Staff Electrical Designer at Valar Atomics in Torrance, California, United States

Job description

• You will be joining Valar Atomics' Instrumentation, Control & Electrical (IC&E) organization, supporting design work across the Reactor, Nuclear Fuel, Power Conversion, and Power Distribution areas. Electrical Designers own the drawing packages that define the physical electrical and instrumentation installation one-lines, schematics, wiring and loop diagrams, cable and raceway layouts, panel arrangements, and installation details. You will work alongside electrical, I&C hardware, I&C software, process, mechanical, and nuclear safety engineers in a hands-on environment where drawing quality and installation integrity directly support plant reliability and nuclear safety. As a staff designer, you will be one of the technical anchors of this team: the designer others come to when the package is novel, ambiguous, or high-consequence. The team values technical depth, disciplined documentation, and a safety-first culture.
• Valar Atomics is seeking Staff Electrical Designers to serve as technical authorities for electrical and instrumentation design across the full plant scope: Reactor, Nuclear Fuel, Power Conversion, and Power Distribution. This is a staff position: in addition to producing and owning the most complex drawing packages, you will own assigned areas of the CAD standards and design database architecture the discipline runs on, help run the drawing checking program, lead design solutions for first-of-a-kind installation challenges, review and approve the work of other designers and drafting contractors, and mentor the designer team. You are accountable not only for your own drawings, but for the quality and consistency of the drawing packages issued within your assigned scope, across projects and sites.

Responsibilities

• Key Responsibilities
• Serve as a design discipline technical authority within assigned scope; check and approve drawing packages produced by other designers and drafting contractors, and share ownership of the discipline's drawing checking program including check standards, checker qualification, and check documentation.
• Own assigned areas of the discipline's CAD standards including drawing templates, title blocks, symbol libraries, layer conventions, and model/drawing file organization; enforce standards across all internal and contractor-produced drawings and drive convergence across projects and sites.
• Own assigned areas of the EPLAN and AVEVA Electrical database architecture, including project structures, master data (devices, cables, symbols), report and deliverable templates, and the practices that keep database-driven deliverables, cable schedules, load lists, and wiring reports consistent and trustworthy.
• Lead design solutions for first-of-a-kind and unconventional installation challenges, unusual routing, separation, and environmental constraints without established precedent, developing the design approach, installation details, and constructability strategy.
• Define the drawing production strategy for assigned programs including internal versus contractor drafting allocation, package sequencing against construction need dates, and contractor drafting oversight.
• Mentor senior and junior designers; develop designer training and qualification practices; contribute to hiring and technical interviewing for the design team.
• Produce and own the most complex electrical and instrumentation drawing packages across Reactor, Nuclear Fuel, Power Conversion, and Power Distribution scopes one-lines, three-lines, schematics, wiring and interconnection diagrams, panel schedules, load lists, and motor elementaries.
• Own cable and raceway design for assigned scope including cable schedules, sizing and voltage drop checks, tray and conduit routing, fill and derating, and signal/power segregation including approval of separation approaches for safety-related and non-safety circuits per project standards.
• Own control panel and enclosure design consistent with UL 508A practice, grounding, bonding, and lightning protection layouts, hazardous area classification drawings (NEC Article 500/505 or IEC 60079), and instrument installation deliverables developed with I&C hardware engineers.
• Lead 3D model coordination for electrical and I&C scope including clash resolution, routing and clearance decisions, and model-based drawing extraction practice; own the resolution of interdisciplinary routing conflicts with piping, structural, mechanical, and HVAC designers.
• Approve bills of material and material take-offs; support requisitions and procurement technical evaluations for cable, raceway, panels, and installation hardware.
• Lead field walkdowns for constructability, routing verification, and existing conditions; own the as-built program for electrical and I&C drawings, including redline capture standards and turnover documentation quality.
• Own the review and disposition of vendor drawing packages, contractor shop drawings, and installation deliverables for compliance with project standards and nuclear quality requirements.
• Own the design-side response to construction and commissioning: RFI resolution, field change documentation, and punch list closure for electrical and I&C drawing scope.
• Own drawing revision control and document management practice consistent with nuclear quality requirements, ensuring traceability from design change through as-built incorporation, and feed field lessons learned back into CAD standards and installation details.

Requirements

• Associate degree or technical diploma in electrical design, drafting, or engineering technology, or equivalent practical experience; Bachelor's degree in an engineering discipline is a plus.
• 8+ years of electrical or I&C design experience in power generation, process industries, or industrial facilities.
• Demonstrated ownership of the complete electrical/I&C drawing scope on at least one major capital project, from early design through construction support and as-built turnover.
• Track record of design leadership: formally checking and approving other designers' work, setting or improving CAD standards, and directing drafting contractors.
• Expert proficiency with EPLAN (Electric P8 or equivalent) and/or AVEVA Electrical at the administration level — project structures, master data, and report templates — not just drawing production, with willingness to work in both.
• Strong working knowledge of the NEC (NFPA 70) as applied to design deliverables, including wiring methods, conduit fill, cable derating, and grounding, sufficient to check others' work against it.
• Experience with cable and raceway separation design for safety-related circuits (IEEE 384 or equivalent criteria), or demonstrably transferable rigorous separation/segregation design experience.
• Experience with 3D plant design coordination including clash detection and model-based drawing extraction.
• Extensive field experience: walkdowns, redlining, as-built production, and construction support.
• Experience mentoring, checking, or supervising the work of other designers or drafters.
• Proficiency in both EPLAN and AVEVA Electrical, including database/master data administration in both.
• ADDA Certified Drafter, NICET certification, or equivalent credentials.
• Experience designing UL 508A listed industrial control panels.
• Experience with medium-voltage distribution design (4.16 kV and above), generator connections, and utility interconnection drawings.
• Working familiarity with nuclear quality requirements (NQA-1, 10 CFR 50 Appendix B) as applied to design documents, drawing control, and design change traceability.
• Experience with electrical installation design in nuclear, cleanroom, glovebox, or contamination-controlled environments.
• Experience with CAD automation or scripting (EPLAN API, AutoLISP, or equivalent) for deliverable generation.
• Familiarity with IEC 62443 or NIST SP 800-82 as applied to the physical OT network layer, including cabinet, switch, and cabling infrastructure supporting network segmentation.

Skills

Required

• AVEVA Electrical at administration level
• NEC (NFPA 70)
• 3D plant design coordination
• CAD standards and database architecture
• Drawing checking and approval
• Mentoring and supervising designers

Preferred

• Both EPLAN and AVEVA Electrical
• UL 508A listed industrial control panels
• IEC 62443 or NIST SP 800-82

Benefits

• 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
• $173,000 - $211,000 USD