Program manager

Do you want to contribute to a more sustainable world? Are you excited to deploy computational chemistry and materials science to help shape the future of battery technology and consequently the future of consumer electronics and mobility?

About LeydenJar
LeydenJar aims to become the world’s innovation leader in advanced battery anodes to energize batteries for human progress. High energy density of battery cells is an urgent and unmet need for a wide range of industries from consumer electronics to electric vehicles. By addressing the bottleneck of the battery anode, LeydenJar can improve this by 50-70% in an industry that can only improve 3% per year. Our pure silicon anode is regarded as the holy grail to achieve this in the battery industry. Progress is not only about enabling new products, it also means a more sustainable supply chain, resilience and access to battery technology in geopolitical context and enabling electrification.

Your mission

As Program Manager, you will play a key role in bringing structure, transparency, and execution discipline across LeydenJar’s most critical projects. You will work closely with project managers, department heads, and senior leadership to ensure projects are delivered on time, on scope, and within budget, while proactively managing risks and dependencies.

You will also act as a central link between strategy and execution—translating company priorities into clear quarterly goals and monitoring progress across the organization.

Your responsibilities:

Program & Project Governance

• Implement and further develop a structured project management organization (PMO/PSO) within LeydenJar, in close collaboration with project managers across key projects such as Gen3 and Plant One.

• Establish consistent project standards, rhythms, and reporting across R&D, engineering, and operations projects.

• Act as a sparring partner to project and line managers, challenging plans and execution on timelines, scope, technical specifications, and budgets.

Planning, Reporting & Risk Management

• Monitor progress against project targets by building clear management reports and dashboards.

• Identify project risks, resource constraints, and interdependencies, and escalate when needed to LT.

• Consolidate project budgets, forecasts, and financials across multiple projects, supporting decision making on a portfolio level.

Strategic & Quarterly Planning

• Provide tactical Support for LeydenJar’s strategic planning.

• Translate company strategy into structured quarterly objectives and work with department heads to turn ambitions into concrete, measurable plans.

• Track execution against strategic priorities and highlight deviations early.

Stakeholder & Partner Management

• Coordinate with external partners, suppliers, and customers where projects require close collaboration or high visibility.

• Provide clear, structured updates to senior management on high impact or time critical initiatives.

About you:

• You hold a Master’s or PhD degree in a technical field, reflecting a strong foundation and curiosity for deep tech innovation.

• You bring 5+ years of experience in a high performance environment, with a proven ability to take ownership and translate strategy into tangible results.

• You have strong program and project management experience in a technical, R&D driven, or industrial setting, and you thrive in environments where clarity and structure enable speed.

• You are comfortable managing complex, multidisciplinary projects with significant budgets and diverse stakeholders, fostering collaboration while holding teams accountable for delivery.

• You combine a structured, analytical mindset with the courage to challenge constructively, influence senior stakeholders, and escalate risks when needed—always in the interest of the company.

• You are eager to deeply understand LeydenJar’s battery and plasma technologies, driven by curiosity and a hands-on learning mindset, while continuously developing your skills in project management and finance.

  Key competences : 

• Execution: Drives projects forward, ensures objectives are met, and delivers results.

• Organizational Awareness: Connects across departments and adapts to changing internal dynamics.

• Problem Analysis: Quickly identifies core issues and develops pragmatic solutions.

•  Stress Tolerance: Remains effective and focused under pressure in a fastmoving scaleup environment.

Why LeydenJar?

• Unleash Your Potential: Step into a workplace where growth and ownership go hand in hand. We empower every individual regardless of background, gender, or identity to thrive and achieve their career aspirations.

• Pension & Insurance Security: We care about your future. LeydenJar contributes 10% on top of your monthly gross salary toward your pension and life insurance, ensuring long-term security for you and your loved ones.

• Recharge & Refresh: Enjoy 25 vacation days per year (based on full-time hours) because work-life balance is essential for everyone.

• Travel Made Easy: We cover your home-to-work travel costs with €0.23 per kilometer or provide an NS Business Card for hassle-free public transportation.

• Continuous Learning: Access our online learning platform (Udemy) to develop your skills and unlock new opportunities for personal and professional growth.

• Diverse, Inclusive & Equal: Be part of an international team of 20+ nationalities, where everyone’s voice matters, and where diversity, equity, and inclusion are more than values they’re actions.

• Community & Connection: From team-building events and monthly lunches to year-end celebrations and inclusive gatherings, we create spaces where everyone feels welcome and engaged.

Do you want to take on the challenge as Program manager? 

We are looking forward to your application!

If you'd like to learn more about LeydenJar amazing team, see below:

At LeydenJar we value diversity, and we provide equal opportunities to all applicants without regard to race, color, ethnicity, religion, gender, pregnancy/childbirth, age, national origin, sexual orientation, disability, etc. If there are two or more applicants of equal suitability for a certain position, LeydenJar can under circumstances decide to select applicants based on positive discrimination in full compliance with all relevant and applicable law.