Head of Technical Integration

COMPANY OVERVIEW Blue Energy is transforming how nuclear power gets built. Instead of constructing each plant on-site from scratch - a process that takes 10-15 years and is too expensive and unpredictable to finance - we build our plants like ships: in a factory, on an assembly line, then transport and assemble them at the site. This cuts costs by over 60% and brings plants online in just three years. We also pair natural gas with nuclear at our sites, so customers can start receiving power from gas turbines right away and then switch over to clean nuclear power once it comes online - getting energy to the grid faster while nuclear is being built. Our mission is to make nuclear energy abundant, affordable, and repeatable at global scale. We use proven, already-approved reactor designs and work with existing nuclear and industrial sites, giving us a faster path to regulatory approval. By manufacturing this way, we put nuclear power on the same cost-reduction curve that has made wind, solar, and batteries cheaper every year. Job Summary: The Head of Technical Integration is the accountable Technical Authority for Blue Energy’s portfolio of engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) and engineering services contracts. The role exists to ensure that all deliverables produced under these contracts are delivered in full conformance with the contractual terms, the owner’s requirements, and the applicable codes, standards, processes, and regulatory requirements that govern the work. The technical direction of any individual contract sits with the assigned Owner’s Technical Director, who is responsible for technical assurance on that contract. The Head of Technical Integration is accountable for ensuring that technical assurance is consistently defined, applied, and enforced across the entire portfolio of contracts. Where the Design Authority is concerned with whether the right thing is being designed — establishing and owning the owner’s requirements — the Head of Technical Integration is concerned with whether the thing is being designed right. In this capacity the role is the accountable Technical Authority: it owns the engineering standard operating procedures (SOPs), policies, and assurance frameworks that govern how technical work is executed and verified, and confirms that applicable codes, standards, processes, and requirements are adhered to throughout design and delivery. The role is accountable for monitoring and reporting the degree of technical compliance across the portfolio, identifying the root causes of non-conformances, and implementing a corrective action program to eliminate those causes and prevent recurrence. The Head of Technical Integration is also accountable for effective technical interface management — between suppliers, and between suppliers and the owner — proactively finding and eliminating gaps and overlaps in scope across supplier boundaries. The role is deeply embedded in design reviews and works closely with the Quality organization, particularly on nuclear safety-related deliverables. The Head of Technical Integration is a principal participant in the management of change process for live contracts, including the technical evaluation of Change Order requests, applying informed technical and commercial judgment to protect the owner’s interests and ensure the owner is not exploited through the change process. Head of Technical Integration, once commissioning and start-up commence will be the key individual to monitor and negotiate performance guarantees with suppliers, and as such need to be intimately involved in how each scope of work is instrumented to enable this responsibility. The position is expected to report to the Engineering Director (or VP of Engineering) and works alongside the Design Authority, the Quality organization, the commercial/contracts function, and the Owner’s Technical Directors. You will have authority over engineering technical assurance standards and the enforcement of technical compliance across the portfolio, and you will be expected to lead and develop a technical integration team to accomplish these objectives. Responsibilities: Technical Authority & Assurance - Act as the accountable Technical Authority for the contract portfolio, providing independent technical assurance that deliverables conform to the owner’s requirements, the technical baseline, and applicable codes and standards. - Establish and enforce the technical assurance framework that defines how engineering work is checked, reviewed, verified, and approved across all contracts. - Provide a consistent point of technical escalation and adjudication where Owner’s Technical Directors require portfolio-level direction or resolution of cross-contract technical issues. - Confirm that competent, qualified personnel are assigned to technical verification activities and that levels of independent review are commensurate with safety classification and risk. Engineering Standards, Codes & Procedures Governance - Own, develop, and maintain the suite of engineering standard operating procedures (SOPs), policies, and work instructions that govern technical execution and assurance. - Maintain a controlled register of applicable codes, standards, and regulatory requirements (e.g., ASME BPVC Section III, ASME NQA-1, the ASME B31 piping codes, IEEE, ANSI, and 10 CFR 50 Appendix B) and confirm their correct application to each contract. - Define and govern requirements management and technical baseline control, ensuring traceability from the owner’s requirements through design, analysis, and verification. - Establish design verification and validation (V&V) expectations, including checking, independent technical review, and design review standards. Technical Compliance Monitoring & Corrective Action - Define compliance metrics and monitor the degree of technical compliance across the portfolio, providing periodic reporting to leadership. - Lead the investigation of technical non-conformances and conduct or oversee root cause analysis (RCA). - Establish and operate a corrective and preventive action (CAPA) program to address systemic causes and prevent recurrence; track actions to closure and verify their effectiveness. - Identify adverse trends across contracts and drive portfolio-wide technical improvement. Interface & Scope Integration Management - Own technical interface management between suppliers, and between suppliers and the owner, ensuring continuity of the technical scope across all package boundaries. - Identify, document, and close gaps and overlaps in scope between suppliers through interface control documents (ICDs), interface registers, and structured interface reviews. - Confirm that physical, functional, and data interfaces are defined, controlled, and verified across disciplines and systems. - Lead the resolution of inter-supplier technical conflicts and integration risks. - Lead the resolution of performance guarantees that may cross scope boundaries. Design Review & Technical Oversight - Participate in and provide assurance over formal design reviews across the portfolio, including: - Preliminary Design Reviews (PDR) and Critical Design Reviews (CDR) - Constructability, operability, and maintainability reviews - Confirm that review comments, technical queries (TQs), and non-conformances are dispositioned and closed in accordance with procedure. - Provide independent challenge of design decisions, assumptions, and deviations, ensuring sound engineering judgment and conformance to the design basis. Quality & Nuclear Safety Assurance Interface - Work closely with the Quality organization to align technical assurance with the project quality assurance program, particularly for safety-related and nuclear safety-related deliverables. - Confirm that safety classification, design basis control, and safety case traceability are maintained across the supply chain in accordance with 10 CFR 50 Appendix B and ASME NQA-1. - Support supplier audits, surveillances, and assessments, and confirm the closure of associated quality and technical findings. Management of Change & Change Order Control - Act as a principal technical authority within the management of change (MOC) process for live contracts. - Lead the technical evaluation of Change Order requests, assessing technical justification, scope impact, design basis impact, schedule and quality consequences, and consistency with the owner’s requirements. - Apply rigorous technical and commercial scrutiny to confirm that proposed changes are genuinely warranted and fairly scoped, and are not being used to the owner’s disadvantage. - Confirm that approved changes are correctly reflected in the technical baseline, configuration records, and downstream deliverables. Supplier Technical Oversight & Commercial Protection - Provide technical oversight of supplier performance against contractual technical requirements and deliverable acceptance criteria. - Apply informed, “intelligent customer” judgment to supplier claims, deviations, concessions, and requests for information to protect the owner’s technical and commercial position. - Support the contracts and commercial teams with technical input to claims, back-charges, and dispute resolution. Team Leadership - Lead, build, and develop the technical integration function and supporting team. - Delegate and prioritize technical assurance activities across the portfolio in line with risk and project priorities. - Mentor and support Owner’s Technical Directors and engineering staff on assurance expectations and procedures. Accountabilities & Outputs: The outputs for which this role is expected to be accountable include, but are not necessarily limited to: - Approved engineering SOPs, policies, and the technical assurance framework - A controlled codes-and-standards register and a maintained technical baseline - Portfolio technical compliance reports, metrics, and dashboards - Root cause analyses and a tracked, effectiveness-verified corrective and preventive action (CAPA) program - An interface register and interface control documents (ICDs) evidencing closed scope gaps and overlaps - Dispositioned design review records and closed technical queries - Technical evaluations and dispositions of Change Order requests - Verified conformance of safety-related and nuclear safety-related deliverables Required Qualifications - Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering (mechanical, electrical, civil/structural, nuclear, chemical, or a related discipline) from an ABET-accredited program. - Strong working knowledge of EPC execution and engineering assurance on complex capital projects. - Working knowledge of applicable U.S. codes and standards (ASME, IEEE, ANSI) and of nuclear quality assurance requirements (10 CFR 50 Appendix B and ASME NQA-1). - Experience with modular construction and design for modularization Experience: - Minimum 12–15 years of progressive engineering experience on nuclear, power, oil & gas, or large, complex infrastructure projects, inclusive of: - 5+ years in a technical authority, engineering management, design assurance, or technical integration role - Demonstrated experience leading design reviews and managing multidisciplinary technical interfaces - Experience establishing or administering root cause analysis and corrective action programs - Experience in management of change and the technical evaluation of change orders on live contracts - 3+ years of team leadership, management, or supervisory experience Preferred Qualifications: - Professional Engineer (PE) license, or a clear and demonstrable path to licensure, or equivalent. - Experience on nuclear (NRC-licensed), combined cycle, or first-of-a-kind energy projects. - Prior experience as an Owner’s Engineer, Owner’s Technical Director, or in an equivalent owner-side technical assurance role. - Familiarity with modular construction, shipyard/offsite fabrication, and Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA). - Working knowledge of systems engineering and requirements management practices (e.g., INCOSE). - Relevant certifications such as PMP, CSEP, Certified Quality Engineer (CQE), or a recognized root cause analysis qualification (e.g., TapRooT, Apollo). Technical Skills Required: The successful candidate will demonstrate strong technical capability and practical experience across the principal engineering assurance, codes-and-standards, interface, and configuration management disciplines required to enforce technical compliance and integrate the work of multiple suppliers across the project lifecycle. - Applied knowledge of U.S. design and quality codes and standards, including ASME BPVC (particularly Section III), ASME NQA-1, the ASME B31 piping codes, IEEE, and ANSI, with familiarity with 10 CFR 50 Appendix B. - Requirements management and technical baseline control. - Configuration management and engineering change control. - Root cause analysis and corrective/preventive action (CAPA) methodologies. - Interface management and the development of interface control documents (ICDs). - Design review, verification, and validation (V&V) methods. - Engineering document and records control within a Common Data Environment (e.g., Bentley ProjectWise, Autodesk Construction Cloud, SharePoint). - Technical reporting and analytics (e.g., Power BI). - Familiarity with multidisciplinary design and review platforms (e.g., AVEVA E3D, SmartPlant, Revit, Navisworks). Key Competencies: - Independent technical judgment and engineering rigor - An assurance and compliance mindset (audit, traceability, evidence) - Systems thinking and interface integration across disciplines and suppliers - Commercial awareness and “intelligent customer” instinct - Stakeholder leadership and influence across suppliers, the owner, and regulators - Decisiveness under technical and commercial pressure - Strong communication, technical writing, and documentation discipline - High attention to detail and configuration discipline - A drive for continuous improvement and innovation in engineering practice - Integrity and the willingness to challenge constructively We look forward to your application and helping foster an era of safe, clean, affordable, and abundant energy. Blue Energy is dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive workplace. If you’re excited about this role but your experience doesn’t perfectly align with every requirement, we encourage you to apply anyway. You might be the right candidate for this or other roles at Blue Energy now or in the future.