Senior Staff R&D Technical Project Manager Design

Employer description

Crusoe is on a mission to accelerate the abundance of energy and intelligence. As the only vertically integrated AI infrastructure company built from the ground up, we own and operate each layer of the stack — from electrons to tokens — to power the world’s most ambitious AI workloads. When you join Crusoe, you join a team that is building the future, faster.

We’re in the midst of the greatest industrial revolution of our time. The demand for AI compute is boundless, and power is a bottleneck. We’re solving that — with an energy-first approach that makes AI infrastructure better for the world and faster for the people innovating with AI.

We’re looking for problem-solving, opportunity-finding teammates with a sense of urgency, who believe in the scale of our ambition and thrive on a path not fully paved — people who want to grow their careers alongside a team of experts across energy, manufacturing, data center construction, and cloud services.

If you want to do the most meaningful work of your career, help our customers and partners advance their AI strategies, and be part of a high-performing team that believes in each other, come build with us at Crusoe.

About This Role:Crusoe is a vertically integrated AI infrastructure company with a mission to accelerate the abundance of energy and intelligence. Our competitive advantage—“Speed is the only moat”—is directly tied to our ability to rapidly design, manufacture, and deploy our own modular power and compute infrastructure.

We are seeking a Technical Program Manager to join our R&D organization and drive programs that evaluate and advance the next generation of AI data center technologies. You will manage initiatives that span multiple engineering disciplines—from early-stage technology evaluations and partnerships with emerging startups and industry providers, through pilot-scale validation and production handoff for hyperscale deployment.

Crusoe’s R&D team exists to look around corners: identifying the technologies and design approaches that will define future data center platforms, testing them rigorously, and delivering validated solutions to the engineering teams that build and deploy our infrastructure. As a TPM in his team, you will be the operational backbone of that process—coordinating across R&D, engineering, external technology partners, and leadership to drive programs from concept through pilot to hyperscale readiness.

 What You’ll Be Working On:R&D Program Execution: Own and drive R&D programs end-to-end—from early-stage technology evaluation and partner engagement through pilot-scale deployment and production handoff for hyperscale rollout. Bring structure, rigor, and pace to programs that are inherently exploratory.

Engineering Team Partnership: Serve as R&D’s program interface to engineering teams across the company. Coordinate joint planning, manage shared initiative pipelines, and ensure R&D outputs are aligned with the needs of the teams building and deploying infrastructure.

Technology Evaluation Support: Coordinate the operational aspects of technology evaluations: vendor engagements, test protocols, data collection, success criteria, and structured go/no-go decision frameworks. Ensure evaluations are completed on schedule with clear, documented outcomes.

External Partner Management: Manage relationships with external technology vendors, emerging startups, design firms, and development partners engaged in R&D programs. Own scope definition, deliverable quality, schedule accountability, contracts, and commercial terms. Help coordinate joint evaluations and pilot programs with industry and research partners.

Cross-Functional Coordination: Drive alignment across R&D, engineering, operations, and leadership stakeholders. Translate technical complexity into clear program milestones, risk registers, and decision points that enable rapid execution.

Program Reporting: Maintain program status visibility through regular reporting to R&D leadership and engineering stakeholders. Proactively identify and escalate risks and blockers.

Technical Documentation: Ensure R&D programs produce comprehensive documentation—including technical assessments, pilot results, vendor evaluations, and production handoff packages—that enable engineering teams to adopt and scale R&D-validated solutions.

 What You’ll Bring to the Team:Experience: 7+ years of progressive experience in technical program management, project management, or systems engineering, with a meaningful portion in data center infrastructure, manufacturing, or related industrial environments.

Technical Background: Engineering degree or equivalent technical foundation. You started your career as an engineer and transitioned into program management—you bring genuine technical fluency to every conversation, not just process discipline.

Data Center Knowledge: Working familiarity with data center infrastructure—power distribution, cooling systems, facility design, or compute/networking. You can engage credibly with engineers across these domains and ask the right questions.

Program Execution: Demonstrated track record of delivering complex, cross-functional programs on time. Comfortable managing ambiguity, competing priorities, and multiple concurrent workstreams.

Vendor Management: Experience managing external vendors, contractors, or design partners including contract negotiation, scope management, and delivery accountability.

Communication: Strong written and verbal communication skills. Ability to translate technical program details into clear executive summaries and to facilitate productive discussions across diverse engineering disciplines.

 Bonus Points:Direct experience in data center construction, commissioning, or operations.

Background in manufacturing environments, particularly modular or containerized systems.

Experience with power systems, cooling technologies, or high-performance computing infrastructure.

PMP certification or equivalent program management credential.

Experience at a hyperscale cloud provider, major data center operator, or data center design/construction firm.

Prior experience in an R&D, advanced engineering, or new product introduction (NPI) environment.

 Benefits:

Competitive compensation and equity packages

Restricted Stock Units

Paid time off, paid holidays & leave of absence programs

Comprehensive health, dental & vision insurance

Employer contributions to HSA account

Paid parental leave

Paid life insurance, short-term and long-term disability

Professional development & tuition reimbursement

Mental health & wellness support

Commuter benefits (parking & transit)

Cell phone stipend

401(k) Retirement plan with company match up to 4% of salary

Volunteer time off

Global travel insurance & emergency assistance

Daily meals allowance

Additional perks & programs specific to location

 Compensation Range

Compensation will be paid in the range of up to $175,000 -$215,000 + Bonus. Restricted Stock Units are included in all offers. Compensation to be determined by the applicants knowledge, education, and abilities, as well as internal equity and alignment with market data.

Crusoe is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, citizenship, marital status, sex/gender, sexual preference/ orientation, gender identity, age, veteran status, national origin, or any other status protected by law or regulation.