Senior Engineer, Structural Integrity of Graphite Core Components

Company Overview

Kairos Power is a new nuclear energy technology and engineering company whose mission is to enable the world’s transition to clean energy, with the ultimate goal to dramatically improve people’s quality of life while protecting the environment. This goal will be accomplished through the commercialization of the fluoride-salt-cooled, high-temperature reactor (FHR) that can be deployed with robust safety, affordable costs, and flexible operation to accommodate the expansion of variable renewables.

Job Summary 

Reporting to the Manager, Structural Integrity & Materials Modeling, the Senior Engineer, Structural Integrity of Graphite Core Components will support the development and deployment of novel analysis methods and numerical models used for the design, licensing and operation of the Kairos Power fluoride salt-cooled, high-temperature reactors (KP-FHRs). They will also support the Materials and Engineering Design teams with the identification of testing needs, test definition and planification, inspection and experimental data analysis, as well as finite-element analysis (FEA) of graphite core structures and components. 

Responsibilities 

• Support the development, verification and validation of constitutive models for structural graphite materials
• Perform and review thermal and mechanical analysis of graphite core components using FEA
• Improve design-by-analysis (including damage tolerance assessment) and fitness-for-service methodologies and support their deployment across downstream teams by producing necessary supporting documentation, conducting calculation reviews, providing trainings, supporting testing teams with definition and planification of confirmatory and/or validation testing
• Collaborate cross-functionally with various engineering teams on efforts such as uncertainty quantification (UQ), software Quality Assurance (SQA), software and hardware acquisition, and support of management and work program leadership in meeting company’s licensing milestones and deliverables
• Other duties as assigned

Qualifications 

• BS in Mechanical Engineering, Nuclear Engineering, or Materials Engineering, Materials Science, Applied Mathematics, or related field is required. MS or PhD degree is strongly preferred
• 6+ years of experience in FEA applied to graphite core components (GCCs) required
• Knowledge of Finite Element Methods and other spatial and time discretization techniques for partial differential equation (PDE) systems
• Knowledge of inelastic deformation and failure mechanisms of quasi-brittle components operating at high temperature and under irradiation highly preferred
• Working experience with both deterministic and probabilistic modeling approaches applied to failure analysis, defect and damage tolerance assessments of GCCs
• Working experience with model calibration and optimization techniques as well uncertainty quantification
• Working experience with scientific & scripting programming languages (e.g., C++, Fortran, Python and Matlab)
• Ansys or Abaqus experience required; APDL & Usermat (Ansys) or UMAT (Abaqus) experience strongly preferred
• Ability to function in a fast-paced company environment with minimal direction and adjust workload based upon changing priorities
• Proven team player with excellent interpersonal, written, presentation, and verbal communication skills
• Ability to work with highly collaborative team
• Ability to problem solve quickly and efficiently
• Ability to proactively collect, manage and transfer knowledge
• Ability to seek different and novel ways to create efficiencies when working on problems, challenges and issues
• Prioritizes and ensures safety of oneself and others

Physical Conditions

• Remaining in a stationary position, often standing, or sitting for prolonged periods
• Moving about to accomplish tasks or moving from one worksite to another
• Communicating with others to exchange information

Environmental Conditions

• General office environment
• Noisy environments (if visiting manufacturing areas to collaborate)
• Accessing the accuracy, neatness and thoroughness of the work assigned
• High-concentration, demanding and fast-paced
• Autonomously driven and demanding atmosphere

Safety and PPE

• Reading and interpreting hazardous warning signs
• Reporting issues with equipment or unsafe conditions
• Wearing proper PPE, to include face mask, face shields, gloves, safety shoes, as required

Travel

• Some travel may be required (up to 10%) to other K