Mechanical Engineer

Position Description

As a Mechanical Engineer supporting our nuclear waste treatment systems, you will develop waste processing equipment from concept through deployment. Rather than performing detailed equipment design yourself, you will define process and mechanical requirements, work closely with equipment vendors, and ensure systems are practical, maintainable, and ready for operation in a nuclear environment.

You will translate waste processing objectives into equipment requirements, operating concepts, vendor specifications, and acceptance criteria while evaluating designs for maintainability, reliability, contamination control, remote operation, and regulatory compliance. Success in this role requires sound mechanical engineering judgment, an understanding of industrial process equipment, and the ability to recognize when a design is overly complex, under-specified, or not ready for production use.

This role on the waste engineering team works closely with process engineering, mechanical design, controls, safety, radiation protection, licensing, procurement, operations, and external vendors to deliver integrated waste treatment systems.

Specific responsibilities may include:

• Develop mechanical requirements, equipment specifications, acceptance criteria, and operating concepts for radioactive waste treatment systems.
• Translate process requirements into practical equipment solutions for waste processing, packaging, storage, and material handling.
• Evaluate vendor designs for functionality, maintainability, reliability, contamination control, remote operation, and lifecycle performance.
• Develop and review equipment layouts, P&IDs, material handling flows, tooling concepts, and mechanical interfaces.
• Identify opportunities to simplify designs, improve operability, reduce maintenance burden, and increase production readiness.
• Support procurement by finding relevant vendors, preparing technical specifications, evaluating vendor proposals, and reviewing design deliverables.
• Lead or participate in multidisciplinary design reviews and drive technical action items to closure.
• Develop engineering documentation including design bases, interface definitions, design evaluations, and technical reports.
• Support hazard analyses, licensing activities, commissioning, and facility integration.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or a related engineering field
• Minimum of 5 years of relevant engineering experience
• Experience developing, specifying, integrating, or implementing industrial process equipment
• Experience working with equipment vendors, technical specifications, procurement packages, or design reviews
• Experience with 3D CAD tools, 2D fabrication drawings, equipment specifications, and controlled design documentation
• Familiarity with P&IDs, mechanical equipment layouts, process equipment interfaces, material handling concepts, and vendor design packages
• Strong mechanical engineering judgment, including practical understanding of maintainability, reliability, fabrication, inspection, and failure modes
• Experience coordinating work across multiple engineering disciplines
• Ability to produce clear, traceable technical documentation in support of design development, procurement, safety review, or licensing activities

Bonus Qualifications:

• Experience in nuclear, chemical processing, mining, manufacturing, or other highly regulated industrial facilities
• Experience in commercial nuclear, DOE, advanced reactor, fuel cycle, waste treatment, or high-reliability industrial projects
• Experience with radioactive waste processing, packaging, containerization, storage, or disposal systems in a hot-cell environment
• Experience developing equipment for size reduction, compaction, filtration, solidification, packaging, container handling, drum handling, cask/canister interfaces, or remote/assisted maintenance
• Familiarity with waste characterization, waste acceptance criteria, contamination control, ALARA principles, or radiological work planning
• Familiarity with radioactive waste classification, regulation, or nuclear material packaging requirements
• Experience with design for manufacturability, design for automation, or design for remote handling and maintainability
• Experience with Solidworks
• Experience supporting hazard analysis, failure modes analysis, commissioning, readiness reviews, or startup of industrial process systems

Competencies

We are looking for a Mechanical Engineer who is:

• Practical, production-focused, and able to distinguish between a concept that works on paper and a system that can be operated and maintained
• Experienced in mechanical design of industrial process equipment, material handling systems, packaging systems, and waste processing equipment
• Comfortable translating process objectives into equipment requirements, vendor specifications, operating sequences, and acceptance criteria
• Skilled at reviewing P&IDs, equipment layouts, mechanical interfaces, and vendor drawings
• Able to identify maintainability, reliability, operability, and implementation risks early in design
• Effective working across engineering disciplines and with external suppliers
• Comfortable driving technical issues to resolution in a fast-paced development environment
• Clear and direct in written and verbal communication, including design review comments and technical documentation
• Energized by developing safe, compliant, and practical systems for radioactive waste processing and handling
• Willing to propose creative, technically grounded solutions rather than relying only on precedent

Who you are:

A startup person: You aren't driven by titles or hierarchy, and prefer efficiency to excess process. You don't need or expect to have a lot of guidance but you enjoy working in a fast-paced team. If you prefer the culture and feel of a large organization, that is great, but you likely won’t enjoy working with us! There is plenty of important work and plenty of good opportunities with organizations like that.

Motivated: You are self-motivated. You bring an enthusiasm to the team, and imbue a sense of passion that goes beyond clocking in and clocking out. This isn’t about a fake or arbitrary “pieces of flair” mentality or lack of work-life balance! It is about being a part of the vision and feeling a part of reaching team goals.

A team-player: Oklo genuinely is a team. We aren’t about taking credit for ourselves, and we aren’t about pushing blame to others. We do incredible things because we work as a team.

An excellent communicator: We need a person who is not only technically competent but also a clear and upbeat communicator.

Creative: Being creative means that when things fall outside clear scopes or processes or problems arise without clear solutions, you are able to identify it as well as invent ways to solve a problem or fill a need without micromanagement. The successful person in this job will not only be creative, but also enjoy being creative and solving open-ended problems which may change day-by-day.

Detail-oriented: This focus is a big part of excellence, consistency, and quality. Excellent grammar and spelling matter for both good communication as well as the image of the company that we put forward.

About Oklo travel requirements:

Oklo requires remote employees to travel to headquarters (Santa Clara, CA) twice a quarter annually, based on business or team needs, including attendance at team meetings, off-sites, and other company events or gatherings. For the first two weeks of onboarding, employees are required to be in person at headquarters in Santa Clara, CA.

About Oklo compensation:

Salary: $120,000-$170,000

Oklo offers flexible time off, equity, bonuses, competitive pay, 401(k), health insurance (with employer contribution), HSA, FSA, flexible work hours, wellness credits, and other benefits.

This position may involve access to information subject to U.S. export control laws. Only applicants who meet the definition of a U.S. person under applicable laws may be eligible.