Mechanical Engineer - Fuel Recycling

Oklo Inc. develops advanced fission power plants, nuclear fuel recycling technologies, and related nuclear systems. The company is seeking a Mechanical Engineer to support its Fuel Recycling Team by developing radioactive waste treatment equipment from concept through deployment, defining requirements, evaluating vendor designs, and supporting procurement, safety, licensing, commissioning, and facility integration.

Responsibilities:

• 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

Requirements:

• • 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
• • 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
• 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
• Only applicants who meet the definition of a U.S. person under applicable laws may be eligible
• • 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