Senior Strike Engineer: Lead Ambitious Energy Systems

Oklo Inc; Santa Clara (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible time off

Equity

Bonuses

401(k)

Health insurance (employer contrib)

HSA

FSA

Flexible work hours

Wellness credits

Job summary

Oklo Inc is seeking a Strike Engineer to join our engineering team in Santa Clara, CA. This senior role moves across programs, defining problems from first principles and leading hands-on work across design, prototyping, testing, and manufacturing.

You will establish practical execution plans, drive resolution, and transfer ownership to durable teams. The ideal candidate has strong cross-functional leadership, deep breadth across engineering domains, and a proven ability to communicate clearly

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering, physics, or related field or equivalent practical experience.
• 2+ years solving complex engineering problems from definition through design and handoff.
• Breadth across multiple domains with deep expertise in at least one area such as mechanical, electrical, controls, software, systems, manufacturing, test, thermal-fluid, structural, or nuclear engineering.
• Ability to reason from first principles and validate conclusions with data or tests.
• Hands-on ability with tools to move work forward (modeling, CAD, calculations, scripting, prototyping).
• Experience leading cross-functional technical work without formal authority; can assume temporary management when needed.
• Strong written and verbal communication with clear records and updates.

Responsibilities

• Embed in high-priority programs and rapidly understand the system, constraints, stakeholders, and failure modes.
• Define problems from first principles and identify governing physics and interfaces.
• Work hands-on across design, analysis, prototyping, testing, manufacturing, software and data as needed.
• Establish execution plans with owners, milestones, risks, and closure criteria.
• Diagnose failures using data, experiments, and root-cause analysis.
• Make sound tradeoffs considering safety, quality, cost, schedule and manufacturability.
• Lead temporarily when needed by clarifying priorities and coordinating cross-functional work.
• Recruit and onboard permanent owners, then transfer stable scope with documentation.

Skills

First principles

Cross-functional leadership

Hands-on prototyping

Data analysis

Systems thinking

Engineering execution

Technical writing

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering, physics, or related

Tools

CAD

Calculations

Test equipment

Job description

Oklo Inc is seeking a Strike Engineer to join our engineering team in Santa Clara, CA. This senior role moves across programs, defining problems from first principles and leading hands-on work across design, prototyping, testing, and manufacturing.

You will establish practical execution plans, drive resolution, and transfer ownership to durable teams. The ideal candidate has strong cross-functional leadership, deep breadth across engineering domains, and a proven ability to communicate clearly