Nuclear Quality Lead — Build QMS & Scale R&D

Valaratomics; Torrance (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Medical benefits

Lunch onsite

Career growth

Ownership

Collaboration

Job summary

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.

Qualifications

• Prior experience in nuclear quality assurance (R&D, commercial, or both) to innovate responsibly.
• Broad quality engineering background spanning design, manufacturing, suppliers, and testing.
• Experience building or significantly reshaping quality systems, not just operating mature ones.
• Demonstrated ability to execute with minimal direction in incomplete systems.
• Strong pattern recognition and judgment under pressure.
• Comfort working in high-intensity, rapidly changing environments.

Responsibilities

• Act as a solutions owner for quality‑related challenges across R&D and early commercial activities, embedding directly with teams to understand real constraints and enable compliant execution at speed.
• Develop creative, defensible approaches to demonstrating compliance without unnecessary drag.
• Co‑architect Valar's Quality Management System from the ground up, defining near‑term quality fundamentals and a 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.
• Apply nuclear quality assurance principles with judgment, distinguishing between regulatory intent and historical habit.
• Serve as a credible technical interface with regulators, auditors, and external stakeholders.
• Leverage modern tools, data, automation, and AI responsibly to increase speed and rigor simultaneously, treating quality as an information system as much as a compliance system.
• 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.
• Mentor others and help lay the foundation for a future Quality organization as Valar scales.

Skills

Nuclear quality assurance

Quality systems

Regulatory compliance

Leadership

Mentoring

Automation & AI in QA

Job description

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.