Program Director, Plant Control Systems

Job Description

Responsibilities:

Program Ownership & Integration

Serve as the program owner for the Plant Control System within the greater IFE program, ensuring all systems maintain alignment with top-level functional, safety, cyber, and operational requirements.

Coordinate cross-functional work across systems including Laser, Chamber, Fusion Power Systems, Fuel Processing, Hot Maintenance, Implosion, Facilities, and Power Conversion Systems to ensure proper integration of their subsystem controls into the plant-wide architecture.

Maintain a program-level understanding of all control system interfaces across the Fusion Plant and ensure they remain synchronized with evolving designs.

Manage project budgets, resource allocation, and schedules, implementing proactive risk mitigation and reporting on performance metrics.

Requirement Stewardship

Own and steward top-level requirements, constraints, ICDs, and verification flows for the Plant Control System.

Ensure subsystem owners and architects correctly interpret and implement plant-wide requirements, pushing necessary updates across other systems when architecture or system needs evolve.

Technical Coordination

Coordinate with technical architects and SMEs who design the Plant Control System itself, ensuring program direction, priorities, and interfaces remain consistent.

Facilitate technical decisions when multiple systems interact, ensuring cross-plant integrity without being the sole technical decision-maker.

Manage the transition from conceptual design to detailed design, fabrication, construction, assembly, and commissioning.

Risk, Schedule, and Cross-System Alignment

Identify integration risks early, especially those spanning multiple plant systems or critical timing/safety paths, and drive resolution through collaborative planning.

Work with program management to reflect control system dependencies, integration timelines, and verification needs in the broader IFE schedule.

Lead key reviews involving plant-wide control readiness, integration checkpoints, and V&V status at the program level.

Communication & Leadership

Act as the primary interface between Plant Control Systems and the rest of the program organization.

Communicate priorities, risks, and architectural decisions to Program Directors and Sub
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System Owners.

Collaborate with senior leadership and stakeholders, communicating program status, risks, and opportunities for continuous improvement.

Influence outcomes without formal people management by aligning stakeholders to shared program goals and system-level reasoning.

Direct procurement activities and vendor management for long-lead, critical-path fusion system components.

Qualifications:

Bachelor's degree in engineering, physics, systems engineering, or equivalent; advanced degree preferred.

12+ years of experience in large, complex technical programs involving:

Industrial automation or plant-wide control systems

Nuclear, fusion, or high-energy physics environments

Safety-critical or high-reliability systems

Precision timing or data acquisition systems

Demonstrated experience in program management or systems leadership roles coordinating multi-disciplinary technical teams.

Strong understanding of system integration, interface control, requirements flow down, and cross-functional technical decision-making.

Experience in fusion, nuclear energy, pulsed-power facilities, or industrial control systems at scale.

Experience in distributed control systems, historians, and SCADA systems and architectures

Electrical power management systems.

Ability to lead and influence without direct people management authority.

Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee of granted asylum.

Desired:

Familiarity with systems engineering frameworks, ICD management, and V&V planning.

Experience with ML and predictive maintenance based on data and system telemetry.

Experience developing and building data repositories and distributed data access

Exposure to cybersecurity practices for industrial/scientific systems.

Experience in matrixed R&D environments with complex hardware-software integration.

Benefits

Xcimer offers a comprehensive benefits package designed to support employee health, well-being, and long-term success. Benefits include medical, dental, and vision coverage; basic and supplemental life insurance; short- and long-term disability; paid parental leave for employees at the time of birth or adoption; and a 401(k) with a company match of up to 6%. Eligible employees also receive equity, allowing them to share in the company's long-term success.

Xcimer operates under a flexible Paid Time Off (ATO) approach. Rather than a fixed number of vacation days, employees are trusted to take the time they need to rest and recharge while meeting the expectations of their role and team. In addition, employees receive paid sick time, 13 company-paid holidays, and an annual paid company shutdown. Benefits are available to regular employees, including part-time and fixed-term roles, as well as interns, with eligibility varying by benefit.