAL SYSTEMS

Subcritical Systems, Inc. is a venture-backed startup in Austin, Texas building the accelerator driven systems and the only US commercial manufacturer of accelerator cavities. What Space X did for rockets, we plan to do for accelerator cavities and commercialize across applications of power production, medical isotopes, semiconductors and waste transmutation.

We are in the process of building the Energy Amplifier, a novel nuclear fission system in which a particle accelerator drives a subcritical core, making melt physically impossible for clean power production. Due to its inherent safety, our system has a more streamlined licensing process. Our founding team includes successful entrepreneurs with a track record of building several multibillion dollar companies in deep-tech, and scientists who were leading U.S. national labs with deep experience in accelerator & nuclear technologies.

We are actively hiring to expand our team as we work toward licensing, regulatory submissions, and construction of our first energy amplifier. More information is available at subcritical.com.

ROLE SUMMARY

Lead project delivery for the expansion of our Austin accelerator cavity factory, from design and procurement through manufacturing, assembly, testing, and production readiness. These projects support extreme ultraviolet (EUV) applications, the Energy Amplifier (EA), and our Medical Isotope Facility (MIF). Within Operations, you will align engineering, manufacturing, procurement, and operations teams around agreed schedules, budgets, owners, and milestones. You will develop an approved scope and budgets, escalating changes and priority conflicts to the COO. Additionally, you will help deploy ATLAS, Subcritical’s internal AI platform, across factory and cavity manufacturing projects. This means identifying where AI can improve planning, engineering coordination, procurement, and reporting, then working with the ATLAS team to implement those capabilities. You will define what project teams need, coordinate testing, and ensure the tools are adopted effectively.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• End-to-End responsibility on developing and deploying integrated schedules, budgets, dependencies, risks, and milestones for factory expansion and machined component manufacturing, from design through build, test, and production readiness.
• Translate program priorities into executable plans for prototypes, qualification, and repeatable production, with clear deliverables, accountable owners, and completion dates.
• Lead project reviews, track commitments, resolve blockers, and escalating decisions early, with clear recovery plans for delivery risks.
• Identify and prioritize opportunities to apply ATLAS to project planning, engineering coordination, procurement tracking, manufacturing readiness, and reporting.
• Coordinate design releases, including ATLAS-assisted outputs, so approved drawings, specifications, and work instructions are available when manufacturing needs them. Engineering retains technical approval authority.
• In partnership with procurement, manage supplier commitments, contractor performance, and long-lead procurement against agreed scope, cost, schedule, and quality requirements.
• Maintain cost forecasts and change control, assess scope, cost, and schedule impacts, and secure approvals in line with agreed authority limits. Report performance and recovery actions to leadership.

QUALIFICATIONS

Required

• Experience managing projects that have moved hardware from prototype development into repeatable manufacturing.
• Demonstrated delivery of complex, manufacturing, hardware, or industrial projects, with example results against scope, schedule, and budget.
• Demonstrated experience in construction and build-outs, managing contractors, budgets, schedules, and delivery from design through build and commissioning.
• Proven ability to coordinate multidisciplinary, cross-functional teams across engineering, manufacturing, procurement, and operations.
• Strong project planning skills, including scheduling, dependency management, budgeting, cost forecasting, risk tracking, and change control.
• Experience managing supplier and contractor commitments alongside internal teams.
• Ability to understand technical drawings, specifications, and test requirements and translate them into actionable project plans.
• Practical experience applying AI tools to project management or operational workflows, with the ability to define use cases, validate outputs, and support implementation and team adoption. Willingness to learn and apply Subcritical’s internal ATLAS platform.

Preferred

• Exposure to particle accelerators, RF cavities, precision manufacturing, or similarly complex equipment.
• Familiarity with factory expansion, equipment commissioning, production quality systems, or manufacturing automation.
• Engineering or related technical education, or equivalent practical experience.
• Experience introducing digital or AI-enabled workflows, including requirements definition, pilot delivery, rollout, and user adoption.

BENEFITS

We offer health, dental, and vision insurance.

LOCATION & WORK POLICY

This role is fully in person in Austin, Texas. Our facility is located next to Austin Airport.