Senior QA Engineer - NQA-1 Program Development

The Nuclear Company•Columbia, SC

12d

About The Position

The Nuclear Company is a rapidly growing AI tech-enabled startup in the nuclear and energy sector, focused on building the next generation of nuclear reactors using a design-once, build-many model to accelerate the deployment of safe, reliable, and affordable nuclear energy. The company emphasizes an AI-first mindset, expecting all employees to leverage AI and technology to enhance their work. The QA Engineer's initial responsibility is to establish The Nuclear Company's NQA-1 quality program by developing implementing procedures for all departments. This involves collaborating with subject-matter experts, managing cross-functional reviews, and ensuring timely approval. As the program matures and field work commences, the role will transition to core quality engineering tasks, including reviewing inspection and test procedures, defining acceptance criteria based on design requirements, and specifying witness and hold points in inspection and test plans. This position reports to the Senior Manager of Quality, offers significant independence with stop-work authority and direct access to the CNO, and provides a unique opportunity for a mid-career engineer to shape the quality program for a fleet-scale nuclear company.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in an engineering discipline, or 10+ years field experience in the discipline.
3+ years working under ASME NQA-1 and/or 10 CFR 50 Appendix B programs, with demonstrated procedure development — has authored implementing procedures that survived review and implementation.
Proficient in the applicable codes and standards for the assigned scope (e.g., ASME NQA-1; ASME Section III/V/IX, ACI 318, AISC 360, IEEE/ISA series as applicable).
Strong technical writing and cross-functional coordination — can pull SME input from any department and drive a document through a multi-reviewer approval chain on schedule.
Ability to qualify to governing TNC procedures.

Nice To Haves

Nuclear new-build, construction, or commissioning experience (AP1000, SMR/MMR, or other first-of-a-kind programs).
Discipline depth in civil/structural, mechanical, electrical, or NDE with the associated code sets (ACI/AISC, ASME Section III/V/IX, IEEE/ISA, SNT-TC-1A / CP-189).
ASQ CQE or CQA; auditor training or audit-team participation.
Experience developing procedures in a startup or program build-out environment; EDMS and document-control workflow fluency.
Familiarity with ISO 9001 / ISO 19443; metrics and dashboard tools (Excel, Power BI).

Responsibilities

Generate the NQA-1 program cross-functionally — author and develop Tier-3 implementing procedures with every TNC department (Procurement & Supply Chain, PMO, Engineering, Quality, Regulatory Affairs, Construction Management, Nuclear Deployment, Testing & Start-Up, Training, and the corporate functions), translating each organization’s function scope into issued procedures through SME input, cross-functional review, and approval.
Author or provide SME input to procedures, records, and technical documents in the assigned discipline.
Review inspection and test procedures and acceptance criteria for nuclear systems and components; verify design outputs meet specified requirements.
Identify inspection requirements and the applicable codes and standards, with references; extract acceptance criteria from design with quantitative limits, specific values, and tolerances.
Set witness and hold points in inspection and test plans.
Support the QAPD and parent-suite artifacts maintained audit-ready, and the phased QA plans for Services, BOO project development, and JV support.
Identify and report conditions adverse to quality promptly through the CAP; feed procedure-production status and quality metrics into the QA metrics pack and the CNO performance-indicator set.
Maintain personal qualifications, training, and certifications current.