Manager, Materials Testing & Characterization

Responsibilities

• Directly manage a diverse team of individual contributors supporting ongoing materials testing and characterization work
• Support individual contributors in developing, deploying, and executing materials testing programs in support of the Natrium reactor’s programmatic objectives
• Maintain in-laboratory presence to provide direct, immediate feedback and support to individual contributors
• Oversee and manage third-party suppliers conducting materials testing to ensure quality, compliance, and timely delivery
• Plan, monitor, and manage task progress, including defining required scope, maximizing efficiency of individual contributors, and ensuring complete and accurate work execution
• Work with the Manager and Project Manager to develop and maintain the project schedule and budget
• Effectively communicate project expectations and assignments to team members and management
• Ensure compliance to procedures, standards and regulatory criteria
• Ensure that engineering work is performed with a high level of integrity through adherence to work processes and technical reviews or approvals of team deliverables
• Communicate emerging technical issues with management and work with both the individual contributors and management to resolve efficiently
• Demonstrate visible, continuous leadership in the areas of safety and quality
• Interface with regulators, stakeholders, and customers on materials engineering design and testing issues
• Cook with the Plant Materials and Core Materials Qualification groups to develop material technologies supporting the Natrium Demonstration and future commercial reactor concepts
• Develop and maintain engineering staffing and resource plans, evaluating team skillsets and adjusting staffing to meet long-range needs and project priorities
• Support recruitment, onboarding, and integration of new engineering personnel, ensuring smooth assimilation into project processes and expectations
• Support the development of direct reports through mentoring, training, and challenging assignments

Qualifications and Skills

• Bachelor’s degree with a minimum of 10 years of related experience or Master’s degree with minimum 6 years of related experience; or a PhD and with a minimum of 3 years of related experience. A degree in Materials Science/Engineering, Chemistry/Chemical Engineering, or a related technical discipline is required
• Proven ability to lead and collaborate with a diverse team is required
• Advanced knowledge and experience in nuclear quality programs, and configuration management principles, practices, and tools or similar quality programs is required
• Ability to manage numerous competing priorities concurrently during a given work week and work with minimal direction to solve multi-disciplinary problems is required
• Experience supervising personnel performing materials testing or characterization work for nuclear power applications or other related field is strongly desired
• Experience working to ASME NQA-1, 10 CFR 50 Appendix B control programs, or other NRC and DOE regulatory frameworks is strongly desired
• Candidate must be a self-starter and possess ability to perform both individually and as a team contributor; proven ability to direct small teams with minimal oversight is preferred
• Proven track record in planning, budgeting, and execution of testing or characterization activities is required
• Experience with collaboration, workflow, and planning tools, such as Atlassian Confluence/JIRA, Primavera P6, or other related tools is required
• Effective verbal and written communication skills is required
• Nuclear Industry knowledge / experience is strongly desired
• Knowledge of metallic materials testing and characterization is required
• Knowledge of metallic fuel and/or sodium fast reactor technologies is strongly desired
• Ability to work with minimum direction to solve challenging problems is required
• The successful candidate will possess a high degree of trust and integrity, communicate openly and display respect and a desire to foster teamwork.