Director, Cloud & Security Engineering

The Nuclear Company•Lexington, KY

1d•$198,000 - $228,000

About The Position

The Nuclear Company is the fastest growing AI tech-enabled startup in the nuclear and energy space, pioneering a fleet-scale approach to building the next generation of nuclear reactors. Through our design-once, build-many model, we're accelerating the deployment of safe, reliable, and affordable nuclear energy. We operate with an AI-first mindset. Every employee is expected to leverage AI, technology, and the Nuclear Operating System (NOS) as integral components of their role to improve the quality, speed, and impact of their work. We expect every team member to continuously identify opportunities to automate workflows, enhance decision-making, improve processes, and contribute to the ongoing evolution of NOS as a strategic operating capability that enables The Nuclear Company to scale with excellence. We hire people who are driven by purpose, thrive in ambiguity, and are energized by building what has never been built before. Our team combines intellectual curiosity with high agency, embraces candid feedback and continuous learning, and holds themselves and others to exceptional standards. Our values—Transparency, Responsibility, Unity, Scrappy, and Tenacity—guide how we hire, collaborate, and make decisions every day. They are not words on a wall; they are the standard by which we operate. TRUST is the foundation of our safety culture, fostering intellectual honesty, accountability, and open communication, while our values challenge every team member to execute with urgency, humility, resilience, and an unwavering commitment to our mission. About the role The Director, Cloud & Security Engineering owns cloud and security engineering across Microsoft Azure and AWS, along with network and security architecture, identity, threat detection and incident response, and vulnerability management, and produces the technical evidence needed for audits and customer security reviews. The role also owns the business-facing side of IT: demand intake and prioritization, and rolling roadmaps with priority functions so requests don’t drop or get routed around IT. This role works closely with the Director of IT Operations and Infrastructure. This is a hands-on director role — leading a small senior team while staying technical enough to serve as an escalation point, with the team growing based on company needs.

Requirements

10+ years in security and/or network engineering, including 4+ years leading technical staff or programs
Cloud engineering and security depth across Microsoft Azure and AWS
Deep identity security experience: privileged access management, MFA, conditional access, and non-human identities
Experience building or maturing incident response (playbooks, tabletops) and owning vulnerability management with remediation SLAs
Hands-on familiarity with the enterprise stack — SSE/zero-trust access (e.g., Zscaler), next-generation firewalls (e.g., FortiGate), EDR, SIEM, MDM — deep enough to direct the work and back up the team
Fluency with compliance frameworks (NIST 800-53, CMMC, or equivalent) and producing audit-ready technical evidence
Demonstrated experience partnering directly with business functions and managing demand against real capacity
Strong communication skills; translates security risk for leadership and IT plans for the business

Nice To Haves

Experience in regulated industries (nuclear, defense, energy, or federal); familiarity with 10 CFR 73.54 and NRC cybersecurity requirements
Relevant certifications: CISSP, CISM, CCSP, or equivalent
Experience transitioning outsourced or contractor-run security functions in-house
Experience securing AI tooling, large language models, or agentic workflows

Responsibilities

Own cloud engineering across Microsoft Azure and AWS and set network and security architecture standards, including threat modeling and solution-level requirements
Own build-vs-buy decisions, vendor and contract relationships for network and security platforms, and the domain’s operating budget
Direct identity security: privileged access, MFA, conditional access, and non-human identities
Lead threat detection and incident response — playbooks, tabletop exercises, post-incident review — and report security posture and risk to leadership
Drive vulnerability management and remediation to closure against defined SLAs
Produce the technical evidence needed for audits and customer security reviews
Direct email and collaboration security: anti-phishing and BEC controls, DMARC/SPF/DKIM enforcement
Govern SaaS security posture — OAuth and third-party app access, shadow-SaaS discovery, vendor security review — and set enablement-first guardrails for AI tools
Own intake and prioritization of business demand through a single documented process
Maintain rolling roadmaps with priority functions (starting with NOS and Legal) and feed those priorities into annual planning and budget
Coordinate supported functions’ cloud usage with engineering platform owners
Lead and develop the engineering team, serve as a hands-on escalation backup, and grow the team based on company needs