Principal Turbomachinery Engineer

About the Company

At Valar Atomics, we're redefining what's possible in energy. Our mission is to make clean, high‑temperature nuclear power scalable—unlocking abundant energy for industry, hydrogen, and next‑generation manufacturing. We are a team of builders, engineers, and operators who believe nuclear energy should be fast to deploy, factory‑made, and built for the real world. Our first pilot plant in Orangeville, Utah will demonstrate how advanced nuclear systems and fuel fabrication can power the future.

Joining Valar Atomics means becoming part of a company where autonomy, ownership, and impact exist at every level.

Valar Atomics is seeking a highly motivated Principal Turbo machinery Engineer to lead the design and development of the next generation of compressors and turbines for our Ward Series high‑temperature gas‑cooled nuclear reactors. You'll own critical turbo machinery components end‑to‑end—from hydrodynamic sizing and flowpath design through mechanical analysis, build, and test—and partner closely with manufacturing, assembly, and other engineering disciplines to deliver hardware that meets performance, life, and reliability targets.

• Design, build, and test helium compressors and advanced turbines for high‑temperature gas‑cooled nuclear reactors.
• Own critical turbo machinery components and every aspect of turbo machinery design, working in close collaboration with manufacturing and assembly partners.
• Perform hydrodynamic sizing and flowpath design and analysis for impellers and diffusers in the helium compressor and other turbo machinery for the nuclear system.
• Ensure detailed mechanical analysis is performed on all components and systems, reviewing drawings to confirm that selected designs meet required standards for life and reliability.
• Develop accurate models, methodologies, and first‑principles‑based tools to determine turbo machinery performance and operability.
• Work with teams developing other systems to ensure designs are optimally integrated and risks are well balanced across the system.
• Own secondary flow analysis and design, ensuring current and future hardware meets performance targets.
• Support both component and assembly testing, including defining the test configuration, executing the test process, and reviewing results.
• Lead the resolution of issues encountered with turbo machinery during development and qualification testing.
• Support ongoing design improvements to turbo machinery assemblies and subsystems, including manufacturing improvements to reduce cost and lead time of components.
• Travel to vendors, partners, and Valar Atomics' nuclear site in Utah as needed.

• You take true end‑to‑end ownership of turbo machinery components, from first‑principles analysis through hardware that runs.
• You bring deep technical judgment to design trade‑offs across thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, mechanical design, and materials.
• You build first‑principles models and quick estimates rather than relying solely on tools, and you know when each is appropriate.
• You partner effectively with manufacturing and assembly teams, designing for what can actually be built and inspected.
• You communicate clearly across disciplines, ensuring your component fits cleanly into the broader system.
• You stay scrappy and entrepreneurial under tight time and budget constraints.

• Bachelor's degree in an engineering discipline.
• 10+ years of experience in the design of turbo machinery.

• Master's degree or higher in Mechanical Engineering or a similar field.
• Power or process plant turbo machinery design experience.
• Strong understanding of pump hydrodynamic and aerodynamic design and turbo machinery fundamentals, including mechanical design and hands‑on experience with turbo machinery hardware builds.
• Strong understanding of thermodynamics, compressible and in compressible flow, thermochemistry, mechanics, and materials.
• Experience with turbo machinery manufacturing and design for manufacturability.
• Professional experience using Siemens NX (Unigraphics) or other CAD packages.
• Experience with Ansys (CFX, Mechanical, Thermal).
• Stron…