Em Lopez-Maki
Resume

Em Lopez-Maki

Technical Project Manager · Hardware, Software, and People
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Professional Summary

Technical Project Manager (PMP) with a mechanical engineering background and hands-on software development experience, leading cross-functional programs across aerospace, R&D, and manufacturing environments. Led a critical redesign effort accelerated from 18 months to 6 months under regulatory and customer pressure, avoiding $4M+ in potential costs. Technical fluency across hardware and software systems supports credible communication with engineering teams and clear translation of program risk for stakeholders. Leads through trust, transparency, and meeting people where they are.

Professional Experience

Lower Colorado River Authority

06/2026–Current
Operations Strategist (Contract)
  • Leading a company-wide workflow and scheduling system overhaul in Microsoft Project, standardizing execution tracking across hundreds of concurrent electrical transmission construction projects.
  • Redesigning scheduling and coordination processes to improve visibility into project status, resource allocation, and critical path risk across the active portfolio.

Parker Meggitt

10/2022–10/2025
Technical Project Manager / Lead Technical Engineer (Project Engineer 2)
  • Led a critical system redesign and rework implementation effort that eliminated a flight-critical failure mode, preventing in-service shutdowns and avoiding $4M+ in potential part replacement costs while restoring customer confidence.
  • Led the root cause investigation that established the technical basis for the redesign program, including on-site teardown analysis of failed units conducted jointly with the customer.
  • Accelerated a high-priority program timeline from 18 months to 6 months by restructuring execution plans, clarifying ownership, and improving cross-functional coordination under regulatory and customer pressure.
  • Led integrated product team (IPT) coordination across engineering, manufacturing, quality, supply chain, and customer stakeholders on multiple concurrent technical programs, managing critical path dependencies to maintain schedule integrity under competing priorities.
  • Served as a primary coordination lead between leadership, customers, and cross-functional teams by communicating program risks, execution status, priorities, and mitigation plans to support timely decision-making.
  • Accelerated technical review and approval workflows across cross-functional engineering programs by implementing structured tracking, stakeholder follow-up, and documentation management systems that improved visibility, accountability, and execution alignment.
  • Developed and maintained integrated project tracking and execution systems using Microsoft Project and Trello to manage schedules, dependencies, risks, priorities, and cross-functional coordination across multiple programs.

Los Alamos National Laboratory

04/2019–09/2020
Mechanical Engineer / Technical Project Coordinator
  • Led coordination of a multidisciplinary test system development effort involving hardware design, instrumentation, software integration, vendor management, and external stakeholder communication within an R&D environment.
  • Independently designed and developed a patented 3D-printed tamper-evident container with inlaid fiber optics, recognized with an R&D100 Award and featured in Popular Mechanics.
  • Contributed to development and testing across multiple experimental systems, including particle accelerator vacuum infrastructure and a rapid-response PPE decontamination system, coordinating prototype fabrication and testing timelines across concurrent R&D initiatives.
Projects

Record Collections (Application)

recordcollections.app
  • Designed and built a full-stack web application solo in Next.js, React, and TypeScript under the mentorship of a senior full-stack engineer, working through professional git workflows including branching, PR review, and iterative delivery.