Senior OT Engineer

Valar Atomics is a nuclear energy company focused on scaling high-temperature gas reactors (HTGRs) for grid-independent industrial applications. The company is developing what it calls gigasites, large-scale facilities housing hundreds of nuclear reactors intended to power heavy industry, data centers, hydrogen production, and clean hydrocarbon fuel synthesis. Their reactor design uses TRISO fuel, a graphite moderator, and helium coolant, a combination the company highlights for its strong safety profile and proliferation resistance. By operating outside the traditional electricity grid, Valar Atomics aims to unlock economies of scale that have historically eluded the nuclear industry. Valar Atomics' mission centers on making nuclear energy the cheapest and most reliable energy source in the world, with a particular emphasis on decarbonizing industrial processes and enabling clean fuel production. Their hydrogen output, generated via a sulfur-iodine thermochemical cycle, can be combined with captured CO2 to produce synthetic hydrocarbons through a modified Fischer-Tropsch process, offering a pathway to drop-in clean fuels. The company also targets the surging power demands of AI data centers, which are projected to require over 200 additional terawatt-hours of grid power by 2030. The company is currently advancing its Ward 250 project, a test reactor being developed in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy, the San Rafael Energy Research Center, and the State of Utah, with a target go-live date of July 4, 2026, America's 250th birthday. The reactor has already been physically transported to Emery County, Utah, with logistical support from the U.S. military. Four executive orders issued under the Trump administration provided a mandate supporting the project's accelerated deployment timeline.

About Valar Atomics

At Valar Atomics, we're redefining what's possible in energy. Our mission is to make clean, high-temperature nuclear power scalable—unlocking abundant energy for industry, hydrogen, and next-generation manufacturing. We are a team of builders, engineers, and operators who believe nuclear energy should be fast to deploy, factory-made, and built for the real world. Our first pilot plant in Orangeville, Utah will demonstrate how advanced nuclear systems and fuel fabrication can power the future. Joining Valar Atomics means becoming part of a company where autonomy, ownership, and impact exist at every level.

The Team 

As part of the Engineering organization, Instrumentations & Controls designs the systems that monitor, automate, and protect Valar's facilities and reactor technologies. The team develops reliable control architectures that enable safe and efficient operations.

The Role 

Valar Atomics is a young startup that turns ambitious engineering into working hardware. Before our third anniversary, we designed, built, commissioned, and operated a DOE-authorized research reactor outside the national laboratory system. That pace defines how we work: learn quickly, make sound decisions, and build systems that perform. Analysis must lead to decisions and delivery, and we expect people to take ownership and see their work through. If you want hard problems, real responsibility, and the freedom to build with urgency, bring your judgment and drive to Valar. 

Take a defined implementation or testing objective through planning, execution, troubleshooting, and verified delivery. Own the result for assigned systems, making sound decisions within established standards and resolving interface issues with other engineers. Deep specialists and capable generalists are both welcome; this role rewards hands-on results. 

OT Engineering delivers power and rack infrastructure, compute, networks, identity, security (physical & cyber), operational data, and industrial software platforms (FactoryTalk). The FactoryTalk scope covers backend deployment, configuration, integration, and recovery. PLC programming and controls-code development are outside this role. 

Key Responsibilities 

• Turn defined objectives into practical implementation or test plans covering prerequisites, equipment or configuration needs, dependencies, tests, and recovery steps.
• Independently implement and operate systems, or prepare, execute, and diagnose system tests within the assigned scope.
• Diagnose difficult faults using measurements, logs, test results, and system behavior; verify that corrective action resolves the problem.
• Plan and execute commissioning, failure, and recovery tests with clear acceptance criteria.
• Resolve integration issues with other engineers and identify when requirements or designs need revision.
• Complete delivery with accurate configurations, executable procedures, test evidence, and usable handoff records.
• Travel to our Orangeville, UT facility approximately 15% of the time.  

You Will Be Successful in This Role If 

• Highly organized, with disciplined task tracking, accurate documentation, clear priorities, and reliable follow-through.
• Independent progress from a defined objective to a working, verified result, with timely escalation of design or scope decisions.
• Strong depth in one or more disciplines and enough interface awareness to work effectively with other specialists.
• Persistent troubleshooting that follows the evidence and verifies the result instead of stopping at an apparent fix. 

Basic Qualifications  

• Independently deliver an implementation or rigorous hands-on test work package from a defined objective to verified completion.
• Plan methods, interfaces, dependencies, resources, testing, and turnover within established standards.
• Diagnose causes using measurements or recorded evidence; verify that corrective actions resolve the problem.
• Maintain controlled configurations and usable records; coordinate interfaces and escalate decisions beyond authority.
• Meet all requirements above and demonstrate at least one specialty below. These are alternatives; expertise across every specialty is not required.
• Power distribution and backup: Determine loads/ratings; configure and troubleshoot PDU/ATS/UPS systems; verify transfer, backup power, and recovery.
• Racks and cabling: Plan rack/cable installations, select compatible components, diagnose physical faults, and verify completed work.
• Compute, storage, and virtualization: Deploy and operate compute, storage, or virtualization; diagnose failures and prove restoration and availability.
• Industrial software backends: Deploy, integrate, troubleshoot, and recover FactoryTalk or equivalent industrial backends and supporting services.
• Networking: Configure and troubleshoot switching, routing, segmentation, and firewalls; verify connectivity, redundancy, and restoration.
• Technical documentation: Author usable procedures and records backed by exceptional hands-on testing: independently develop methods, prepare setups, execute tests, diagnose failures, and verify corrective results.
• Windows domain administration: Administer Active Directory and Group Policy; troubleshoot DNS/time dependencies and verify changes and recovery.
• Access control: Implement and troubleshoot roles, privileged access, and service-account permissions; review access and verify least privilege.
• Central logging and authentication: Integrate logging or authentication services; diagnose dependencies and verify collection, access, retention, and recovery.
• Log and packet analysis: Correlate logs and packets across systems, establish causes, and verify corrective actions.
• Operational data systems: Deploy and operate historians, databases, or interfaces; diagnose quality failures and verify retention, buffering, access, and recovery.
• Travel to our Orangeville, UT facility approximately 15% of the time.

Preferred Skills and Experience  

 

What We Offer  

• Competitive base salary 
• Equity ownership in a rapidly growing advanced energy company 
• Comprehensive medical benefits 
• Unlimited PTO
• Free daily lunch and dinner provided onsite 
• Generous PPE stipend
• High-impact startup environment with significant ownership and autonomy 
• Opportunities for rapid career growth and internal advancement 
• Direct collaboration with experienced operators, engineers, and industry leaders 
• The opportunity to help build and scale transformative energy technology from the ground up

 

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

Valar Atomics is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected status under applicable law.

We are committed to providing a workplace free of discrimination and harassment and will provide reasonable accommodation as required by law.

Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States as a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident (green card holder).