Infrastructure Design Manager

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.

The Construction and Infrastructure organization delivers the facilities, infrastructure, and construction projects required to support Valar's mission. The team manages planning, execution, and delivery of complex capital projects while ensuring quality, safety, and operational readiness.

As Infrastructure Design Manager, you will lead the planning, design, engineering, and technical delivery of complex infrastructure and facility projects from early concept through construction and commissioning. You will be the key interface between internal stakeholders, architects, engineers, contractors, vendors, and operations teams, setting design standards, managing design consultants, and driving technical decisions that balance safety, reliability, cost, schedule, maintainability, and long-term operational performance.

Success in this role means coordinated, constructible designs, fewer design-related changes and rework, scalable standards across sites, and projects that move efficiently from concept to commissioning.

• Lead infrastructure planning and design for new facilities, expansions, renovations, and site development, including early feasibility, site selection, and master planning.
• Translate business, manufacturing, operational, and facility requirements into clear design criteria, basis-of-design documents, and technical specifications.
• Lead multidisciplinary design across civil, structural, architectural, MEP, utilities, process infrastructure, and specialty systems (e.g., electrical distribution, MV/LV, HVAC, process cooling, compressed air and gases, vacuum, fire protection, controls, telecom, and critical/redundant systems).
• Evaluate design alternatives on technical performance, constructability, cost, schedule, reliability, and lifecycle considerations.
• Manage architects, engineers, and specialty consultants; establish deliverables, milestones, review processes, and quality expectations.
• Lead design reviews, interdisciplinary coordination, constructability reviews, and value-engineering exercises, resolving conflicts before they reach construction.
• Manage technical decisions, design changes, RFIs, and deviations, ensuring designs are fully coordinated before release for construction.
• Partner with construction, procurement, facilities, operations, manufacturing, EHS, and finance through procurement, construction, commissioning, and turnover.
• Review submittals, shop drawings, equipment selections, and substitutions, and support field teams in resolving design issues while maintaining design intent.
• Participate in project risk assessments and drive mitigation of technical and infrastructure risks.
• Establish and continuously improve infrastructure design standards, equipment standards, and repeatable solutions deployable across multiple sites, while evaluating emerging technologies.
• Serve as the primary design interface with stakeholders, presenting options, risks, cost implications, and recommendations to senior leadership and facilitating decisions when priorities conflict.

• Bachelor's degree in Architecture, Engineering, Construction Management, or a related technical discipline.
• 8+ years of experience in infrastructure design, engineering, construction, facilities, or capital projects.
• Demonstrated experience managing multidisciplinary design teams and external engineering consultants.
• Experience delivering complex commercial, industrial, manufacturing, data center, laboratory, or other technically demanding facilities from concept through construction and commissioning.
• Strong understanding of multidisciplinary building and infrastructure systems.
• Strong knowledge of design management, constructability, estimating, scheduling, and project delivery.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain complex technical issues to technical and…