Senior Materials Engineer – Testing & Structural Materials

About Aalo Atomics

Aalo Atomics is pioneering a new era in clean energy with factory‑fabricated microreactors designed to deliver affordable, scalable, and reliable nuclear power. The mission is to make nuclear energy globally accessible, starting with the Aalo‑1, a 10 MWe reactor that leverages cutting‑edge safety, modularity, and efficiency. Based in Austin, TX, the company is rapidly growing as it works to deploy the world’s first fleet of advanced microreactors.

Role Overview

The Senior Materials Engineer will lead materials testing and structural materials degradation activities supporting the design, qualification, and operation of Aalo‑X. The role owns the development and execution of materials testing programs needed to establish design properties, quantify environmental effects, support engineering analyses, and provide qualification evidence for reactor structural materials. Primary technical leadership will focus on stainless steels and other structural metallic materials, addressing elevated temperature, sodium exposure, and irradiation effects.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead Aalo‑X materials testing programs for structural metallic materials, including baseline mechanical property data, elevated‑temperature properties, sodium environmental knock‑down factors, and irradiation effects.
• Serve as the primary technical lead for stainless steels and structural material degradation, covering reactor vessel and other safety‑significant metallic components.
• Define test matrices, specimen requirements, environmental conditions, acceptance criteria, and data‑reduction approaches for internal and external testing campaigns.
• Develop and maintain technically defensible material property datasets and correlations for use in mechanical design and engineering analyses.
• Support mechanical and structural engineers in evaluating material degradation mechanisms, allowable properties, lifetime limits, and design margins.
• Provide materials expertise for engineering analyses and safety evaluations, including degradation models and assumptions related to temperature, sodium exposure, irradiation, creep, fatigue, embrittlement, and other aging mechanisms.
• Assist in developing material and component qualification plans, identifying required testing, analysis, pedigree, surveillance, and supporting technical evidence.
• Support ASME Code evaluations and interactions related to material selection, qualification, allowable properties, environmental effects, and component design.
• Provide technical support for regulatory and authorization‑basis activities involving materials performance and degradation.
• Develop strategies for incorporating materials surveillance and irradiation testing into the Aalo‑X design and operating program.
• Plan and support irradiation campaigns, including specimen selection, exposure conditions, post‑irradiation examination, and interpretation of irradiation‑effects data.
• Interface with national laboratories, universities, testing laboratories, material suppliers, and other external partners executing materials characterization and testing.
• Review and disposition materials test results and translate experimental findings into actionable design guidance.
• Support procurement specifications, material qualification requirements, and technical evaluations of structural metallic materials as needed.
• Mentor and collaborate with other materials engineers and help build Aalo’s broader materials testing and qualification capability.

Technical Focus Areas

• Austenitic stainless steels and structural metallic materials
• Baseline tensile and mechanical properties
• High‑temperature mechanical behavior
• Sodium environmental effects and material‑property knock‑down factors
• Creep and fatigue behavior
• Irradiation hardening, embrittlement, swelling, and other irradiation‑induced degradation
• Welding and weld‑material performance
• Material aging and degradation models
• Materials surveillance and lifetime‑management programs
• ASME Section III and other applicable structural‑material requirements

Qualifications

• Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering, Nuclear Engineering, Metallurgical Engineering, or a closely related field, or equivalent demonstrated technical experience.
• Experience with irradiated materials and post‑irradiation examination.
• Knowledge of irradiation effects in stainless steels and other reactor structural alloys.
• Experience with elevated‑temperature mechanical testing, creep, fatigue, fracture, or environmental effects testing.
• Understanding of relationships between microstructure, mechanical properties, degradation mechanisms, and engineering performance.
• Experience developing or executing experimental materials programs and interpreting resulting data.
• Ability to work directly with design engineers and convert materials science into practical engineering requirements, properties, and design limits.
• Strong technical writing and communication skills.
• Preferred: Experience designing or executing reactor irradiation campaigns.
• Preferred: Experience with liquid‑metal environments, particularly sodium.
• Preferred: Familiarity with ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code requirements applicable to nuclear components.
• Preferred: Experience supporting nuclear qualification, licensing, safety analysis, or regulatory interactions.
• Preferred: Experience working with national laboratories, nuclear research facilities, or advanced‑reactor programs.

Position Characteristics

This position is well suited to an experienced materials scientist or engineer who enjoys operating at the boundary between experimental materials science and reactor engineering. The successful candidate will be expected not simply to generate data, but to determine what data are needed, build the technical basis for obtaining it, interpret its significance, and ensure that the resulting knowledge is incorporated into reactor design and qualification.

Requirements

• Based in the United States
• Willing to work on‑site

What We Offer

• Competitive salary based on technical level
• Health, dental, and vision insurance
• Paid time off
• Corporate gym membership