Materials Engineer, Coatings Development

Bellevue, Washington, United States

Terra Power is a nuclear technology company based in Bellevue, Washington. At its core, the company is working to raise living standards globally through a more affordable, secure, and environmentally friendly form of nuclear energy along with innovations in medical isotopes to improve human health. In 2006, Terra Power originated with Bill Gates and a group of like-minded visionaries who evaluated the fundamental challenges to raising living standards around the world.

They recognized energy access was crucial to the health and economic well-being of communities and decided that the private sector needed to take action and create energy sources that would advance global energy deployment. Terra Power’s mission is to be a world leader in new nuclear technologies, while developing innovators and future leaders in the nuclear field. As a result, the company’s activities in the fields of nuclear energy and related sciences are yielding significant innovations in the safety and economics of nuclear power, hybrid energy and medical applications – all for significant human health benefits.

Terra Power is seeking to hire highly motivated and forward-thinking professionals who are interested in focusing on advanced nuclear reactor research and development and influencing change within the nuclear power landscape and bringing forward the critical production of medical isotopes. Terra Power is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We do not discriminate in hiring on the basis of sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religious creed, national origin, physical or mental disability, protected Veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.

Terra Power, LLC is seeking a highly motivated Materials Engineer to support the engineering efforts of the Core Materials Qualification team. This role will work as part of a high functioning team of engineers focused on material selection, development, and testing for next generation material and components for sodium cooled fast reactors. You will be responsible for developing coatings supporting the performance requirements of the Natrium Reactor.

• Lead the qualification of core coatings, including material selection, testing, and vendor scaling activities
• Interface with various project teams to ensure materials development and testing efforts meet programmatic objectives
• Source and screen potential coating materials and surface treatment technologies for improved friction, wear, and self-welding performance
• Lead vendor contracts to research, develop, and implement custom coatings and surface treatments for a high neutron fluence, high temperature sodium environment
• Coordinate in sodium testing needs with testing teams using in-house and out-of-house capabilities
• Work with vendors and fabricators to procure specimens necessary to complete testing and to scale up coatings to component applications, including authoring statements of work and managing supplier performance to plan
• Oversee material property test programs at external vendors, e.g. for neutron irradiation performance or mechanical properties
• Collect data, develop, and maintain materials databases for design and licensing needs
• Compose technical documents including test plans, test specifications, technical reports, and scientific studies related to materials and core design
• Maintain project schedule and ensure timely delivery of results
• Perform scientific analysis on test data and generate technical reports to document new knowledge related to materials performance and behavior, reactor design, and materials qualification

• Bachelor’s degree with minimum 6 years of related experience or a Master’s degree and 3 years of related experience or a PhD. A degree in Materials Science/Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related technical discipline is required.
• Demonstrated experience developing specialized metallic and cermet coatings for extreme environments is required
• A thorough understanding of tribology and surface engineering in non-lubricated environments is required
• Proficiency in writing…