Director, Product Engineering

The Nuclear Company•Washington, DC

3h•$198,000 - $228,000

About The Position

The Nuclear Company is seeking a Director of Product Engineering to lead the design, development, and deployment of its Nuclear Operating System (NOS) modules and applications. This senior leadership role reports to the Head of NOS and requires a builder and systems thinker adept at managing complex hardware, emerging technology, and mission-critical software. The Director will collaborate with business line stakeholders to translate operational needs into engineering deliverables, including desktop apps, mobile apps, XR/VR interfaces, drone systems, biometrics, digital twins, and IoT/OT integration. The role encompasses the full product engineering lifecycle, from architecture and development to testing, deployment, and iteration in regulated environments. Success in this position demands a blend of technical depth, product intuition, and organizational leadership, including managing and growing a multidisciplinary engineering team and fostering partnerships with stakeholders and vendors.

Requirements

10+ years of engineering experience with at least 4 years in a senior engineering leadership role.
Demonstrated experience shipping production software across multiple domains — mobile, IoT/OT, embedded systems, or hardware-integrated platforms.
Experience working in or with regulated industries (nuclear, aerospace, defense, energy, industrial, medical) strongly preferred.
Proven track record of building and scaling engineering teams from early-stage to growth-stage.
Strong architectural intuition across distributed systems, real-time data pipelines, and edge computing.
Hands-on familiarity with IoT/OT protocols (MQTT, OPC-UA, Modbus, etc.) and industrial system integration.
Working knowledge of mobile development (iOS/Android, React Native, Flutter, or equivalent).
Exposure to XR/VR development (Unity, Unreal, WebXR) and spatial computing platforms.
Experience with digital twin platforms or simulation environments.
Comfortable with drone system integration, computer vision pipelines, or biometric platforms — bonus if you've shipped in more than one of these.
Fluency in cloud architecture (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and DevSecOps practices.
Exceptional communicator — able to engage equally well with field operators, engineers, and C-suite executives.
Strong business acumen; you understand how engineering decisions affect cost, schedule, and safety outcomes.
High tolerance for ambiguity and a bias for action in fast-moving environments.
A genuine interest in nuclear energy, energy infrastructure, or hard-tech industries.

Nice To Haves

Experience working in or with regulated industries (nuclear, aerospace, defense, energy, industrial, medical) strongly preferred.
Comfortable with drone system integration, computer vision pipelines, or biometric platforms — bonus if you've shipped in more than one of these.

Responsibilities

Own the end-to-end build and deployment of NOS modules and applications across the company's portfolio of technology domains.
Partner directly with business line stakeholders to define requirements, prioritize roadmaps, and deliver high-quality products on aggressive timelines.
Establish and enforce engineering standards, development practices, and quality frameworks across the product engineering organization.
Drive architectural decisions across mobile, embedded, IoT/OT, and cloud-connected systems with a strong bias for modularity and scalability.
Lead engineering across a broad suite of technology domains including: Desktop Applications, Mobile Applications, XR/VR, Drones & Robotics, Cameras & Computer Vision, Biometrics, Digital Twin, IoT & OT Integration, and Product & Platform (NOS core modules, APIs, and developer tooling).
Serve as the primary engineering liaison to business line owners, translating operational and regulatory requirements into technical solutions.
Work closely with product managers, UX designers, data engineers, and safety/compliance teams.
Communicate clearly and confidently with executive leadership on engineering progress, risk, and capacity.
Hire, develop, and retain a world-class product engineering team across disciplines.
Build a culture of ownership, velocity, and technical rigor.
Define career paths and development frameworks for engineers at all levels.