Distinguished Nuclear Engineer

Company Overview

Kairos Power is a new nuclear energy technology and engineering company whose mission is to enable the world’s transition to clean energy, with the ultimate goal to dramatically improve people’s quality of life while protecting the environment. This goal will be accomplished through the commercialization of the fluoride-salt-cooled, high-temperature reactor (FHR) that can be deployed with robust safety, affordable costs, and flexible operation to accommodate the expansion of variable renewables.

Job Summary

The Nuclear Design and Methods department is seeking a highly accomplished Distinguished Engineer to bring deep nuclear plant experience and senior engineering judgment into the design organization .

This role sits at the intersection of nuclear analysis and plant implementation, helping ensure that Nuclear Design and Methods analyses, models, assumptions, limits, and requirements remain consistent with how the reactor will be designed, licensed, instrumented, tested, commissioned, maintained, and operated .

Reporting directly to the Head of Nuclear Design and Methods, the Distinguished Engineer will serve as a trusted senior technical advisor and representative for Nuclear Design in complex, high-impact decisions. The role will work extensively across Nuclear Island and Civil Structures Design, Systems Engineering, Operations, Licensing, I&C, and Nuclear Design functions including Source Term, Radiation Measurements, and Shielding. This individual will identify important technical and plant-interface issues early, lead their resolution across organizational boundaries, and represent Nuclear Design within delegated areas of technical authority.

Equally important, the Distinguished Engineer will strengthen the organization from within—mentoring and challenging engineers, transferring plant and field experience into the design organization, and helping develop technical leaders who can independently make strong cross-functional engineering decisions.

The ideal candidate brings a broad nuclear engineering career anchored in direct responsibility for an operating reactor or nuclear facility , combined with significant field and operational experience and strong knowledge of nuclear design, licensing bases, plant systems, instrumentation, startup and commissioning, procedures, maintenance, and the interfaces between analytical disciplines and plant implementation.

Responsibilities

• Provide senior technical leadership and independent engineering judgment across Nuclear Design and Methods and its interfaces with plant design, licensing, testing, commissioning, maintenance, and reactor operation.

• Represent Nuclear Design in high-impact technical decisions and forums , including design reviews, readiness reviews, audits, licensing engagements, and senior technical or executive discussions, exercising delegated technical authority and escalating significant design-basis decisions as appropriate.

• Lead resolution of complex cross-disciplinary technical issues involving reactor physics, thermal hydraulics, nuclear instrumentation, radiation monitoring, source term, radiation shielding, criticality safety, fuel management, I&C, systems engineering, licensing, testing, commissioning, maintenance, and plant operation.

• Bridge nuclear analyses and methods to plant implementation , ensuring that assumptions, limits, margins, uncertainties, and analytical requirements are consistently reflected in plant requirements, instrumentation, operating constraints, surveillance and testing, acceptance criteria, procedures, and maintainable designs.

• Identify and drive early resolution of technical risks and inconsistencies affecting licensing, operability, instrumentation, testing, maintenance, commissioning, or plant design before they become late-stage constraints or require significant rework.

• Prepare, review, and challenge key Nuclear Design technical products and plant-facing engineering documentation , including analyses, calculations, design requirements, specifications, design decision records, test plans, procedures, licensing-basis inputs, readiness documentation, and other high-impact technical products, with particular attention to assumptions, interfaces, margins, and plant consequences.

• Provide senior technical guidance for startup, commissioning, testing, and operational readiness , including initial fuel loading, startup physics testing, reactor monitoring, reactivity control, plant procedures, and acceptance criteria.

• Mentor and develop engineers and technical leaders , transferring plant experience and strengthening engineering judgment, regulatory awareness, cross-functional decision-making, constructive technical challenge, and a culture of nuclear safety and technical excellence.

• Provides independent technical review of significant design decisions, engineering changes, and deviations from established assumptions or methods.

• Identifies and drives resolution of cross-functional technical interface issues that could affect licensing, operability, testing, commissioning, or plant readiness.

• Evaluates plant impacts of changes to analytical methods, assumptions, limits, or design requirements.

• Supports incorporation of operating experience, test results, and field feedback into Nuclear Design requirements and practices.

• Ensures significant technical decisions, assumptions, risks, and follow-up actions are clearly documented and traceable.

• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or advanced degree in Nuclear Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related technical discipline.

• 15+ years of progressively responsible nuclear engineering experience , including significant senior-level technical leadership responsibility in nuclear power, reactor engineering, nuclear facilities, reactor programs or a closely related field.

• Demonstrated direct technical responsibility within an operating nuclear facility or reactor program , startup, or commissioning organization, or comparable nuclear environment with accountability for decisions affecting reactor or facility operation, plant engineering, startup or commissioning, testing, procedures, surveillance, maintenance, or operational readiness.

• Demonstrated experience leading complex technical issues across multiple engineering disciplines and organizational stakeholders.

• Substantial experience working within a nuclear licensing and design basis , including Technical Specifications or equivalent operating limits, regulatory requirements and guidance, surveillance and testing requirements, design-basis requirements, and configuration/design control.

• Demonstrated experience working across nuclear design, plant or systems engineering, licensing, and facility operations , with an understanding of how analytical assumptions and engineering decisions affect plant implementation.

• Demonstrated ability to understand and challenge complex nuclear engineering analyses , including assumptions, margins, uncertainties, interfaces, and plant consequences, without needing to be the calculation authority in every discipline.

• Demonstrated ability to make and communicate sound engineering judgments on high-consequence technical issues , including situations involving incomplete information, competing requirements, and multiple stakeholders.

• Ability to assess the adequacy of technical evidence supporting high-consequence engineering decisions.

• Ability to evaluate the downstream plant impacts of changes in assumptions, requirements, methods, or operating conditions.

• Ability to recognize when technical issues require escalation, independent review, or additional technical authority.

• Knowledge of nuclear design control, configuration management, and change-control principles.

• Ability to synthesize complex cross-disciplinary information into clear technical conclusions and recommendations