Principal Reactor Fuel Engineer

Job Title: Principal Reactor Fuel EngineerLocation: Oak Ridge, TNPay Rate: $135,000-$255,000 (Dependent on experience)Employment Type: Direct HireBenefits: Competitive medical, dental, vision and life insurance, 401(k) plan with a company match, unlimited PTO policy, PTO, paid parental leaveROLE & RESPONSIBILITIESWe are seeking a Principal Reactor Fuel Engineer for a leading developer of next-generation microreactor systems who will have broad technical ownership for ensuring that fuel qualification decision, from sampling plans and defect fractions to manufacturing demonstrations and model validation, are supported by defensible statistical methods, confidence levels, and uncertainty treatment.You’ll work across fuel design, manufacturing, characterization, irradiation, post-irradiation examination (PIE), safety analysis, fuel-performance modeling, Quality Assurance, and Regulatory & Licensing, providing independent statistical concurrence on qualification-critical decisions.Develop and maintain the KRONOS Fuel Qualification Statistics and Uncertainty Quantification Plan, including confidence requirements, acceptance probabilities, decision rules, and concurrence points.Establish defensible sample sizes and population definitions for kernels, TRISO particles, ceramic pellets, manufacturing lots, irradiation specimens, PIE populations, and safety-test specimens.Develop methods for estimating defect, particle-failure, fuel-failure, and fission-product-release fractions, including zero-failure and censored datasets.Establish uncertainty budgets covering characterization, irradiation conditions, PIE measurements, material properties, safety testing, and derived qualification parameters.Define statistical requirements for model calibration and validation, bias evaluation, sensitivity analysis, uncertainty propagation, applicability limits, and experimental comparison.Develop design-of-experiments, process-capability, variability, sampling, and acceptance methods supporting repeatable production-intent fuel.Evaluate data exclusions, outliers, missing data, anomalous observations, and extrapolations.Author clear statistical conclusions and uncertainty statements supporting fuel qualification and licensing documentation.QUALIFICATIONSAdvanced degree in Statistics, Applied Mathematics, Reliability Engineering, Nuclear Engineering, Materials Science, or a closely related quantitative discipline.5+ years supporting nuclear fuel, materials qualification, reliability, manufacturing qualification, model validation, or another safety-critical technical program.Expertise in design of experiments, acceptance sampling, uncertainty propagation, reliability methods, statistical inference, and model calibration or validation.Experience developing statistical approaches before data collection and working with sparse, censored, zero-failure, or heterogeneous datasets.Proficiency with controlled statistical-computing workflows and rigorous documentation of calculations, software, data transformations, assumptions, and independent reviews.Strong technical writing and communication skills, including the ability to translate statistical limitations into clear engineering, safety, and regulatory conclusions.PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONSDirect experience with TRISO, advanced nuclear fuel, or high-temperature ceramic qualification.Experience estimating low-probability defect or failure fractions at regulator-relevant confidence levels.Familiarity with ASME NQA-1, nuclear software QA, configuration control, and regulator-facing technical reports.Experience integrating manufacturing process capability, experimental uncertainty, and model-form uncertainty into qualification decisions.WHY AVERRO?Averro is a veteran-owned staffing and solutions firm connecting top talent with cutting-edge companies. With 20+ years of experience and industry-specialized recruiters in your corner, we're here to propel your career forward.Averro is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.View our privacy policy here: https://www.averro.com/legal/privacy-policy