Senior IC&E Reactor Protection System Design Engineer

Kairos Power • Alameda, CA

4d • Onsite

About The Position

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. The Senior Engineer IC&E Systems Design Engineer is responsible for the design and development of custom, safety-critical instrumentation and control hardware systems for an advanced nuclear power plant. This role is focused on hands-on hardware and system design, spanning circuit design, PCB development, system integration, and qualification testing. Engineers in this role work closely with experienced team members to deliver high-reliability designs while building deep expertise in nuclear-grade electronics and rigorous engineering processes. The person will work with an integrated design team to perform the following duties:

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related field.
• Experience in regulated or high-reliability environments (nuclear, aerospace, medical, etc.).
• 6 years of relevant engineering experience involving electronic hardware, instrumentation and control systems, or related systems design.
• Demonstrated experience in analog and digital circuit design.
• Experience with schematic capture and PCB design tools (e.g., Altium, Cadence, Ki Cad).
• Experience with lab instrumentation and debugging.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with PCB layout considerations (stack-up, routing constraints, EMI/EMC awareness) is preferred but not required.
• Experience with Structured root-cause analysis to debugging and failure analysis is preferred but not required.
• Exposure to system integration and hardware interfaces is preferred but not required.
• Exposure to FPGA or programmable logic (e.g., basic HDL, Verilog, interfacing) is preferred but not required.
• Experience with Embedded systems experience (microcontrollers, firmware bring-up) is preferred but not required.
• Demonstrated contribution to hardware development projects (academic or industry) is preferred but not required.
• Experience taking a design from concept through testing or integration is preferred but not required.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop analog and digital circuits for IC&E systems, including signal conditioning, power distribution, and control logic.
• Create and review schematics and PCB layouts, working closely with layout engineers and manufacturers.
• Support system architecture development, including interface definition and hardware integration.
• Contribute to design trade studies balancing performance, reliability, manufacturability, and cost.
• Prototyping, Integration & Testing.
• Support bring-up, debugging and validation of hardware prototypes.
• Develop and execute test plans and procedures for functional and qualification testing.
• Analyze test data and implement design improvements.
• Work hands-on with lab equipment (oscilloscopes, power supplies, DAQs, etc.) to characterize and troubleshoot hardware.
• Safety-Critical System Development.
• Contribute to the design of Reactor Protection System (RPS) hardware under guidance.
• Apply principles of fault tolerance, redundancy and fail-safe design.
• Interpret and implement requirements derived from nuclear safety standards.
• Identify technical risks and design issues and develop or recommend solutions consistent with system requirements and engineering processes.
• Documentation & Nuclear Quality.
• Produce and maintain high-quality engineering documentation: Schematics and design descriptions. Interface definitions. Test plans, procedures and reports. Bills of materials and configuration records.
• Ensure traceability of requirements, design decisions and test results.
• Participate in formal design reviews and configuration control processes.
• Configuration management, design control and change-control processes in accordance with applicable quality requirements.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration.
• Work closely with manufacturing, procurement, testing, and systems engineering teams.
• Support vendor engagement for fabrication, assembly, and component selection.
• Contribute to resolving integration and production challenges.
• Technical Development & Knowledge Sharing.
• Maintains and expands technical expertise in high-reliability electronics design, nuclear regulatory and quality requirements, and the end-to-end hardware development lifecycle.
• Applies evolving technical knowledge and industry best practices to assigned design, testing and integration activities.
• Shares technical knowledge and lessons learned with team members and contributes to continuous improvement of engineering practices.
• Takes increasing ownership of complex technical assignments and provides guidance to less-experienced engineers within areas of expertise.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Benefits

• Competitive compensation packages
• Medical, dental and vision benefits for employees and their dependents
• Paid Vacation
• 401(k) and pre-tax health insurance, dependent care, and commuter benefits (FSA)

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior