Back to jobs
New

Senior Nuclear I&C Engineer – Hardware 

Torrance, California, United States

About Valar Atomics

At Valar Atomics, we're redefining what's possible in energy. Our mission is to make clean, high-temperature nuclear power scalable—unlocking abundant energy for industry, hydrogen, and next-generation manufacturing. We are a team of builders, engineers, and operators who believe nuclear energy should be fast to deploy, factory-made, and built for the real world. Our first pilot plant in Orangeville, Utah will demonstrate how advanced nuclear systems and fuel fabrication can power the future. Joining Valar Atomics means becoming part of a company where autonomy, ownership, and impact exist at every level.

 

The Team  

You will be joining Valar Atomics' Instrumentation, Control & Electrical (IC&E) organization, working on the Reactor side of the program. Nuclear I&C Hardware Engineers own the instruments that measure the reactor itself neutron flux across startup, intermediate, and power ranges, core and primary loop temperatures and pressures, and radiation levels throughout the plant along with the signal chains that carry those measurements to the protection and control systems. You will work alongside I&C, electrical, reactor physics, thermal-hydraulics, and nuclear safety engineers in a hands-on environment where measurement quality directly supports reactor safety. The team values technical depth, disciplined documentation, and a safety-first culture.  

 

The Role 

Valar Atomics is seeking Senior Nuclear I&C Hardware Engineers to own the plant design and application of nuclear instrumentation for our high temperature gas-cooled reactor program. The role covers neutron flux detection, radiation monitoring, reactor protection system sensors and signal chains, and process instrumentation in nuclear service, applied through instrument selection and specification, signal chain and installation design, cabling and grounding, environmental and radiation qualification, and commissioning. The focus is application of vendor-supplied instrumentation in plant design, not instrument or detector development. This is a senior position: you will own nuclear instrumentation scope end-to-end, from instrument selection and signal chain design through installation design, qualification, and commissioning, and provide technical direction to vendors, contractors, and junior engineers.  

 

Key Responsibilities  

  • Select, specify, and analyze neutron flux detection hardware including fission chambers, ion chambers, and proportional counters across source, intermediate, and power range instrumentation, including range overlap, sensitivity, and cable and environment constraints.  
  • Design and analyze nuclear instrumentation signal chains end-to-end: detector biasing, preamplifier selection and placement, pulse, fluctuation (Campbell/MSV), and current mode processing, cable selection and length effects, termination, and noise and grounding practice.  
  • Apply detector physics neutron interactions, detector response, gamma discrimination, activation, and radiation transport — to instrument selection, placement, and shielding decisions, in coordination with reactor physics and shielding analysts.  
  • Select and specify radiation monitoring instrumentation including area monitors, process and effluent monitors, and health physics instrumentation, including range, response, and regulatory basis.  
  • Specify process instrumentation in nuclear service temperature, pressure, flow, and level for the primary helium loop and supporting systems — including environmental compatibility, materials, and qualification implications of high-temperature helium service.  
  • Produce and own instrumentation engineering documentation including instrument data sheets, specifications, loop diagrams, I/O lists, block diagrams, and installation details.  
  • Develop instrument installation and physical integration design instrument locations, thermowells and penetrations, junction boxes, cable and MI cable routing, and physical separation in coordination with electrical designers and mechanical and piping engineers.  
  • Lead environmental and radiation qualification for assigned equipment: qualification plans, application service condition definition, review and acceptance of vendor qualification test reports and analyses, thermal and radiation aging analysis, and qualification documentation consistent with IEEE 323 and IEEE 344 methodologies.  
  • Execute reactor protection system hardware scope including sensor selection, redundancy and voting architecture input, channel independence and separation considerations, setpoint analysis input, and response time analysis and testing.  
  • Plan and lead integration and verification test programs including channel bring-up and integration, receipt verification, cable and connector testing, and data acquisition; own test procedures, data quality, and test reports.  
  • Lead factory and site acceptance testing, calibration, loop checking, and commissioning of nuclear instrumentation.  
  • Diagnose and resolve instrumentation problems including noise, grounding, cable, and signal integrity issues; perform root cause analysis and document corrective actions.  
  • Prepare procurement technical packages for nuclear instrumentation; evaluate vendor proposals against specifications; review vendor documentation, test reports, and quality records.  
  • Coordinate with reactor physics and nuclear safety engineers on detector placement, expected flux and dose environments, and instrument range and accuracy requirements; coordinate with I&C software and electrical engineers on signal interfaces and power supplies.  
  • Apply nuclear I&C codes and standards including IEEE 603, IEEE 497, IEC 61513, and applicable NRC regulatory guidance to design and documentation, and support licensing deliverables drawing on instrumentation content.  
  • Mentor junior engineers on detector physics, signal chain design, and test practice; provide technical direction to vendors and contractors on nuclear instrumentation scope.  
  • Maintain disciplined engineering records consistent with nuclear quality requirements, ensuring traceability of design decisions, analyses, and test results.  

 

Basic Qualifications  

  • Bachelor's degree in Nuclear, Electrical, Computer, or Mechanical Engineering, or a closely related discipline.  
  • 5+ years of experience in radiation detection systems, nuclear instrumentation, or precision analog instrumentation and measurement systems.  
  • Hands-on experience with radiation detectors (fission chambers, ion chambers, proportional counters, scintillators, or similar) and their signal chains, including detector electronics, biasing, and low-level signal measurement.  
  • Demonstrated ability to design or analyze analog measurement chains, including reasoning quantitatively about noise, grounding, shielding, cable effects, and signal integrity.  
  • Experience planning and leading integration, verification, or commissioning test work, including test procedure development, instrumentation setup, and formal test reporting.  
  • Strong grounding in nuclear physics fundamentals — neutron interactions, fission, decay, and radiation detection principles.  
  • Working knowledge of nuclear I&C codes and standards (IEEE 603, IEEE 497, IEC 61513, or equivalent), or a demonstrated record of rapidly working within rigorous standards frameworks in an adjacent high-assurance field.  
  • Ability to read and interpret P&IDs, electrical schematics, loop diagrams, and instrument data sheets.  
  • Experience producing engineering documentation — specifications, data sheets, test procedures, and reports — under formal review and configuration control.  

 

Preferred Skills and Experience   

  • Professional Engineer (PE) license.  
  • Advanced degree (MS or PhD) in nuclear engineering, physics, or a related field.  
  • Experience with wide-range neutron flux channels, including pulse/Campbell/current mode operation and range overlap design.  
  • Experience with environmental and radiation qualification programs (IEEE 323/344), including aging analysis and qualification testing.  
  • Experience with reactor protection system instrumentation, setpoint methodology (ISA-67.04 or equivalent), or response time testing.  
  • Experience with mineral-insulated cable, high-temperature instrumentation, or instrumentation for harsh or high-radiation environments.  
  • Experience at a research reactor, national laboratory, operating nuclear plant, or reactor developer.  
  • Familiarity with radiation transport or reactor physics codes (MCNP, Serpent, OpenMC, SCALE, or equivalent).  
  • Familiarity with nuclear quality programs (NQA-1, 10 CFR 50 Appendix B) as applied to design, procurement, and test records.  
  • Experience with data acquisition systems and Python or MATLAB for test data analysis.  

 

What We Offer  

  • Competitive base salary 
  • Equity ownership in a rapidly growing advanced energy company 
  • Comprehensive medical benefits 
  • Unlimited PTO
  • Free daily lunch and dinner provided onsite 
  • Generous PPE stipend
  • High-impact startup environment with significant ownership and autonomy 
  • Opportunities for rapid career growth and internal advancement 
  • Direct collaboration with experienced operators, engineers, and industry leaders 
  • The opportunity to help build and scale transformative energy technology from the ground up

 

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

Valar Atomics is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected status under applicable law.

We are committed to providing a workplace free of discrimination and harassment and will provide reasonable accommodation as required by law.

Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States as a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident (green card holder).

Salary

$144,000 - $176,000 USD

Apply for this job

*

indicates a required field

Resume/CV*

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Cover Letter

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Select...
Select...

To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in Valar Atomics’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

Select...
Select...
Race & Ethnicity Definitions

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection. As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measure the effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categories is as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.

Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability

Form CC-305
Page 1 of 1
OMB Control Number 1250-0005
Expires 07/31/2029

Why are you being asked to complete this form?

We are a federal contractor or subcontractor. The law requires us to provide equal employment opportunity to qualified people with disabilities. We have a goal of having at least 7% of our workers as people with disabilities. The law says we must measure our progress towards this goal. To do this, we must ask applicants and employees if they have a disability or have ever had one. People can become disabled, so we need to ask this question at least every five years.

Completing this form is voluntary, and we hope that you will choose to do so. Your answer is confidential. No one who makes hiring decisions will see it. Your decision to complete the form and your answer will not harm you in any way. If you want to learn more about the law or this form, visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) website at www.dol.gov/ofccp.

How do you know if you have a disability?

A disability is a condition that substantially limits one or more of your “major life activities.” If you have or have ever had such a condition, you are a person with a disability. Disabilities include, but are not limited to:

  • Alcohol or other substance use disorder (not currently using drugs illegally)
  • Autoimmune disorder, for example, lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS
  • Blind or low vision
  • Cancer (past or present)
  • Cardiovascular or heart disease
  • Celiac disease
  • Cerebral palsy
  • Deaf or serious difficulty hearing
  • Diabetes
  • Disfigurement, for example, disfigurement caused by burns, wounds, accidents, or congenital disorders
  • Epilepsy or other seizure disorder
  • Gastrointestinal disorders, for example, Crohn's Disease, irritable bowel syndrome
  • Intellectual or developmental disability
  • Mental health conditions, for example, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD
  • Missing limbs or partially missing limbs
  • Mobility impairment, benefiting from the use of a wheelchair, scooter, walker, leg brace(s) and/or other supports
  • Nervous system condition, for example, migraine headaches, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS)
  • Neurodivergence, for example, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, dyspraxia, other learning disabilities
  • Partial or complete paralysis (any cause)
  • Pulmonary or respiratory conditions, for example, tuberculosis, asthma, emphysema
  • Short stature (dwarfism)
  • Traumatic brain injury
Select...

PUBLIC BURDEN STATEMENT: According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. This survey should take about 5 minutes to complete.