Principal Automation and Controls Engineer (Nuclear)

Location: Torrance, California, United States; onsite role. Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States as a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident.

Salary: $196,000–$240,000 USD annually.

Company

hirify.global develops scalable high-temperature nuclear power systems, nuclear fuel fabrication, and advanced energy technology.

What you will do

• Define the controls software architecture and technology roadmap across reactor and nuclear fuel manufacturing facilities, including PLC/DCS, SCADA, SIS, HMI, historians, and enterprise integration.
• Own control-system philosophies, standards, templates, testing practices, configuration management, and plant-data architecture.
• Serve as design authority with final technical approval for architecture, safety-significant applications, standards deviations, software quality, and concessions.
• Direct first-of-a-kind control strategies, root-cause investigations, corrective actions, commissioning readiness, and high-consequence technical reviews.
• Support nuclear licensing, safety-case and cybersecurity arguments, regulatory audits, vendor relationships, and industry standards engagement.
• Build the controls software discipline by defining competencies, setting the hiring bar, mentoring senior engineers, and advising leadership on technical risk and resourcing.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical, Electronic, Computer, Systems Engineering, Computer Science, or a related discipline.
• 10+ years of controls software, PLC/DCS, or SCADA engineering experience in process industries.
• End-to-end ownership of controls software across multiple major capital projects, including at least one project taken from functional specification through commissioning, startup, and initial operations.
• Architecture-level technical leadership defining control-system architecture, platform strategy, or software standards adopted across an organization or program.
• Recognized technical authority in a deep discipline area such as batch architecture, SCADA and data architecture, safety application software, alarm and HMI engineering, or OT cybersecurity.
• Hands-on command of PLC/DCS application architecture across IEC 61131-3 languages, SCADA/HMI, ISA-88 batch, ISA-18.2 alarm management, historians, data modelling, enterprise integration, and software configuration management.
• Substantial safety application software experience under IEC 61511, including formal validation and approval or independent-review authority over safety logic.
• Working command of OT cybersecurity architecture under IEC 62443 or NIST SP 800-82.
• Experience directing and developing engineers, including senior engineers, and formally checking or approving their work.
• Experience representing an engineering discipline to regulators, assessors, certification bodies, vendors, integrators, or client design authorities.

Nice to have

• Professional Engineer license, ISA Certified Automation Professional certification, platform certifications, or equivalent credentials.
• Nuclear digital I&C experience, including NQA-1 or 10 CFR 50 Appendix B software qualification and familiarity with IEC 61513, IEC 60880, or IEEE 7-4.3.2.
• Experience with first-of-a-kind or prototype plant architecture, industrial-control cybersecurity assessments, virtualized or containerized control infrastructure, standards committees, GAMP 5, or 21 CFR Part 11 validation.

Culture & Benefits

• High-impact startup environment with significant ownership, autonomy, and direct collaboration with operators, engineers, and industry leaders.
• Competitive base salary and equity ownership.
• Comprehensive medical benefits and unlimited PTO.
• Free daily lunch and dinner provided onsite, plus a generous PPE stipend.
• Opportunities for rapid career growth and internal advancement.