Fuel Fabrication Project Engineer
Description
Thanks for your interest in Oklo! We are searching for a Project Engineer to join our team.
Position Description
As a Project Engineer on Oklo’s fuel fabrication team, you’ll be responsible for supporting multidisciplinary nuclear design, licensing, procurement, and construction activities by coordinating project schedules, initiating nuclear-grade purchasing, and ensuring clear task tracking across multiple facility deployments for all team members. This role plays a critical part in maintaining nuclear safety, regulatory compliance, and disciplined project execution. The ideal candidate is detail-oriented, technically capable, and well-versed in the rigor required in nuclear environments.
This is a highly cross-functional role where technical excellence and a collaborative mindset are equally valued.
Specific responsibilities may include
-
Develop and maintain integrated schedules for nuclear system design, equipment qualification, procurement, and construction activities.
-
Incorporate regulatory milestones, QA/QC steps, readiness reviews, and hold points into project timelines.
-
Track progress across engineering disciplines (mechanical, electrical, I&C, safety analysis, licensing).
-
Identify schedule risks, critical-path items, and long-lead nuclear components.
-
Lead recurring project coordination meetings, ensuring alignment between engineering, licensing, procurement, and construction teams.
-
Prepare status reports for internal leadership and regulators (as applicable).
-
Generate procurement documentation for safety-related, ASME-coded, and nuclear-grade equipment.
-
Manage RFQs, vendor communications, and verification of technical and quality requirements (e.g., material certs, CMTRs, FATs, documentation packages).
-
Track lead times, manufacturing progress, inspections, and delivery schedules of critical nuclear components.
-
Work closely with supply chain quality, engineering, and project managers to ensure compliance with nuclear procurement processes.
-
Maintain detailed engineering task lists, design action logs, and configuration-controlled revision tracking.
-
Use workflow tools (e.g., Jira, Smartsheet, etc.) to monitor engineering deliverables, safety analyses, and change requests.
-
Track cross-functional tasks involving design, safety analysis, licensing, quality, and fabrication teams.
-
Drive timely completion of design outputs required for regulatory submittals, procurement packages, or construction milestones.
-
Produce weekly progress reports with status indicators, overdue items, and resource gaps.
-
Support preparation for audits, design reviews, readiness assessments, and regulatory inspections.
-
Present schedule impacts, procurement status, and risk mitigation updates to leadership and regulatory stakeholders.
-
Document project decisions, change impacts, and maintain traceability for regulated engineering activities.
-
Ensure project documentation follows nuclear QA requirements (e.g., NQA-1 or equivalent).
-
Manage design records, procurement documentation, inspection results, and nonconformance follow-up.
-
Assist in developing and improving internal processes related to scheduling, procurement, and engineering workflow.
-
Support risk assessments, cost tracking, and project performance reporting.
Minimum Qualifications
-
Bachelor’s or higher degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Nuclear Engineering or a related engineering discipline.
-
Understanding of quality management systems and functioned under at least one licensed system.
-
Experience with project scheduling tools.
-
Strong understanding of technical drawings, engineering deliverables, and procurement packages.
-
Excellent communication and organizational skills.
-
Solid understanding of mechanical and electrical design principles
-
Working knowledge of material selection (particularly metals), manufacturing methods, and fabrication techniques
-
Proven ability to function in a collaborative team environment on projects through the full development cycle—from concept and design to testing and production
-
Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to clearly document and present engineering work
-
Comfortable working with external manufacturers and engineering consultants
Bonus Qualifications
-
Experience with advanced reactor technologies (e.g., microreactors, fast reactors, SMRs).
-
Familiarity with regulatory processes (NRC, DOE, ASME code compliance).
-
Familiarity with nuclear QA requirements (NQA-1 or equivalent)
-
Exposure to vendor qualification, commercial-grade dedication, or nuclear-grade procurement.
-
Knowledge of ERP tools used in nuclear supply chain environments.
-
Prior involvement in safety analyses, design reviews, or licensing workflows.
-
Basic knowledge of nuclear fission and radiation effects on materials and components
Competencies
We are looking for a Project Engineer that is:
-
Competent in drawing, project tracking, document control and digital workflow systems (e.g., Jira, Smartsheet, etc ).
-
An experienced team player who can work effectively across both internal resources and external suppliers.
-
Proficient in developing and managing detailed engineering and construction schedules.
-
Well versed in understanding critical path methodology, logic ties, resource loading, and milestone tracking.
-
Able to translate technical requirements into actionable schedule tasks.
-
Solid at understanding engineering fundamentals relevant to nuclear systems (mechanical, electrical, I&C, thermal-hydraulics, etc.).
-
Able to read and interpret engineering drawings, specifications, and technical requirements.
-
Able to support design coordination and identify technical dependencies that impact schedule and procurement.
-
Skilled at managing RFQs, vendor communications, and long-lead procurement activities.
-
Strongly capable in organizing, tracking, and driving completion of cross-functional tasks.
-
Capable of proactively identifying technical, schedule, and procurement risks.
-
Familiar with documentation standards, readiness reviews, audits, and inspection processes.
-
Able to track multiple simultaneous tasks without losing sight of deadlines or dependencies.
-
Comfortable presenting timelines, risks, and progress to leadership and technical teams.
-
Passionate about clean energy
-
An optimist at heart
-
Passionate about making advanced fission a reality
-
Willing and able to learn quickly
-
Willing to think differently and do things in new ways
-
Comfortable in a fast-paced, highly iterative startup environment
-
Excited to think creatively, critically, and reflectively about the problems they are solving while not leaning only on what has been done before
-
Willing to propose novel and creative solutions to technical problems
-
An excellent writer who can write in a modern active voice, so make your cover letter compelling and write it well!
-
Able to communicate technical content and results verbally
Who you are
A startup person : You aren't driven by titles or hierarchy, and prefer efficiency to excess process. You don't need or expect to have a lot of guidance but you enjoy working in a fast-paced team. If you prefer the culture and feel of a large organization, that is great, but you likely won’t enjoy working with us! There is plenty of important work and plenty of good opportunities with organizations like that.
Motivated : You are self-motivated. You bring an enthusiasm to the team, and imbue a sense of passion that goes beyond clocking in and clocking out. This isn’t about a fake or arbitrary “pieces of flair” mentality or lack of work-life balance! It is about being a part of the vision and feeling a part of reaching team goals.
A team-player : Oklo genuinely is a team. We aren’t about taking credit for ourselves, and we aren’t about pushing blame to ot