Nuclear Design Basis Engineer

General Matter; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

General Matter is seeking a Design Criteria Engineer to define engineering ground rules for the facility’s systems, structures, and components. You will translate safety functions and regulatory requirements into clear design criteria and basis documents, ensuring alignment with ISA, criticality safety, and external-event criteria.

This systems-level role ties safety analyses to the physical design, incorporating DOE/NRC frameworks and ensuring traceability from safety basis to design decisions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Civil/Structural, Nuclear or related field.
• Familiarity with design basis development for safety-critical facilities.
• Knowledge of codes/standards (e.g., ASCE, ACI, AISC, ASME).
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Clear written and verbal communication.

Responsibilities

• Develop, document, and maintain design criteria and design basis for SSCs across the facility.
• Translate safety functions and regulatory and code requirements into engineering design criteria.
• Establish design criteria for natural phenomena hazards and external events as applicable.
• Define load combinations, environmental conditions, and applicable codes and standards for design.
• Review designs, calculations, and specs for conformance to criteria.
• Coordinate with ISA and safety teams to reflect the facility safety basis.
• Maintain configuration control of design criteria and basis documents.
• Maintain documentation to support audits and regulatory reviews.

Skills

Engineering fundamentals

First principles

Trade studies

Design criteria

Regulatory & codes

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Civil/Structural, Nuclear

Job description

About The Company

General Matter is enriching uranium in America.

About The Company

General Matter is enriching uranium in America.

Our goal is to design, build, and operate the world’s lowest-cost enrichment services in the United States.

Our mission is to restore America’s ability to produce nuclear fuel—fuel that will power AI, advanced manufacturing, critical industries, and the next generation of nuclear reactors.

Ultimately, our work will help power national ambitions and enable a high-energy society.

We were incubated by Founders Fund, like Anduril and Palantir before us, and are backed by top-tier investors. Our lean, world-class team of engineers and operators is applying a first-principles approach to solving the problem of nuclear fuel production.

We are a mission-driven company with a culture of urgency, accountability, and transparency.

Help us build a high-energy society by making the cleanest, safest form of baseload energy the most affordable.

About This Role

As a Design Criteria Engineer at General Matter, you'll define the engineering ground rules that every part of the facility is built to. You'll own the design criteria and design basis for the facility's systems, structures, and components — translating safety functions, regulatory requirements, and codes and standards into clear, defensible engineering criteria that the rest of the design organization builds against. This is a systems-level role that connects the safety analysis to the steel: your criteria capture how safety-significant systems, structures, and components must perform, how the facility withstands natural phenomena and external events, and how design decisions trace back to the Integrated Safety Analysis (ISA). DOE facilities develop design basis documents and natural phenomena hazard criteria under DOE-STD-1020 and DOE-STD-1189 using the same underlying logic as the NRC framework here — so DOE design basis experience carries over directly to this role.

Responsibilities

• Develop, document, and maintain design criteria and the design basis for systems, structures, and components (SSCs) across the facility.
• Translate safety functions and regulatory and code requirements into clear engineering design criteria.
• Establish design criteria for natural phenomena hazards (e.g., seismic, wind, flood) and external events as applicable.
• Define load combinations, environmental conditions, and applicable codes and standards for design.
• Review designs, calculations, and specifications for conformance to established design criteria.
• Coordinate with the ISA, criticality safety, consequence, fire protection, and structural/mechanical teams to ensure design criteria reflect the facility safety basis.
• Maintain configuration control of design criteria and design basis documents.
• Maintain accurate documentation and records to support audits and regulatory reviews.

Basic Qualifications

• Strong understanding of engineering fundamentals.
• Ability to perform trade studies and make clear recommendations using first principles and engineering fundamentals even with partial information.
• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Civil/Structural, Nuclear, or a related engineering field.
• Strong knowledge of design basis and design criteria development for regulated or safety-critical facilities.
• Familiarity with applicable codes and standards (e.g., ASCE, ACI, AISC, ASME) and natural phenomena hazard criteria.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to convey technical information to diverse audiences.
• Ability to work collaboratively in a team-oriented environment.

Preferred Skills And Experience

• Evidence of exceptional ability (prior projects, portfolio of work, completed products, etc).
• Experience in a fast-paced engineering environment or a highly technical role requiring a resourceful, entrepreneurial approach to complete tasks within tight timeframes or budget constraints.
• Experience at a nuclear, DOE, national lab, or NRC-licensed facility — DOE design basis and DOE-STD-1020/1189 natural phenomena hazard experience is directly transferable to NRC Part 70 design criteria work
• Experience with Integrated Safety Analysis (ISA) and safety classification of systems, structures, and components.
• Experience with natural phenomena hazard analysis or external event assessment.
• Advanced degrees.
• Professional Engineer (PE) license is preferred or the ability to obtain one.

Additional Requirements

• Ability to work extended hours and weekends as necessary.

Equal Opportunity Employer

General Matter is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with General Matter is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.

Compensation And Benefits

The base salary range for this role is $150,000–$210,000 annually. Compensation bands are determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data. Individual level and base pay is determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on job-related skills, education, experience, technical capabilities and internal equity. Please note that the stated salary range is an estimate and may be adjusted based on market conditions, business needs, or other factors. In addition to base salary, for full-time hires, you may also be eligible for long-term incentives, in the form of stock options, and access to medical, vision & dental coverage as well as access to a 401(k) retirement plan.