SlipstreamJobs tracks this role from the company's public career site. Apply directly on the employer's site.
Aalo Atomics is pioneering factory-fabricated microreactors to deliver affordable, scalable, and reliable nuclear power globally. The company is based in Austin, TX and is rapidly growing as it works to deploy the world's first fleet of advanced microreactors.
You will lead materials testing and structural materials degradation activities supporting the design, qualification, and operation of Aalo-X. This role owns the development and execution of materials testing programs needed to establish design properties, quantify environmental effects, support engineering analyses, and provide qualification evidence for reactor structural materials. You will have particular technical leadership responsibility for stainless steels and other structural metallic materials, including the effects of elevated temperature, sodium exposure, and irradiation.
Key responsibilities include:
- Lead Aalo-X materials testing programs for structural metallic materials, including baseline mechanical property data, elevated-temperature properties, sodium environmental knockdown factors, and irradiation effects
- Serve as the primary materials technical lead for stainless steels and structural material degradation, including reactor vessel and other safety-significant metallic components
- Define test matrices, specimen requirements, environmental conditions, acceptance criteria, and data-reduction approaches for internal and external materials testing campaigns
- Develop and maintain technically defensible material property datasets and correlations for use in mechanical design and engineering analyses
- Support mechanical and structural engineers in evaluating material degradation mechanisms, allowable properties, lifetime limits, and design margins
- Provide materials expertise for engineering analyses and safety evaluations, including degradation models related to temperature, sodium exposure, irradiation, creep, fatigue, embrittlement, and aging mechanisms
- Support development of material and component qualification plans, including identification of required testing, analysis, pedigree, surveillance, and supporting technical evidence
- Support ASME Code evaluations and interactions associated with material selection, qualification, allowable properties, environmental effects, and component design
- Provide technical support for regulatory and authorization-basis activities involving materials performance and degradation
- Develop strategies for incorporating materials surveillance and irradiation testing into the Aalo-X design and operating program
- Plan and support irradiation campaigns, including specimen selection, exposure conditions, post-irradiation examination, and interpretation of irradiation-effects data
- Interface with national laboratories, universities, testing laboratories, material suppliers, and other external partners executing materials characterization and testing
- Review and disposition materials test results and translate experimental findings into actionable design guidance
- Support procurement specifications, material qualification requirements, and technical evaluations of structural metallic materials
- Mentor and collaborate with other materials engineers and help build Aalo's broader materials testing and qualification capability
Technical focus areas include austenitic stainless steels and structural metallic materials, baseline tensile and mechanical properties, high-temperature mechanical behavior, sodium environmental effects and material-property knockdown factors, creep and fatigue behavior, irradiation hardening and embrittlement, welding and weld-material performance, material aging and degradation models, materials surveillance and lifetime-management programs, and ASME Section III requirements.
You will work closely with materials, mechanical, structural, safety analysis, and reactor design teams to translate materials behavior into defensible engineering inputs, degradation models, surveillance strategies, and design requirements.
Qualifications:
Required: Bachelor's degree in Materials Science, Materials Engineering, Metallurgy, or related field; 8+ years of professional experience in materials engineering, materials science, or related field with demonstrated expertise in structural materials testing, characterization, and qualification; strong technical knowledge of metallic materials behavior, mechanical properties, and degradation mechanisms; experience with materials testing methodologies, test planning, and data interpretation; familiarity with nuclear or aerospace materials standards and codes (ASME, ASTM); ability to work on-site in Austin, TX; U.S. citizenship or U.S. Person status in compliance with 10 CFR Part 810.
