Full-Time

Thermal Analysis Manager

Updated on 9/4/2026

X-energy

X-energy

1,001-5,000 employees

Develops SMR reactors and TRISO fuel

Compensation Overview

$140k - $180k/yr

Rockville, MD, USA

Hybrid

Four days in the office per week required; travel up to 10% as needed.

Bachelor's

Category
Engineering Management (1)
Required Skills
FEM/FEA

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Requirements
  • A bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering or a related discipline from an accredited university or college is required.
  • Typically, seven years of engineering experience are required; graduate degrees typically count as more than two years of experience.
  • Experience using one-dimensional flow solvers to perform heat/energy and mass balance calculations, such as RELAP, Flownex, NPSS, SINDA/FLUINT, ASPEN Plus, Flomaster, or similar tools.
  • Ability to perform thermodynamic system analysis for advanced reactor plants.
  • Ability to perform structural, thermal, hydraulic, and other scoping calculations using hand calculations and analytical tools.
  • Ability to work with design control procedures, technical documentation, design reviews, and product design configuration data.
Responsibilities
  • Support the execution of mechanical design, analysis, or evaluation for assigned projects using sound engineering principles and applicable business, procedural, and product, program, and project requirements.
  • Lead the team responsible for thermodynamic system analysis supporting the design, manufacturing, construction, and licensing strategy of advanced reactor plants.
  • Support the management of engineering-resource utilization across multiple projects and ensure qualified engineers perform assigned work.
  • Lead design-cycle sprints and direct engineering team members, partners, and suppliers toward the on-time, on-budget delivery of high-quality engineering work products.
  • Manage mechanical engineering staff as needed, including ensuring expectations are met and supporting professional development.
  • Influence and support the development of strategy, methodology, and technical tools for the area of responsibility.
  • Interpret internal business challenges and recommend best practices to improve products, processes, tools, or services.
  • Support decisions and handle complex operational, product-management, technology, and engineering tasks or problems.
  • Plan and perform analyses to assess systems, structures, and components so they perform intended functions and meet technical specifications and design requirements.
  • Perform thermodynamic, structural, thermal, hydraulic, and other scoping computations as directed by project leads and systems engineers.
  • Work within a multidisciplinary engineering team to create next-generation nuclear power plants.
  • Perform work in accordance with design control procedures, thoroughly document work, facilitate internal and external design reviews, and control product design configuration data.
  • Perform other duties as assigned by the manager.
Desired Qualifications
  • At least five years of dedicated thermal-hydraulic or thermodynamic systems analysis experience within the nuclear industry.
  • Supervisory experience, including conducting yearly performance reviews, guiding career development, and providing coaching and conflict resolution.
  • Experience executing project schedules and ensuring teams deliver technical tasks on time while maintaining quality.
  • Experience overseeing or performing plant-level steady-state analysis of primary and secondary systems to define cycle efficiency and mass and energy balance.
  • Experience overseeing or evaluating plant-level transient analysis of system behavior during normal operational cycles and off-normal accident scenarios.
  • Deep understanding of single- and two-phase-flow fluid mechanics, heat-transfer phenomena, and plant dynamics.

X-energy designs and develops advanced nuclear reactors and fuel, aiming to commercialize small modular reactors based on a Generation IV high-temperature gas-cooled pebble-bed design and its TRISO-X fuel. The reactor uses ceramic-coated TRISO fuel in pebbles within a modular, sealed unit that operates at high temperatures to generate electricity or process heat, with safety features baked into the fuel and design. It differentiates itself by pursuing a specific Generation IV high-temperature gas-cooled, pebble-bed, TRISO-X fuel approach in a modular platform backed by significant financing to move toward commercialization. The company’s goal is to bring cleaner, safer nuclear energy to the market by completing design, obtaining regulatory clearance, and deploying its SMR technology and fuel at commercial scale.

Company Size

1,001-5,000

Company Stage

IPO

Headquarters

Rockville, Maryland

Founded

2009

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Simplify Jobs

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • DOE raised ARDP support to $2.115 billion on August 13, 2026.
  • NRC issued Dow's Texas environmental FONSI on May 18, 2026, advancing construction.
  • Q2 2026 revenue and grant income rose 154% to $54.6 million; cash hit $1.9 billion.

What critics are saying

  • Dow's permit still awaits late-2026 NRC review, pushing first power into early 2030s.
  • X-energy lost $59.1 million in Q2 2026 and burned $97.3 million operationally.
  • One Seadrift, TX-1, or Centrus delay freezes commercialization and guts the 11.5-gigawatt pipeline.

What makes X-energy unique

  • Xe-100 and TRISO-X integrate reactor and fuel, creating tight supply control.
  • NRC approved TX-1's Part 70 license in February 2026, first in 50 years.
  • SGL's January 2026 graphite deal and Centrus's August 2026 contract de-risk inputs.

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Benefits

401(k) Retirement Plan

Health Insurance

Dental Insurance

Vision Insurance

Paid Time Off

Tuition Reimbursement/Professional Development

Growth & Insights and Company News

Headcount

6 month growth

5%

1 year growth

11%

2 year growth

7%
Sargent & Lundy
Aug 27th, 2026
Sargent & Lundy environmental review earns NRC approval.

Sargent & Lundy environmental review earns NRC approval. Firm supports first-of-a-kind project to deploy advanced reactor to power industrial facility August 27, 2026 Based on Sargent & Lundy's detailed environmental review, a proposed 320-megawatt small modular reactor to power an industrial facility along Texas' Gulf Coast surpassed another major milestone in gaining Nuclear Regulatory Commission approval. The NRC recently completed an environmental assessment for Long Mott Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company, and X-energy's application to build a first-of-a-kind advanced reactor to power an industrial manufacturing facility in Seadrift, Texas. Following its review, the agency issued a finding of no significant impact, propelling the project forward in the construction permit approval process. The NRC finding comes less than a year after LME, with support from Sargent & Lundy and its project partner WSP, filed the environmental report. The more than 1,000-page report covers the proposed plant's design and operations, as well as its land use, air, water, ecology, socioeconomic conditions, and other potential impacts. The NRC issued few requests for additional information based on the level of detail and due diligence included and was able to determine that an environmental assessment "better addresses the project's limited environmental footprint at an existing industrial location" and allowed for "more efficient review while maintaining rigorous environmental standards." Sargent & Lundy has worked with X-energy and Dow since 2022 to support pre-application activities, including site selection, site feasibility, site characterization, and developing the recently approved environmental report. The firm has also supported the preliminary safety analysis report, which is now under NRC review and is expected to be completed by year-end. The proposed Long Mott Generating Station, being developed by LME under the Department of Energy's Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program, would replace the company's existing energy and steam generation plants that are nearing the end of their operating life spans. The plant would be the first grid-scale advanced nuclear reactor deployed to serve an industrial site in North America and would provide both electricity and high-temperature industrial steam. Dow produces more than 4 billion pounds of plastics and other materials at the Seadrift plant for multiple industries and is seeking a safe, reliable way to reduce the facility's emissions.

Yahoo Finance
Aug 27th, 2026
X-Energy targets AI power demand with Xe-100 reactor pipeline for Dow, Amazon and Centrica

X-Energy is positioning its Xe-100 small modular reactor to meet growing power demands from AI infrastructure. The company is working with Dow, Amazon, and Centrica to provide long-term, reliable energy for data centres and industrial operations. The Xe-100 is designed as an 80 MW electric reactor deployed in four-unit blocks to reach 320 MW. X-Energy has an indicative pipeline of approximately 11.5 GW across 144 reactors in the US and UK. The company, with a market capitalisation of about $7.8 billion, reported a Q2 2026 net loss of $59.09 million. However, it generated revenue of $54.6 million for the quarter and $98.02 million for the half year. The key test for X-Energy's AI-focused strategy will be whether anchor customers commit to full financial close and construction start on multi-reactor sites.

Yahoo Finance
Aug 24th, 2026
TRISO-X advances construction of first US advanced nuclear fuel facility in Oak Ridge

TRISO-X, a subsidiary of X-Energy, has started the next construction phase at its advanced nuclear fuel fabrication facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The work includes building auxiliary structures and installing equipment at the 214,000 square-foot plant. Once operational, the facility will produce 700,000 TRISO-X pebbles annually, equivalent to 5 metric tons of uranium, sufficient to fuel up to 11 Xe-100 reactors. It will be the first commercial facility in the US dedicated to fabricating tristructural-isotropic fuel for advanced reactors. The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has granted TRISO-X a 40-year licence, marking the first Category 2 nuclear fuel facility authorised to process High Assay Low Enriched Uranium. The plant supports X-energy's reactor deployment at Dow's Texas site through the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program.

Hebelschein-Spekulant
Aug 15th, 2026
X-energy invests $8M in SGL Carbon for advanced nuclear reactor graphite development

X-energy has invested $8 million in SGL Carbon for the development of high-tech graphite for use in advanced nuclear reactors. The investment positions SGL Carbon in a growth market with long-term potential. Industry experts and larger investor groups recognise the potential in the partnership with X-energy. Institutional investors have begun adjusting their positions accordingly. The German carbon and graphite specialist is focusing on applications in next-generation nuclear technology, a sector attracting increasing attention from institutional capital.

國家實驗研究院科技政策研究與資訊中心(STPI)
Aug 14th, 2026
US backs X-energy with $1B for Texas industrial nuclear project, total federal funding reaches $2.15B

The US Department of Energy has committed up to $1 billion in additional funding for X-energy's advanced nuclear project with Dow in Seadrift, Texas. This brings total federal funding available since 2021 to $21.5 billion through the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program. The project will deploy Xe-100 reactors at Dow's petrochemical facility to provide both electricity and industrial process steam, replacing existing energy systems. The facility aims to become North America's first grid-scale advanced nuclear installation serving a large industrial site directly. The Xe-100 is a high-temperature gas-cooled small modular reactor, with four units planned to deliver 320 MWe capacity. Long Mott Energy submitted a construction permit application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in March 2025, with operations targeted for the early 2030s. Funding follows a 50/50 cost-sharing model requiring matching private investment to share commercialisation risks.