Senior Quality Engineer

Role Intent

Valar Atomics is building something that has not existed before: a path to scale nuclear energy for heavy industrial power and clean hydrocarbon fuel production, at speed, with credibility, and with purpose. This role exists to ensure that quality enables that mission rather than constrains it
, while preserving the safety, rigor, and trust that nuclear technology demands.

This is not a traditional quality role. It is a founding leadership position for someone who will operate as the Quality Lead’s right hand—executing tactically today while architecting the Quality organization and systems of tomorrow’s highest vertically integrated enterprise—and quickly converting to a people leader when the time is right.

Valar Atomics operates in a fast-moving R&D environment with rapidly evolving designs and ambitious schedules. Our Quality program is designed to be fit-for-purpose and risk-informed
, ensuring appropriate rigor and compliance while enabling rapid learning and iteration as the technology advances.

You will be expected to:

• Operate effectively in ambiguity
• Make defensible, context-aware decisions grounded in safety, technical rigor, and regulatory intent
• Build credibility with engineers, operators, and leadership
• Establish scalable quality systems that enable disciplined execution, rapid learning, and long‑term commercial readiness.
• Help define a new way to do nuclear quality—grounded in first principles and regulatory intent
  , while modernizing practices to enable safe innovation at scale.

• You independently own and close critical quality problems with minimal orientation
• Engineering teams seek you out as a partner, not a gatekeeper
• Early‑stage quality controls are in place that regulators, customers, and leadership can trust—even if the system is not yet “complete”
• You help define a clear roadmap from today’s pragmatic controls to a future world‑class Quality Management System
• You begin shaping the structure, tooling, and cultural norms of the future Quality organization

• Act as a solutions owner for quality-related challenges across R&D and early commercial activities
• Embed directly with teams to understand real constraints and enable compliant execution at speed
• Develop creative, defensible approaches to demonstrating compliance without unnecessary drag

• Co‑architect Valar’s Quality Management System from the ground up
• Define near‑term quality fundamentals and a clear roadmap for scaling rigor as Valar transitions from R&D to commercial execution
• Build prevention‑focused systems that scale cleanly rather than inspection‑heavy controls that calcify

• Apply nuclear quality assurance principles with judgment, not reflex
• Distinguish between regulatory intent and historical habit
• Serve as a credible technical interface with regulators, auditors, and external stakeholders

• Leverage modern tools, data, automation, and AI responsibly to increase speed and rigor simultaneously
• Treat quality as an information system as much as a compliance system

• Operate as a servant leader—anchoring every decision in Valar’s mission, investing in the team, and ensuring quality serves as an enabler of safe execution
  .
• Build trust through transparency, competence, and follow‑through
• Mentor others and help lay the foundation for a future Quality organization as Valar scales

This role requires a rare combination of depth, breadth, and temperament.

• Prior experience in nuclear quality assurance (R&D, commercial, or both), sufficient to innovate responsibly
• Broad quality engineering background across design, manufacturing, suppliers, and testing
• Systems thinker with the ability to see second‑ and third‑order effects
• Experience building or significantly reshaping quality systems, not just operating mature ones
• Standard and Nuclear Quality Engineering technical rigor and domain aptitude will be assessed directly during the screening process rather than through static checklists. Candidates should expect…