Director of Licensing & Regulatory Strategy – Nuclear

Valar Atomics Inc.; Torrance (CA); On-site; USD 205,000 - 300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive base salary

Equity ownership

Medical benefits

Unlimited PTO

Lunch provided onsite

PPE stipend

Autonomy

Career growth

Collaboration with leaders

Scale transformative tech

Job summary

Valar Atomics in Torrance, CA seeks a Director of Licensing to lead the corporate licensing function across facilities and projects. You will set regulatory strategy, build the licensing organization, and oversee submissions and regulator engagement.

This senior role requires deep nuclear licensing expertise, proven leadership, and the ability to drive complex campaigns in a fast-growing startup environment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering or a related science field.
• Fifteen (15) or more years of nuclear licensing and regulatory affairs experience, or related experience, including leadership of licensing teams and direct interaction with regulators.
• Demonstrated experience developing and submitting major license applications or safety basis documents and managing regulator reviews to approval.

Responsibilities

• Establish and lead the licensing organization: staffing, role definition, workload allocation across concurrent projects, and development of licensing engineers and project leads.
• Set the regulatory strategy for each facility and project, including selection and sequencing of authorization and licensing pathways and preservation of pathway options.
• Own the licensing function's processes and infrastructure: intake and triage workflows, review and active-approval processes, comment and commitment tracking, document production standards, and knowledge management.
• Serve as the senior company point of contact with regulator leadership; negotiate review paths, schedules, and engagement protocols before reviews begin.
• Oversee maintenance of the licensing bases for operating facilities, including change control and amendment strategy.
• Approve regulatory submittals and ensure they are complete, accurate, and consistent with licensing strategy and commitments.
• Ensure program owners receive the regulatory briefings, compliance matrices, templates, and guardrails needed to develop compliant programs without duplication.
• Establish metrics and drive continuous improvement in licensing efficiency, rigor, and rework avoidance.
• Develop and manage the licensing budget; select and manage supporting contractors and consultants.

Skills

Nuclear licensing

Regulatory affairs

Leadership

Startup experience

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering or related field

Advanced degree in engineering or related field

Job description

Valar Atomics in Torrance, CA seeks a Director of Licensing to lead the corporate licensing function across facilities and projects. You will set regulatory strategy, build the licensing organization, and oversee submissions and regulator engagement.

This senior role requires deep nuclear licensing expertise, proven leadership, and the ability to drive complex campaigns in a fast-growing startup environment.