Director, Component Engineering

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.

The Director, Component Engineering leads the organization responsible for mechanical component design and design activities under applicable ASME programs. This role oversees teams responsible for converting system, manufacturing, code, materials, and analysis inputs into complete component designs and design documentation, including drawings. This position requires cross-functional collaboration, technical leadership, and coordination across engineering and manufacturing teams to ensure successful design execution, integration, and compliance.

• Own the development and delivery of mechanical component and system designs, drawings, models, and analyses, in coordination with Design Analysis and Methods, [JH1.1][RS1.2]to system owners in the Power Plant Engineering and other requesting KP departments.
• Works closely with Design Analysis and Methods group to ensure requests from Component Engineering for structural, thermal, and piping analyses are supported.
• Mature and maintain strategies for implementation the ASME Section VIII design and construction program and the ASME Section III-guided design and construction program.
• Lead component design work performed under applicable ASME Section VIII requirements and company quality procedures, including support for the development of User Design Specifications and preparation of required design documentation.
• Lead guided design work under applicable ASME Section III requirements and company procedures, including the planning, preparation, review, and release of required design documentation. Ensure code classification, design basis, load definitions, design inputs, documentation, and required reviews are identified and integrated into the component design approach.
• Coordinate and reconcile requirements from design teams in Power Plant Engineering, Materials, and Manufacturing; provide inputs to Design Analysis and Methods around required methods to support design work, as well as inputs to Materials on new materials and material data.
• Oversee resolution of fabrication and testing issues affecting component designs, coordinating technical dispositions and incorporating lessons learned into subsequent designs.
• Translate company strategy into measurable organizational priorities and decision principles.
• Determine and communicate explicit scope, schedule, risk, and resource tradeoffs across the organization.
• Maintain accountability for organizational outcomes and the consequences of scope, schedule, risk, and resource decisions within delegated authority, including decisions delegated to others.
• Ensure execution of strategic priorities, take corrective action when results are off track, and remove barriers teams cannot resolve.
• Establish organizational technical direction and decision boundaries are established, consistent with company strategy and designated technical authorities.
• Ensure material technical and safety risk, their potential consequences, and proposed mitigations are clearly documented and communicated to the appropriate authority, with risk acceptance decisions explicitly recorded.
• Personally engage in mission-critical technical or organizational decisions, crises, external reviews, or critical deliverables when judgment materially changes the outcome.
• Build the organization and leadership pipeline required for current and future strategy, including recruitment, staffing, and leadership development.
• Hold senior leaders and technical leads accountable for team capability, succession, performance, engagement, and retention.
• Ensure systemic operational or compliance weaknesses are corrected and that improvements are sustained across the organization.
• Communicate organizational direction and tradeoffs consistently to leadership, teams, and cross-functional partners.
• Establish alignment across teams, resolve cross-functional conflicts, and elevate tradeoffs that require broader leadership decisions.
• Set the organizational tone for accountability,…