Project Engineer - Fuel Fabrication

Thanks for your interest in Oklo!  We are searching for a Project Engineer to join our team. 

Position Description

As a Project Engineer on Oklo’s fuel fabrication team, you’ll be responsible for supporting multidisciplinary nuclear design, licensing, procurement, and construction activities by coordinating project schedules, initiating nuclear-grade purchasing, and ensuring clear task tracking across multiple facility deployments for all team members. This role plays a critical part in maintaining nuclear safety, regulatory compliance, and disciplined project execution. The ideal candidate is detail-oriented, technically capable, and well-versed in the rigor required in nuclear environments.

This is a highly cross-functional role where technical excellence and a collaborative mindset are equally valued.

Specific responsibilities may include:

• Develop and maintain integrated schedules for nuclear system design, equipment qualification, procurement, and construction activities.

• Incorporate regulatory milestones, QA/QC steps, readiness reviews, and hold points into project timelines.

• Track progress across engineering disciplines (mechanical, electrical, I&C, safety analysis, licensing).

• Identify schedule risks, critical-path items, and long-lead nuclear components.

• Lead recurring project coordination meetings, ensuring alignment between engineering, licensing, procurement, and construction teams.

• Prepare status reports for internal leadership and regulators (as applicable).

• Generate procurement documentation for safety-related, ASME-coded, and nuclear-grade equipment.

• Manage RFQs, vendor communications, and verification of technical and quality requirements (e.g., material certs, CMTRs, FATs, documentation packages).

• Track lead times, manufacturing progress, inspections, and delivery schedules of critical nuclear components.

• Work closely with supply chain quality, engineering, and project managers to ensure compliance with nuclear procurement processes.

• Maintain detailed engineering task lists, design action logs, and configuration-controlled revision tracking.

• Use workflow tools (e.g., Jira, Smartsheet, etc.) to monitor engineering deliverables, safety analyses, and change requests.

• Track cross-functional tasks involving design, safety analysis, licensing, quality, and fabrication teams.

• Drive timely completion of design outputs required for regulatory submittals, procurement packages, or construction milestones.

• Produce weekly progress reports with status indicators, overdue items, and resource gaps.

• Support preparation for audits, design reviews, readiness assessments, and regulatory inspections.

• Present schedule impacts, procurement status, and risk mitigation updates to leadership and regulatory stakeholders.

• Document project decisions, change impacts, and maintain traceability for regulated engineering activities.

• Ensure project documentation follows nuclear QA requirements (e.g., NQA-1 or equivalent).

• Manage design records, procurement documentation, inspection results, and nonconformance follow-up.

• Assist in developing and improving internal processes related to scheduling, procurement, and engineering workflow.

• Support risk assessments, cost tracking, and project performance reporting.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s or higher degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Nuclear Engineering or a related engineering discipline.

• Understanding of quality management systems and functioned under at least one licensed system.

• Experience with project scheduling tools.

• Strong understanding of technical drawings, engineering deliverables, and procurement packages.

• Excellent communication and organizational skills.

• Solid understanding of mechanical and electrical design principles

• Working knowledge of material selection (particularly metals), manufacturing methods, and fabrication techniques

• Proven ability to function in a collaborative team environment on projects through the full development cycle—from concept and design to testing and production

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to clearly document and present engineering work

• Comfortable working with external manufacturers and engineering consultants

Bonus Qualifications:

• Experience with advanced reactor technologies (e.g., microreactors, fast reactors, SMRs).

• Familiarity with regulatory processes (NRC, DOE, ASME code compliance).

• Familiarity with nuclear QA requirements (NQA-1 or equivalent)

• Exposure to vendor qualification, commercial-grade dedication, or nuclear-grade procurement.

• Knowledge of ERP tools used in nuclear supply chain environments.

• Prior involvement in safety analyses, design reviews, or licensing workflows.

• Basic knowledge of nuclear fission and radiation effects on materials and components

Competencies

We are looking for a Project Engineer that is:

• Competent in drawing, project tracking, document control and digital workflow systems (e.g., Jira, Smartsheet, etc ).

• An experienced team player who can work effectively across both internal resources and external suppliers.

• Proficient in developing and managing detailed engineering and construction schedules.

• Well versed in understanding critical path methodology, logic ties, resource loading, and milestone tracking.

• Able to translate technical requirements into actionable schedule tasks.

• Solid at understanding engineering fundamentals relevant to nuclear systems (mechanical, electrical, I&C, thermal-hydraulics, etc.).

• Able to read and interpret engineering drawings, specifications, and technical requirements.

• Able to support design coordination and identify technical dependencies that impact schedule and procurement.

• Skilled at managing RFQs, vendor communications, and long-lead procurement activities.

• Strongly capable in organizing, tracking, and driving completion of cross-functional tasks.

• Capable of proactively identifying technical, schedule, and procurement risks.

• Familiar with documentation standards, readiness reviews, audits, and inspection processes.

• Able to track multiple simultaneous tasks without losing sight of deadlines or dependencies.

• Comfortable presenting timelines, risks, and progress to leadership and technical teams.

• Passionate about clean energy 

• An optimist at heart

• Passionate about making advanced fission a reality

• Willing and able to learn quickly

• Willing to think differently and do things in new ways 

• Comfortable in a fast-paced, highly iterative startup environment

• Excited to think creatively, critically, and reflectively about the problems they are solving while not leaning only on what has been done before 

• Willing to propose novel and creative solutions to technical problems

• An excellent writer who can write in a modern active voice, so make your cover letter compelling and write it well!

• Able to communicate technical content and results verbally

Who you are:

A startup person: You aren't driven by titles or hierarchy, and prefer efficiency to excess process. You don't need or expect to have a lot of guidance but you enjoy working in a fast-paced team. If you prefer the culture and feel of a large organization, that is great, but you likely won’t enjoy working with us! There is plenty of important work and plenty of good opportunities with organizations like that.

Motivated: You are self-motivated. You bring an enthusiasm to the team, and imbue a sense of passion that goes beyond clocking in and clocking out. This isn’t about a fake or arbitrary “pieces of flair” mentality or lack of work-life balance! It is about being a part of the vision and feeling a part of reaching team goals.

A team-player: Oklo genuinely is a team. We aren’t about taking credit for ourselves, and we aren’t about pushing blame to others. We do incredible things because we work as a team.

An excellent communicator: We need a person who is not only technically competent but also a clear and upbeat communicator.

Creative: Being creative means that when things fall outside clear scopes or processes or problems arise without clear solutions, you are able to identify it as well as invent ways to solve a problem or fill a need without micromanagement. The successful person in this job will not only be creative, but also enjoy being creative and solving open-ended problems which may change day-by-day.

Detail-oriented: This focus is a big part of excellence, consistency, and quality. Excellent grammar and spelling matter for both good communication as well as the image of the company that we put forward.

About Oklo travel requirements:

Oklo requires remote employees to travel to headquarters (Santa Clara, CA) twice a quarter annually, based on business or team needs, including attendance at team meetings, off-sites, and other company events or gatherings. For the first two weeks of onboarding, employees are required to be in person at headquarters in Santa Clara, CA.

About Oklo compensation:

Salary: $100,000-$150,000

Oklo offers flexible time off, equity, bonuses, competitive pay, 401(k), health insurance (with employer contribution), HSA, FSA, flexible work hours, wellness credits, and other benefits.

We are looking to fill this position immediately!

This position may involve access to information subject to U.S. export control laws. Only applicants who meet the definition of a U.S. person under applicable laws may be eligible.

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About Oklo Inc.: Oklo Inc. is developing fast fission power plants to deliver clean, reliable, and affordable energy at scale; establishing a domestic supply chain for critical radioisotopes; and advancing nuclear fuel recycling to convert nuclear waste into clean energy. Oklo was the first to receive a site use permit from the U.S. Department of Energy for a commercial advanced fission plant, was awarded fuel material from Idaho National Laboratory, and submitted the first custom combined license application for an advanced reactor to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Oklo is also developing advanced fuel recycling technologies in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. National Laboratories.

#CHOP: Oklo’s Values
Collaboration: We go further, together. We bring diverse perspectives, listen actively, and build trust through transparency and respect. We work across disciplines, sharing ownership to turn complex challenges into shared successes.
Humility: We are team players who act for the good of the company and for the world. We are focused on our mission, not personal recognition.
Ownership: We take pride in what we do and how we do it. We are proactive in finding solutions and see tasks through  to completion. We are committed to delivering on our promises to provide clean, reliable, and affordable energy.
Pathfinding: We chart new ground where no path exists by approaching challenges with curiosity, courage, and creativity while navigating ambiguity.