Chief Nuclear Operations Architect

The Nuclear Company; Lexington (KY); On-site; USD 300,000 - 350,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation packages

401k with company match

Medical, dental, vision plans

Generous vacation policy, plus holidA

Job summary

The Nuclear Company in Lexington, KY seeks a Senior Vice President of Operations to build and lead our fleet-wide operating organization from fuel load through the life of each plant.

This founder-level role will establish safety culture, staffing, procedures, and regulatory posture while delivering readiness services to partners. You will partner with Deployment and Nuclear Services to ensure safe, reliable, and efficient operations across the growing fleet.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of progressive leadership experience in nuclear plant operations.
• NRC-licensed Senior Reactor Operator (SRO) or equivalent operating authority experience.
• Direct experience building or significantly restructuring a nuclear operating organization.
• INPO evaluation experience as a senior executive.
• Experience with nuclear new build, plant restart, or initial fuel load operations.
• Demonstrated nuclear safety culture leadership.
• Commercial judgment to engage external partners on operational readiness services.

Responsibilities

• Design and build the operating organization from the ground up, define structure, staffing, qualification requirements and training.
• Establish nuclear safety culture from first hire and create a foundation for plant safety across lifecycle.
• Develop staffing plan for lead project, including licensed and non-licensed operators and timeline.
• Coordinate with Regulatory Affairs on training program for operating organization and ensure qualification and ongoing training.
• Establish operating procedures program and validate before fuel load.
• Engage during commissioning with Deployment to ensure readiness for fuel load and complete pre-operational testing.
• Own the fuel load readiness assessment and NRC authorization process.
• Manage NRC pre-operational inspection program to meet initial load requirements.
• Lead startup through initial criticality and power ascension to commercial operation.
• Own long-term fleet operations: capacity factor, outages, action programs, INPO metrics and performance reporting.
• Maintain licenses across facilities and coordinate with regulatory/training functions.
• Engage with INPO and WANO as senior operations representative and seek accreditation.
• Develop performance metrics and report to executive leadership on a cadence.
• Develop and deliver operational readiness services for partners and utilities.

Skills

Leadership experience

SRO experience

Org design

INPO experience

New build / fuel load

Safety culture

Commercial acumen

Job description

The Nuclear Company in Lexington, KY seeks a Senior Vice President of Operations to build and lead our fleet-wide operating organization from fuel load through the life of each plant.

This founder-level role will establish safety culture, staffing, procedures, and regulatory posture while delivering readiness services to partners. You will partner with Deployment and Nuclear Services to ensure safe, reliable, and efficient operations across the growing fleet.