Director of Development Engineering

Oklo Inc; Santa Clara (CA); On-site; USD 225,000 - 275,000; Full time

Job summary

Oklo Inc. in Santa Clara, CA seeks a Director of Development Engineering to lead civil, site, and nuclear engineering across Aurora powerhouse development, enabling construction readiness and permitting.

You will own the technical baseline, manage third‑party consultants, coordinate with permitting, finance, and product teams, and build a high‑performing engineering organization in a fast‑paced startup environment.

Qualifications

• 12+ years in energy or infrastructure project development with leadership experience.
• Strong civil/site engineering background; nuclear project experience valued.
• Experience producing engineering deliverables for project financing and EPC handoff.
• PE license preferred; DOE/NRC-regulated facilities experience a plus.

Responsibilities

• Lead development engineering across active sites: site layout, civil/grading, geotechnical, hydrology, infrastructure planning.
• Produce basis-of-design documentation for project finance due diligence and EPC handoff.
• Manage third-party engineering consultants and coordinate with internal nuclear design team.
• Provide engineering inputs to NRC licensing and NEPA processes coordinated by permitting team.
• Develop and maintain engineering standards, templates, and quality protocols.
• Partner with NPI to translate reactor design to site constraints and development scope.
• Own site constraints packages governing site selection, design, and permitting decisions.
• Integrate deliverables from various engineers and maintain schedule with cross-functional teams.
• Lead technical risk reviews and escalate fatal flaws with options analysis.
• Build and manage a multi-discipline engineering team across civil/site/electrical and nuclear.

Skills

Leadership

Civil/site engineering

Nuclear project experience

Project financing deliverables

Engineering management

Education

PE license

Job description

Position Description

The Director of Development Engineering oversees all civil, site, and nuclear engineering activities required to advance Aurora powerhouse sites through development and into construction readiness. Your team produces the technical deliverables — site layouts, basis-of-design packages, geotechnical and environmental assessments, and engineering inputs to permitting — that underpin state/local approvals and NRC licensing (coordinated with Oklo's Environmental & Permitting team), project financing, and construction handoff. Environmental & Permitting and Project Finance are coordinated with Oklo's dedicated teams.

Specific responsibilities may include:

• Lead development engineering across all active sites: site layout, civil/grading design, geotechnical investigation, hydrology, and infrastructure planning
• Solutions engineering for potential co-located buildings such as advanced manufacturing and data centers
• Produce basis-of-design documentation sufficient for project finance due diligence and EPC handoff
• Manage third-party engineering consultants and coordinate with Oklo's internal nuclear design team
• Provide engineering inputs to NRC licensing and NEPA processes coordinated by Oklo's Environmental & Permitting team
• Develop and maintain engineering standards, templates, and quality protocols for the Development organization
• Partner with Oklo’s New Product Integration (NPI) team to translate reactor design requirements, siting criteria, and product evolution into site‑specific technical constraints and development scope — ensuring early alignment between product design and site realities
• Develop and own site constraints packages for each Aurora powerhouse development site, synthesizing geotechnical, hydrological, environmental, grid, and regulatory inputs into a single authoritative technical baseline that governs site selection, design, and permitting decisions
• Integrate and quality‑control deliverables from civil, geotechnical, environmental, and nuclear engineering consultants — ensuring all third‑party work products are consistent, current, and accurately reflected in the site constraints package and project schedule
• Own the development engineering schedule and provide cross‑functional technical leadership to identify, prioritize, and mitigate technical risks and fatal flaws on project sites — coordinating with Project Development, Transmission & Interconnection, and Oklo’s Environmental & Permitting team to surface issues early and preserve development optionality
• Lead structured technical risk reviews at each stage gate, evaluating site constraints packages against go/no‑go criteria and escalating unresolved fatal flaw risks to the VP of Development with clear options analysis and recommended disposition
• Build and manage a team of engineers across civil/site/electrical and nuclear development disciplines
• Provide engineering support for Isotope production facilities, including facility layout, utility infrastructure design, and integration with co‑located Aurora powerhouse systems
• Lead development engineering for Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses (NLICs), coordinating multi‑use site design across power generation, isotope production, and research facility components

Minimum Qualifications:

• 12+ years in energy, infrastructure, advanced manufacturing or data center project development engineering, with at least 5 years in a leadership role
• Strong civil/site engineering background; nuclear project experience highly valued
• Experience producing engineering deliverables for project financing and EPC handoff
• PE license strongly preferred; experience with DOE or NRC‑regulated facilities a significant advantage

Competencies

• Passionate about clean energy
• Passionate about making advanced fission a reality
• Willing and able to learn quickly
• Eager to work on a dynamic team, receive constructive feedback, and grow with us
• 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 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.

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: $225,000-$275,000

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.

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.

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.

Candidates should be aware that employment may be contingent upon successful completion of a drug screening, and employees may be subject to drug testing at any time in accordance with company policy and applicable laws.