[Hiring] Director, Balance of Plant @Kairos Power

Role Description

Kairos Power is seeking an experienced senior engineering leader to serve as Director, Balance of Plant (Power Generation System & Turbine Island), to provide strategic and technical leadership for multidisciplinary engineering teams. This role is responsible for the technical leadership, organizational capability, and execution of the engineering teams responsible for design and deployment for Structures, Systems, and Components that convert thermal energy to electricity and provide auxiliary plant functions necessary to support reliable and efficient plant operation.

• Provide strategic and technical leadership for the development and integration of balance-of-plant (BOP) Systems.
• Establish department technical direction and decision boundaries consistent with company strategy and designated technical authorities.
• Lead engineering delivery from conceptual sizing through detailed design, vendor package review, and commissioning support.
• Ensure engineering deliverables are technically sound and meet established quality and schedule requirements.
• Oversee supplier technical execution, including supplier selection, bid evaluations, and resolution of supplier technical issues.
• Build productive relationships with external organizations while maintaining clear accountability for Kairos Power technical requirements.
• Determine and communicate explicit scope, schedule, risk, and resource tradeoffs across the organization.
• Maintain accountability for organizational outcomes and the consequences of scope, schedule, risk, and resource decisions.
• Ensure execution of strategic priorities and take corrective action when results are off track.
• Establish organizational technical direction and decision boundaries consistent with company strategy.
• Ensure material technical and safety risk, their potential consequences, and proposed mitigations are clearly documented.
• Personally engage in mission-critical technical or organizational decisions.
• Build the organization and leadership pipeline required for current and future strategy.
• Hold senior leaders and technical leads accountable for team capability, succession, performance, engagement, and retention.
• Ensure systemic operational or compliance weaknesses are corrected and improvements are sustained.
• Communicate organizational direction and tradeoffs consistently to leadership, teams, and cross-functional partners.
• Establish alignment across teams, resolve cross-functional conflicts, and escalate tradeoffs requiring broader leadership decisions.
• Set the organizational tone for accountability, integrity, psychological safety, and mission stewardship.
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Mechanical Engineering, Nuclear Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or equivalent.
• 15+ years of progressively responsible engineering experience involving power generation, thermal-fluid systems, process systems, nuclear systems, or other complex industrial systems.
• 7+ years of progressive engineering leadership experience managing engineering teams with multiple engineering disciplines.
• Experience managing engineering managers or technical leads with accountability for outcomes across multiple teams and work sites.
• Experience working with suppliers, OEMs, engineering contractors, or other external technical organizations.
• Experience leading technical development and qualification of major equipment through external suppliers or OEMs.
• Experience supporting construction, commissioning, startup, or operation of complex power generation or industrial facilities.
• Experience with integrated power plant systems, including modern high-temperature steam Rankine cycles.
• Strong systems thinking with the ability to identify and resolve technical issues that cross traditional engineering and organizational boundaries.
• Proactive, organized, adaptable, and able to thrive in fast-paced, multi-tasked environments.

Requirements

• Knowledge of integrated power plant architecture, thermal-fluid systems, power generation systems, auxiliary systems, major plant equipment, and their interfaces.
• Knowledge of equipment procurement, supplier engineering, manufacturing, testing, installation, commissioning, and lifecycle considerations associated with complex industrial systems.
• Skill in leading and developing multidisciplinary engineering organizations and holding teams accountable for technical and execution outcomes.
• Skill in translating program objectives into engineering strategies, priorities, resource plans, and measurable commitments.
• Skill in technical decision-making, trade studies, risk assessment, problem solving, and resolution of complex cross-system issues.
• Ability to establish clear accountability while empowering managers, technical leads, and responsible engineers to make decisions.
• Ability to operate effectively in a first-of-a-kind environment characterized by technical uncertainty, evolving requirements, and competing priorities.
• Ability to communicate complex technical issues, uncertainties, risks, and tradeoffs to technical and nontechnical stakeholders.

Benefits

• Competitive compensation packages.
• Medical, dental and vision benefits for employees and their dependents.
• Paid Vacation.
• 401(k) and pre-tax health insurance, dependent care, and commuter benefits (FSA).