Principal OT Engineer

Valar Atomics•Torrance, CA

11h•$200,000 - $240,000

About The Position

Valar Atomics is hiring a Principal OT Engineer to take on the Instrumentation & Controls department’s most difficult technical problems and provide hands-on engineering support across its disciplines. The role combines broad working capability with deep expertise in several areas to investigate failures and resolve integration problems that cross system boundaries. Work includes escalations, developing designs and standards, and creating verification procedures that improve systems and support the team that builds and operates them. OT Engineering delivers power and rack infrastructure, compute, networks, identity, physical and cybersecurity, operational data, and industrial software platforms, including FactoryTalk. FactoryTalk responsibilities cover backend deployment, configuration, integration, and recovery. PLC programming and controls-code development are outside the scope of the role. The position involves approximately 15% travel to Valar Atomics’ facility in Orangeville, Utah. Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States as a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident.

Requirements

Broad practical capability across power and rack infrastructure; compute, storage, and virtualization; networking; industrial backends and data; Windows domains and access control; centralized services; cybersecurity; and log and packet analysis.
Deep hands-on expertise in several disciplines, demonstrated by resolving difficult cross-system failures, evaluating incomplete evidence, and verifying recovery when established procedures are insufficient.
Experience authoring and validating designs, standards, requirements, procedures, and acceptance criteria using sound engineering judgment.
Technical leadership of complex integration, commissioning, or recovery work, with usable technical records.
Strong organization, disciplined task tracking, accurate documentation, clear prioritization, and reliable follow-through.
Broad technical capability and judgment to recognize knowledge gaps and bring in appropriate expertise.
Persistent problem-solving skills, including connecting symptoms across systems, testing competing explanations, and verifying fixes.
Ability to balance urgent hands-on work with sustained design work and leave systems and documentation that others can maintain.
Legally authorized to work in the United States as a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident.

Nice To Haves

Experience developing reusable architectures or technical standards across multiple facilities or programs.
Experience turning lessons from major incidents into tested recovery practices adopted by multiple teams.
Deep expertise in additional disciplines or product families beyond the required breadth.

Responsibilities

Lead technical investigations of consequential failures and complex integration problems across physical, software, network, and data dependencies.
Provide technical coverage through implementation, commissioning, troubleshooting, or recovery work when needed.
Test explanations against incomplete or conflicting evidence, establish supported causes, and verify recovery.
Develop and review architectures, detailed designs, standards, and acceptance methods for demanding systems and interfaces.
Resolve technical gaps between disciplines and involve specialists when additional expertise is needed.
Turn difficult failures and field lessons into improved designs, usable procedures, and knowledge the team can apply.

Benefits

Competitive base salary
Equity ownership in a rapidly growing advanced energy company
Comprehensive medical benefits
Unlimited PTO
Free daily lunch and dinner provided onsite
Generous PPE stipend
High-impact startup environment with significant ownership and autonomy
Opportunities for rapid career growth and internal advancement
Direct collaboration with experienced operators, engineers, and industry leaders
The opportunity to help build and scale transformative energy technology from the ground up