Vice President, Engineering

The Nuclear Company•Columbia, SC

9h•$250,000 - $278,000

About The Position

The Nuclear Company is seeking a Vice President, Engineering to lead the engineering organization responsible for the successful development and execution of a fleet of nuclear power plants. This is a senior leadership role for an experienced nuclear professional who has spent significant time in the realities of the industry—design, construction, commissioning, operations, major projects, and/or asset management—and understands what it takes to move a nuclear project from engineering definition into construction and ultimately safe, reliable operation. The VP, Engineering will build and lead an owner's engineering organization capable of integrating reactor technology, architect-engineer partners, EPC organizations, suppliers, utilities, regulators, and construction teams into a disciplined and repeatable delivery model, providing full lifecycle project support from early design through construction, commissioning, and operations. We are looking for a builder, operator, and engineering leader—someone who combines deep nuclear judgment with the urgency and pragmatism required to build the next generation of American nuclear infrastructure.

Requirements

20+ years of engineering and leadership experience in the nuclear power industry, major power generation, or similarly complex regulated infrastructure.
Significant experience with commercial nuclear power plants and/or nuclear new-build projects.
Demonstrated leadership across multiple phases of the nuclear lifecycle, including engineering, construction, commissioning, operations, major projects, or asset management.
Deep understanding of nuclear plant systems, engineering programs, configuration management, design control, and industry standards.
Strong working knowledge of the interfaces between engineering, licensing, procurement, construction, commissioning, and operations.
Experience leading large multidisciplinary engineering teams and external engineering organizations.
Demonstrated ability to manage architect-engineers, OEMs, EPC organizations, utilities, and major suppliers.
Experience resolving complex technical and project execution challenges where safety, quality, cost, and schedule must all be considered.
Strong understanding of the lessons learned from recent U.S. and international nuclear construction programs.
Proven ability to develop people, build organizations, establish processes, and create accountability in rapidly growing environments.
Bachelor’s degree in engineering or a related technical discipline

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree and/or Professional Engineer license preferred.

Responsibilities

Lead the Engineering Organization: Build, lead, and develop a high-performing multidisciplinary nuclear engineering organization.
Establish the engineering management system, organizational structure, technical authorities, design responsibilities, and decision rights required to execute multiple nuclear projects.
Recruit and develop leaders across key disciplines including mechanical, electrical, civil/structural, I&C, systems, configuration management, design engineering, and engineering programs.
Create a culture of technical rigor, accountability, speed, and continuous improvement.
Own Engineering Execution: Provide executive leadership for engineering across the full project lifecycle—from site development and design through procurement, construction, commissioning, turnover, and operations.
Establish engineering plans, priorities, schedules, deliverables, and performance metrics aligned with overall project execution.
Ensure engineering is sufficiently mature to support procurement and construction when required, minimizing field changes, rework, and schedule disruption.
Drive resolution of complex technical issues and ensure engineering decisions balance nuclear safety, constructability, operability, cost, schedule, and lifecycle performance.
Establish disciplined design-change, configuration-management, technical-document, and engineering-change-control processes.
Build for Constructability and Operability: Bring an operator’s and constructor’s mindset to engineering decisions.
Ensure designs incorporate lessons learned from operating nuclear plants and recent new-build programs.
Integrate construction sequencing, modularization, supply-chain realities, commissioning requirements, maintenance, reliability, and long-term plant operations into design decisions.
Partner closely with Construction, Project Management, Supply Chain, Quality, Licensing, Operations, and Commissioning to eliminate organizational handoffs and solve problems as one integrated project team.
Champion standardization and resist unnecessary project-specific customization.
Manage Engineering Partners and Suppliers: Serve as the senior technical interface with reactor technology providers, architect-engineers, EPC partners, utilities, major equipment suppliers, and other engineering organizations.
Establish clear scopes, interfaces, deliverables, technical requirements, and accountability across engineering partners.
Evaluate engineering performance and intervene quickly when technical, organizational, or execution issues threaten project outcomes.
Ensure supplier engineering and vendor technical information are integrated into the overall plant design on schedule.
Create a Repeatable Fleet Model: Develop engineering processes that support a fleet-build strategy rather than a series of one-off projects.
Capture and systematically incorporate lessons learned from each project into subsequent units.
Drive design standardization, repeatability, configuration control, and reuse of engineering work products.
Identify opportunities to use technology, data, automation, and AI to improve engineering productivity, knowledge management, design assurance, and decision-making.
Build institutional engineering capability that compounds as the fleet grows.
Provide Executive Technical Leadership: Serve as a trusted technical advisor to the executive leadership team on engineering risk, project readiness, technical strategy, and major project decisions.
Clearly communicate complex engineering issues and tradeoffs to executives, boards, investors, utilities, regulators, and project partners.
Establish an environment where issues are surfaced early, challenged constructively, and resolved decisively.
Maintain an uncompromising commitment to nuclear safety, quality, and regulatory compliance while continuously challenging the organization to execute better and faster.