Licensing Engineer

Location: Houston, TX;
Rockville, MD;
Bellevue, WA;
Remote (US)

Employment Type: Full-Time

Reports To: Vice President, Licensing

We are a next-generation nuclear technology startup pioneering the commercialization of High-Temperature Gas-cooled Reactors (HTGRs) — a proven, safe, and transformative technology for delivering ultra-high-temperature heat and clean power. Our mission is to deploy a global fleet of Advanced Modular Reactors, redefining how clean energy powers energy-intensive industries and communities.

As an early-stage company scaling rapidly, every team member plays a direct role in shaping our technology, foundational systems, and culture. You will join a collaborative, mission-driven team of internationally recognized experts and innovators working together to bring advanced nuclear energy to the world.

As a Licensing Engineer at Zetta Joule, you will report directly to the Vice President, Licensing, playing a foundational role in authoring, managing, and defending regulatory submittals across the full licensing lifecycle of our advanced High-Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor. The final job title and level will be commensurate with the successful candidate’s experience and qualifications.

Because our licensing program requires deep domain mastery across multiple technical disciplines, this position seeks engineering candidates with specialized strength in one or more core technical focus areas:

• Safety Analysis and Reactor Systems
• Siting, Environmental Impact, and Permitting
• Structures and Mechanical Systems
• Fuel and Material Qualification
• Instrumentation, Control, and Electrical Systems

In this role, you will integrate closely with Systems Engineering, Design, and Quality teams to translate cutting-edge reactor engineering into highly defensible regulatory documents. You will engage with regulatory authorities, draft submittals, support Preliminary/Final Safety Analysis Reports, and resolve complex technical inquiries.

• Manage regulatory submittal schedules, tracking mechanisms, formal correspondence, and pre-application engagement plans.
• Serve as a direct interface with NRC project managers, technical review branches, and industry working groups (e.g., NEI, ASME, ANS).
• Partner with engineering disciplines to identify regulatory gaps, interpret NRC requirements and guidance, and establish licensing positions.
• Plan, develop, and lead meetings with the NRC covering aspects of the reactor design.
• Lead the drafting, review, and compilation of licensing documentation for submittal to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) under 10 CFR Part 50, as well as evolving advanced reactor frameworks.
• Coordinate the formal response process for NRC audits, requests, and engagements.
• Support or lead development of operational, administrative, and compliance programs (e.g., Technical Specifications, Emergency Preparedness, Physical Security, and Radiation Protection).

• Safety Analysis and Reactor Systems
• Collaborate with engineering teams to ensure transient and accident analysis methodologies (e.g., loss-of-forced-cooling, depressurization) align with regulatory expectations and precedents.
• Partner with safety analysis teams to define, justify, and document Licensing Basis Events and SSC safety classifications using deterministic safety analyses supplemented by targeted risk insights.
• Act as the regulatory integrator for thermal-hydraulics, core physics, and PRA teams, translating their complex quantitative risk and deterministic data into Safety Analysis Reports.
• Siting, Environmental Impact, and Permitting
• Direct the development of Safety…