Principal 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. 

The Challenge 

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. 

What Success Looks Like (First 6–12 Months) 

• 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 

Core Responsibilities 

Execution & Ownership 

• 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 

System Building 

• 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 

Nuclear Quality Leadership 

• 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 

Technology Enablement 

• 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 

Leadership & Culture 

• 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 

Required Capabilities & Experience 

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

Technical & Domain Capabilities 

• 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 deep, first-principles discussions spanning nuclear quality assurance, system design, and execution tradeoffs. 

Execution Profile 

• Demonstrated ability to execute with minimal direction in incomplete systems 

• Comfortable working long hours in high-intensity, rapidly changing environments 

• Proven pattern recognition and judgment under pressure 

Leadership & Behavioral Attributes 

• Servant leader by instinct and action 

• Relationship builder who earns trust across disciplines 

• Patient with people and programs, without tolerating complacency 

• Comfortable leading without authority and accepting authority later without ego 

Technology Mindset 

• Practicing technologist who uses modern tools (including AI) to compress cycle time without sacrificing rigor 

• Believes technology should augment human judgment, not replace accountability 

Mission Alignment 

• Deeply aligned with—and energized by—Valar Atomics’ mission to scale nuclear energy for industrial power and clean fuels 

• Makes decisions through the lens of the company roadmap and long-term impact, not local optimization 

• This rewarding mission demands commitment and flexibility. Long hours/late nights/weekends onsite, last minute travel (including international), taking out the garbage, washing the dishes, stacking graphite, whatever is necessary on a minute-by-minute basis to help this special team complete its mission. In return, you make history. Simple as that. Not for everyone. 

What This Role Is Not 

• Not a compliance-only or audit-focused role 

• Not a mature, steady-state Quality organization…. yet. 

• Not a position for someone uncomfortable with ambiguity, pace, or imperfect systems 

• Not a place to enforce quality through fear, bureaucracy, or gatekeeping 

Why This Role Matters 

If successful, you will help define how nuclear quality can be practiced in a way that enables speed, innovation, and trust—setting a precedent not just for Valar Atomics, but potentially for the industry. 

This is a rare opportunity to build something enduring, alongside people who believe that safety, rigor, and mission execution are not in conflict—but mutually reinforcing. 

If that challenge resonates, we want to talk.