Manager, Materials Testing & Characterization

Everett, Washington, United States

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.

• Directly manage a diverse team of individual contributors supporting ongoing materials testing and characterization work
• Support individual contributors in developing, deploying, and executing materials testing programs in support of the Natrium reactor’s programmatic objectives
• Maintain in‑laboratory presence to provide direct, immediate feedback and support to individual contributors
• Oversee and manage third‑party suppliers conducting materials testing to ensure quality, compliance, and timely delivery
• Plan, monitor, and manage task progress, including defining required scope, maximizing efficiency of individual contributors, and ensuring complete and accurate work execution
• Work with the Manager and Project Manager to develop and maintain the project schedule and budget
• Effectively communicate project expectations and assignments to team members and management
• Ensure compliance to procedures, standards and regulatory criteria
• Ensure that engineering work is performed with a high level of integrity through adherence to work processes and technical reviews or approvals of team deliverables
• Communicate emerging technical issues with management and work with both the individual contributors and management to resolve efficiently
• Demonstrate visible, continuous leadership in the areas of safety and quality
• Interface with regulators, stakeholders, and customers on materials engineering design and testing issues
• Coordinate with the Plant Materials and Core Materials Qualification groups to develop material technologies supporting the Natrium Demonstration and future commercial reactor concepts
• Develop and maintain engineering staffing and resource plans, evaluating team skillsets and adjusting staffing to meet long‑range needs and project priorities
• Support recruitment, onboarding, and integration of new engineering personnel, ensuring smooth assimilation into project processes and expectations
• Support the development of direct reports through mentoring, training, and challenging assignments

• Bachelor’s degree with a minimum of 10 years of related experience or Master’s degree with minimum 6 years of related experience; or a PhD and with a minimum of 3 years of related experience. A degree in Materials Science/Engineering, Chemistry/Chemical Engineering, or a related technical discipline is required
• Proven ability to lead and collaborate with a diverse team is required
• Advanced knowledge and experience in nuclear quality programs, and configuration management principles, practices, and tools or similar quality programs is required
• Ability to manage numerous competing priorities concurrently during a given work week and work with minimal direction to solve multi-disciplinary problems is required
• Experience supervising personnel performing materials testing or characterization work for nuclear power applications or other related field is strongly desired
• Experience working to ASME NQA-1, 10 CFR 50 Appendix B control programs, or other NRC and DOE regulatory frameworks is strongly desired
• Candidate must be a self-starter and possess ability to perform both individually and as a team contributor; proven ability to direct small teams with minimal oversight is preferred
• Proven track record in planning, budgeting, and execution of testing or characterization activities is required
• Experience with collaboration, workflow, and planning tools, such as Atlassian Confluence/JIRA, Primavera P6, or other related tools is required
• Effective verbal and written communication skills is required
• Nuclear Industry knowledge / experience is strongly desired
• Knowledge of metallic materials testing and characterization is required
• Knowledge of metallic fuel and/or sodium fast reactor technologies is strongly desired
• Abil…