
Senior Nuclear Supplier Quality Engineer
Valar Atomics · Torrance, CA
- Level
- Senior
- Team
- Quality
- Travel
- 75%
- Experience asked
- 5+ years
- Industry
- Industrial
- Posted
- 30+ days ago
The role in 30 seconds
A senior quality role at Valar Atomics (industrial) in Torrance, CA. Plan, lead, and own nuclear supplier qualification programs, including supplier audit planning and execution, NQA-1 compliance assessment, process capability evaluation, documentation review, and formal qualification record development.
- They ask for
- 5+ years
- Tools it names
- Root cause, DOE, Supplier quality, Welding
- Day to day
- about 75% travel
Read from the posting. The full description is below.
How this role compares
Against 163 other live quality postings in California.
- Base pay
- Not listed in this posting
- Experience asked
- Typical (5+ years)
Typical $101k–$149k, from 80 postings that list pay.
Similar roles usually ask 5+ years.
Skills these teams ask for most
- ✓ Root cause 78%
- FMEA 56%
- ✓ Supplier quality 48%
- Validation (IQ/OQ/PQ) 43%
- AS9100 41%
- PPAP 39%
✓ = this posting asks for it too. % = share of similar postings that mention it.
Stands out: this posting asks for Welding, which few similar roles mention. If you have it, lead with it.
At a glance
Pulled from the posting text. If it's not listed here, the posting didn't say.
How to get in at this plant
Five moves over a week or two. The first one takes ten minutes.
- 1
Pick 2–3 people on the Quality team at Valar Atomics
We found 1 person at this company and state: 1 on the team. Engineers who joined in the last year or two reply the most. See them ↓
- 2
Send a short, curious note
One real question about their work. No favors yet. Each person gets a different note, written for this role.
Write to Mark → (free) - 3
Turn a reply into a short call
Questions worth asking about this team:
- What does a normal week look like on your team?
- Which standards drive the work here: ISO 13485, IATF 16949, AS9100?
- How much of the job is customer complaints versus prevention?
- The posting says about 75% travel. Between which sites?
- How did you land the job? What stood out in your interviews?
- 4
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If the call went well, ask whether they’d pass your résumé to the hiring manager. Send your résumé link, apply that day, and let them know.
- 5
Bring proof to the interview
One page of before-and-after numbers from projects you led: scrap, OEE, cycle time, cost. Plant managers hire on results.
This plant: Valar Atomics in Torrance
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Full description from Valar AtomicsAs posted on their careers site.ShowHide
The Role
As a Senior Nuclear Supplier Quality Engineer at Valar Atomics, you will serve as the nuclear quality assurance subject matter expert within the Supplier Quality organization. You will own the supplier oversight process, ensuring Valar Atomics’ supply chain is sound, robust, and defensible for the procurement of nuclear safety-related materials, components, and services.
You will lead the entire supplier auditing process, including planning, scheduling, execution, and reporting. Additionally, you will participate in other quality related processes including nonconformance reporting (NCR), supplier corrective action requests (SCAR), and tracking and trending activities, while interfacing directly with engineering, procurement, and construction project professionals.
You will play a central role in Valar Atomics’ Commercial Grade Dedication (CGD) Program. CGD is a process by which commercial-grade items are evaluated and accepted for use in nuclear safety-significant applications without requiring a nuclear-grade procurement. Your two primary CGD
responsibilities
will be: (1) reviewing and approving all CGD Plans developed or revised by the Procurement Engineering group; and (2) serving as the primary technical point of contact for any CGD procurement that requires a Commercial Grade Survey—a supplier site visit and technical evaluation to verify that the item’s critical characteristics are controlled and acceptable.
This role demands clear critical thinking grounded in detailed knowledge of engineering principles and sound engineering judgment. A working knowledge of nuclear codes (e.g., ASME, AWS, AISC, welding, and NDE) along with applicable regulatory
requirements
and historical industry issues is essential. Professional conduct is required at all times.
Key Responsibilities
- ◆Own and lead supplier quality activities across Valar Atomics’ safety-significant, quality-affecting, and nuclear-grade suppliers—including reactor components, fuel system hardware, specialty materials, instrumentation, fabricated assemblies, and special process providers.
- ◆Participating in Valar Atomics’ Commercial Grade Dedication (CGD) program end-to-end: dedication methodology development, critical characteristics definition, technical evaluation plan construction, sampling strategy, CGD Plan review and approval, and Commercial Grade Survey execution.
- ◆Plan, lead, and own nuclear supplier qualification programs, including supplier audit planning and execution, NQA-1 compliance assessment, process capability evaluation, documentation review, and formal qualification record development.
- ◆Develop and maintain Valar Atomics’ nuclear supplier quality
requirements
framework, including purchase order quality clause libraries, NQA-1-aligned flow-down requirements, supplier quality plan standards, and source inspection criteria.
- ✓Investigate and resolve complex or systemic nuclear supplier nonconformances using structured root cause and corrective action methodology, ensuring technically defensible outcomes with appropriate regulatory traceability.
- ✓Develop and maintain supplier performance measurement systems, risk-tiered oversight frameworks, and supplier development programs for nuclear-grade and safety-significant suppliers.
- ✓Support NRC, DOE, NNSA, customer quality representative, and external auditor engagements on supplier quality topics, including documentation preparation, technical interface, and finding resolution.
- ✓Mentor Supplier Quality Engineers, contribute to organizational capability development on nuclear quality principles, and help institutionalize nuclear supplier quality disciplines across the team.
- ✓Develop nuclear supplier quality procedures, CGD work instructions, qualification frameworks, and quality system documentation aligned with NQA-1 and applicable regulatory requirements.
You Will Be Successful In This Role If
- ◆You operate as the nuclear quality authority in supplier quality engagements and are trusted by Valar Atomics Engineering, Procurement, and Regulatory organizations to make rigorous, defensible quality decisions.
- ◆You understand and apply NQA-1 conservatively yet with a graded approach—driven by regulatory intent and probabilistic risk, not just checklists.
- ◆You can distinguish between trivial and serious issues given regulatory intent and probabilistic risk analysis, and you recognize that sound engineering judgment is not always the most conservative answer.
- ◆You can build nuclear supplier quality programs, CGD frameworks, and qualification systems from the ground up, in addition to operating within existing mature structures.
- ◆You proactively identify systemic nuclear supplier risks and develop practical, scalable strategies to address them before they become program-impacting failures.
- ◆You mentor and develop others effectively while maintaining strong personal execution discipline and nuclear quality ownership.
- ◆You communicate with technical credibility and clarity across Engineering, Procurement, Operation
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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 Regulations & Safety organization, Quality Assurance establishes the systems and standards that ensure products and processes consistently meet the highest levels of quality and compliance. The team promotes continuous improvement and operational excellence across the company.
