Senior QA Engineer - NQA-1 Program Development

Location: Columbia, South Carolina

Department: Nuclear Engineering

The Nuclear Company is the fastest growing AI tech-enabled startup in the nuclear and energy space, pioneering a fleet-scale approach to building the next generation of nuclear reactors. Through our design-once, build-many model, we're accelerating the deployment of safe, reliable, and affordable nuclear energy.

We operate with an AI-first mindset. Every employee is expected to leverage AI, technology, and the Nuclear Operating System (NOS) as integral components of their role to improve the quality, speed, and impact of their work. We expect every team member to continuously identify opportunities to automate workflows, enhance decision-making, improve processes, and contribute to the ongoing evolution of NOS as a strategic operating capability that enables The Nuclear Company to scale with excellence.

We hire people who are driven by purpose, thrive in ambiguity, and are energized by building what has never been built before. Our team combines intellectual curiosity with high agency, embraces candid feedback and continuous learning, and holds themselves and others to exceptional standards. Our values—Transparency, Responsibility, Unity, Scrappy, and Tenacity—guide how we hire, collaborate, and make decisions every day. They are not words on a wall; they are the standard by which we operate. TRUST is the foundation of our safety culture, fostering intellectual honesty, accountability, and open communication, while our values challenge every team member to execute with urgency, humility, resilience, and an unwavering commitment to our mission.

About the role

The QA Engineer’s first assignment is to build out TNC’s NQA-1 quality program — writing the implementing procedures that every department, from Engineering and Procurement to Construction and Licensing, will work under. The engineer partners with each department’s subject-matter experts to draft these procedures, carries them through cross-functional review, and drives them to approval and issue on schedule. As the procedure set matures and field work begins, the role shifts to core quality engineering: reviewing inspection and test procedures, setting acceptance criteria from design requirements, and placing witness and hold points in inspection and test plans. The position reports to the Senior Manager of Quality, carries the independence the work demands — including stop-work authority and direct access to the CNO — and offers a mid-career engineer the chance to help write the quality program a fleet-scale nuclear company will run on.

Responsibilities

Key Areas: Cross-Functional NQA-1 Program Development (near-term focus); Inspection & Test Technical Basis; Codes & Standards; Conditions Adverse to Quality; Program Interfaces & Qualifications

• Generate the NQA-1 program cross-functionally — author and develop Tier-3 implementing procedures with every TNC department (Procurement & Supply Chain, PMO, Engineering, Quality, Regulatory Affairs, Construction Management, Nuclear Deployment, Testing & Start-Up, Training, and the corporate functions), translating each organization’s function scope into issued procedures through SME input, cross-functional review, and approval.
• Author or provide SME input to procedures, records, and technical documents in the assigned discipline.
• Review inspection and test procedures and acceptance criteria for nuclear systems and components; verify design outputs meet specified requirements.
• Identify inspection requirements and the applicable codes and standards, with references; extract acceptance criteria from design with quantitative limits, specific values, and tolerances.
• Set witness and hold points in inspection and test plans.
• Support the QAPD and parent-suite artifacts maintained audit-ready, and the phased QA plans for Services, BOO project development, and JV support.
• Identify and report conditions adverse to quality promptly through the CAP; feed procedure-production status and quality metrics into the QA metrics pack and the CNO performance-indicator set.
• Maintain personal qualifications, training, and certifications current.

Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in an engineering discipline, or 10+ years field experience in the discipline.
• 3+ years working under ASME NQA-1 and/or 10 CFR 50 Appendix B programs, with demonstrated procedure development — has authored implementing procedures that survived review and implementation.
• Proficient in the applicable codes and standards for the assigned scope (e.g., ASME NQA-1; ASME Section III/V/IX, ACI 318, AISC 360, IEEE/ISA series as applicable).
• Strong technical writing and cross-functional coordination — can pull SME input from any department and drive a document through a multi-reviewer approval chain on schedule.
• Ability to qualify to governing TNC procedures.

Note: NQA-1 Lead Auditor certification is not required — audit execution is provided through a contracted, qualified audit service. Discipline depth (civil, mechanical, electrical, or NDE) shapes assigned scope as the role transitions to inspection and test engineering.

Preferred Experience

• Nuclear new-build, construction, or commissioning experience (AP1000, SMR/MMR, or other first-of-a-kind programs).
• Discipline depth in civil/structural, mechanical, electrical, or NDE with the associated code sets (ACI/AISC, ASME Section III/V/IX, IEEE/ISA, SNT-TC-1A / CP-189).
• ASQ CQE or CQA; auditor training or audit-team participation.
• Experience developing procedures in a startup or program build-out environment; EDMS and document-control workflow fluency.
• Familiarity with ISO 9001 / ISO 19443; metrics and dashboard tools (Excel, Power BI).

Benefits

• Competitive compensation packages
• 401k with company match
• Medical, dental, vision plans
• Generous vacation policy, plus holidays

Estimated Starting Salary Range
The estimated starting salary range for this role is $121,000 - $143,000 annually less applicable withholdings and deductions, paid on a bi-weekly basis. The actual salary offered may vary based on relevant factors as determined in the Company’s discretion, which may include experience, qualifications, tenure, skill set, availability of qualified candidates, geographic location, certifications held, and other criteria deemed pertinent to the particular role. 

EEO Statement
The Nuclear Company is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering an environment of inclusion in the workplace. We provide equal employment opportunities to all qualified applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic. We prohibit discrimination in all aspects of employment, including hiring, promotion, demotion, transfer, compensation, and termination.