Lead Nuclear Engineer

About the Role

Radiant is seeking a Lead Nuclear Engineer to provide technical and people leadership within the nuclear design and analysis organization supporting Kaleidos. You will lead an interdisciplinary team working across core physics, neutron and radiation transport, shielding, activation and dose, thermal-hydraulics, safety analysis, instrumentation and controls, reactor operations, and regulatory evaluations. This role combines hands-on technical leadership with team and project ownership. You will guide nuclear engineering work from requirements definition and early design trades through analysis, verification and validation, testing, and regulatory documentation. You will also own team priorities, schedules, resource planning, hiring, and execution against key program milestones. The ideal candidate brings deep technical judgment, strong engineering fundamentals, and the ability to translate complex nuclear analysis into practical design decisions. You should be comfortable leading in a fast-moving, interdisciplinary environment while developing engineers and driving difficult technical problems through closure.

Responsibilities & Duties

• Lead an interdisciplinary team working across reactor physics, core performance,
  shielding, dose and activation, thermal-hydraulics, safety analysis, I&C, and reactor operations.

• Hire, manage, and develop a high-performing team of nuclear engineers through clear expectations, technical guidance, actionable feedback, and regular coaching.

• Establish team priorities, project plans, schedules, resource needs, budgets, and clear ownership for nuclear engineering deliverables.

• Own nuclear engineering projects from requirements capture and design iteration through model development, analysis, technical review, and final documentation.

• Guide analyses of criticality, reactivity control, shutdown margin, power distribution, depletion, temperature feedback, radiation transport, dose, activation, and shielding performance.

• Translate analytical results into actionable requirements and design decisions affecting the core, shielding, control systems, instrumentation, fluid systems, structures, and surrounding hardware.

• Establish rigorous practices for model verification and validation, peer review,
  configuration control, uncertainty evaluation, and technical documentation.

• Ensure analytical assumptions, limitations, uncertainties, margins, and conclusions are clearly documented and technically defensible.

• Collaborate with reactor systems, thermal, mechanical, electrical, test, operations, safety, and regulatory teams to resolve multidisciplinary design challenges.

• Work with the regulatory organization to translate applicable nuclear standards and requirements into analysis plans, design criteria, calculation packages, and verification activities.

• Support reactor testing and startup by defining analysis needs, instrumentation
  requirements, acceptance criteria, and methods for comparing predicted and measured performance.

• Identify technical and programmatic risks, develop practical mitigation plans, and drive complex nuclear engineering problems through closure.

• Communicate technical status, risks, decisions, and recommendations clearly to
  engineering teams and company leadership.

Required Qualifications & Skills

• Bachelor’s degree in nuclear engineering or a related technical discipline from an
  accredited institution.

• 5+ years of relevant nuclear engineering experience across reactor design, analysis, testing, licensing, safety, or operations.

• 1+ year of experience managing direct reports.

• Demonstrated experience leading complex nuclear engineering projects involving
  multiple technical disciplines and stakeholders.

• Deep knowledge of neutron transport theory, Monte Carlo simulation methods, nuclear data, and statistical convergence.

• Professional experience developing and applying MCNP, OpenMC, or comparable
  neutron and radiation transport models.

• Strong understanding of reactor physics concepts, including criticality, reactivity
  coefficients, depletion, power distribution, shutdown margin, neutron and gamma transport, and uncertainty analysis.

• Experience translating analytical results into reactor design decisions, technical
  requirements, safety conclusions, or regulatory documentation.

• Familiarity with model verification and validation, configuration control, peer review, and nuclear software quality practices.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain complex analyses, assumptions, uncertainties, and technical conclusions to multidisciplinary
  teams.

Preferred Qualifications & Skills

• Master’s degree or Ph.D. in nuclear engineering or a related technical discipline.
  Subject-matter expertise in safety analysis, shielding, radiation dose and activation, instrumentation and controls, reactor operations, thermal-hydraulics, or radioactive-material transportation.

• Experience with high-temperature gas-cooled reactors, microreactors, advanced
  reactors, or first-of-a-kind nuclear systems.

• Experience with SCALE, Serpent, Shift, Griffin, MOOSE-based applications, or similar nuclear analysis tools.

• Proficiency with Python or another language used for simulation automation, model generation, and analysis post-processing.

• Experience with coupled neutronics and thermal-hydraulics or other multiphysics
  analyses.

• Familiarity with DOE authorization processes, NRC licensing, nuclear industry codes and standards, or regulatory safety analysis.

• Experience supporting reactor testing, commissioning, startup, or operational readiness.

• Experience building or expanding a nuclear engineering team or analytical capability.

Additional Requirements

• Willing to support extended hours when needed to meet critical program milestones.

• Must work 100% onsite at Radiant’s El Segundo headquarters.

Benefits and Perks

• Stock: Substantial incentive stock plan for all full-time employees.

• Daily catered lunch. Free snacks and drinks.

• Flexible PTO policy. Remote workday allocation.