Criticality Safety Engineer

Aalo Atomics is pioneering a new era in clean energy with factory-fabricated microreactors designed to deliver affordable, scalable, and reliable nuclear power. Our mission is to make nuclear energy globally accessible, starting with the Aalo-1, a 10 MWe reactor leveraging cutting-edge safety, modularity, and efficiency. Based in Austin, TX, we’re rapidly growing as we work to deploy the world’s first fleet of advanced microreactors.

Join us and help revolutionize energy for a sustainable future.

We are seeking a Criticality Safety Engineer to perform criticality safety evaluations, develop and maintain criticality safety controls, and serve as a Criticality Safety Officer (CSO) for assigned facilities at the Aalo-X campus. Reporting to the Nuclear Safety Manager, this role is responsible for ensuring that all operations involving fissionable materials comply with DOE criticality safety requirements and applicable ANSI/ANS-8 series standards.

You will perform independent criticality safety analyses, check and review the work of others, and provide technical guidance to operations, design, and facility management teams.

As a CSO for assigned Criticality Control Areas, you will also serve as the on-the-ground liaison between Criticality Safety Engineering and facility operations, performing regular walkdowns and surveillance, advising operating personnel on criticality safety limits and controls, and ensuring that new or modified equipment and activities are covered by active criticality safety evaluations. This combined engineering and facility oversight role requires deep technical expertise in nuclear criticality safety, strong analytical skills, and the ability to communicate complex safety requirements clearly to diverse technical and operational audiences.

• Perform criticality safety evaluations (CSEs) independently in accordance with DOE-STD-3007, including scoping calculations for design, technical guidance, and formal safety basis analyses.
• Check and verify criticality safety evaluations for accuracy, including performing independent calculations and analyses to confirm that all evaluation requirements have been met.
• Perform criticality safety reviews and assessments of existing facilities and planned activities, including facility modifications and process changes.
• Review safety basis documents, proposed safety basis documents, and facility/process modifications for criticality safety implications.
• Oversee and support the implementation of the Aalo Atomics Criticality Safety Program requirements, limits, and controls across assigned facilities.
• Serve as the Criticality Safety Officer for assigned Criticality Control Areas, acting as the facility advocate for criticality safety and liaison between facility management and Criticality Safety Engineering.
• Perform regular facility walkdowns and surveillances to maintain familiarity with operations and verify compliance with criticality safety controls.
• Advise operating personnel and supervision on conformance to criticality safety limits and requirements, and identify when Criticality Safety Engineering consultation is needed.
• Authorize the implementation of new or modified equipment and activities within assigned Criticality Control Areas, ensuring they are covered by active CSEs and the criticality safety basis.
• Participate in the development and approval of facility-specific criticality safety controls, including attending review meetings and concurring with facility criticality controls.
• Provide guidance to operations and facility management on the identification of violations and areas of concern related to criticality safety.
• Support the development and maintenance of criticality safety documentation, including the Criticality Safety Program plan, procedures, and training materials.
• Coordinate with nuclear safety, design engineering, and operations teams to ensure criticality safety requirements are integrated into facility design and operational procedures.
• Support development of recovery plans and emergency response procedures related to criticality safety events.
• Perform or support Unreviewed Safety Question (USQ) evaluations for changes with potential criticality safety implications.

• Bachelor of Science degree in Nuclear Engineering, Nuclear Physics, Physics, or a closely related scientific or engineering discipline.
• 8+ years of experience in nuclear criticality safety, including the independent preparation and review of…