The client is seeking a Director, Nuclear Customer Program Manager based in Chattanooga, TN with an onsite work model. In this senior role, you will serve as the primary relationship owner for strategic customer accounts, especially during ramp periods, first-of-a-kind builds, and critical program milestones. You will build trust with executive-level customer counterparts and maintain continuity from award through execution and follow-on opportunity development, acting as the primary escalation point for customer-facing issues and leading executive reviews, milestone communications, recovery discussions, and strategic planning touchpoints.
You will ensure customer scope, status, risks, and commitments align with internal operating realities, and lead a single-threaded ownership model for complex programs that require durable institutional knowledge. You will develop and lead a Customer Programs function as a structured capability, including hiring and coaching, defining clear interfaces with Sales, Manufacturing, Engineering, and Quality, and establishing operating cadence, role clarity, and governance. This includes recruiting and developing senior Customer Program Managers with the executive presence to manage demanding industrial and nuclear customers and creating standardized playbooks, reporting tools, dashboards, and communication templates for customer-facing program management.
You will also drive handoffs across the program lifecycle—from Sales origination through program award, execution support, and long-term account stewardship—while maintaining leadership visibility into customer status, risks, opportunities, and escalations. You will translate strong customer relationships into measurable business outcomes such as follow-on awards, program growth, and improved internal readiness, including development of annual customer program plans and partnership with Sales on expansion opportunities. Requirements include 15+ years of progressive customer-facing leadership and program/account leadership experience in complex industrial, energy, defense, or nuclear environments, experience influencing cross-functionally without direct authority, strong executive communication skills, and a Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field; nuclear industry familiarity with regulated quality and compliance environments is expected, and preferred experience includes first-of-a-kind and other complex fabrication programs and prior exposure to sophisticated nuclear or industrial customers.