Quality Lead (Nuclear) — Build Our Scalable QA System

Valar Atomics Inc.; Torrance (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity ownership

Free meals onsite

Autonomy & ownership

Career growth

Collaboration with engineers

Ground-up energy tech

Job summary

Valar Atomics is seeking a founding Quality Leader to shape the organization and systems enabling rapid, safe scale of nuclear technology. You will drive the Quality program from policy to practice, partnering with engineering to embed rigorous controls that enable fast, compliant execution.

This role is a strategic build from the ground up in a fast-moving R&D environment, with a roadmap to a world-class Quality Management System and a future people leader role as the company grows.

Qualifications

• Prior experience in nuclear quality assurance sufficient to innovate responsibly.
• Broad quality engineering background spanning design, manufacturing, suppliers, and testing.
• Experience building or reshaping quality systems, not just operating mature ones.

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.

Job description

Valar Atomics is seeking a founding Quality Leader to shape the organization and systems enabling rapid, safe scale of nuclear technology. You will drive the Quality program from policy to practice, partnering with engineering to embed rigorous controls that enable fast, compliant execution.

This role is a strategic build from the ground up in a fast-moving R&D environment, with a roadmap to a world-class Quality Management System and a future people leader role as the company grows.