Principal Engineer
Talascend is currently seeking a Principal Engineer for a remote, contract opportunity with our client.
Overview
In this role, you will support the development of plant level requirements and strategies relevant to complex seismic design and licensing activities, perform technical review of work products, and facilitate the integration and implementation of strategies and work products across project disciplines.
Responsibilities
- Provide continuous oversight of seismic design scope, covering building and structural systems, foundations, equipment supports, and integrated plant analyses such as soil–structure interaction (SSI), seismic fragility development, and PRA inputs.
- Coordinate and direct complex multi-system analyses, including SSI studies, seismic model development, external hazard characterization, and building seismic qualification, ensuring consistency with plant-level methodologies and licensing strategy.
- Perform and guide SSI analyses using in-house SASSI tools; establish repeatable frameworks, workflows, and benchmarks that improve analysis efficiency and traceability across multiple structures.
- Develop, document, and implement seismic design bases and strategies, supporting both deterministic and probabilistic methods; apply risk-informed, performance-based methodologies (e.g., LMP, RIPB) to define design acceptance criteria for SSCs.
- Author, review, and refine plant- and system-level requirements and specifications, integrating seismic and structural criteria into design deliverables and ensuring seamless alignment with plant-level engineering.
- Interface across design disciplines (mechanical, I&C, nuclear safety, systems) to ensure seismic requirements, structural criteria, and performance expectations are clearly defined, properly allocated, and implemented across interfacing designs.
- Ensure adherence to licensing and code requirements (ASCE, ACI, AISC, ASCE 4/7/43, NUREG guidance), verifying they are correctly integrated into CSA products and aligned with licensing strategy.
- Support cost studies and trade-off evaluations as the CSA/seismic SME, ensuring technical rigor while balancing constructability, schedule, and economic considerations.
- Surveil subcontractor performance, monitoring design deliverables, verifying compliance with technical requirements, and ensuring design processes and quality programs are properly implemented.
- Lead and support design and integration reviews, chairing cross-functional resolution sessions for CSA/seismic challenges, and facilitating targeted technical forums (e.g., working groups, decision boards, digital/in-person reviews).
- Integrate seismic and CSA design information into licensing products, including regulatory submittals under the Licensing Modernization Project (LMP), ensuring design-basis alignment with licensing commitments.
- Report emerging technical risks to project and engineering management, providing timely recommendations for mitigation and escalation when needed.
- Drive continuous improvement, applying nuclear industry best practices to seismic modeling, fragility methods, and structural qualification, while identifying opportunities for improved efficiency, quality, and integration.
Qualifications
- M.S. degree in Civil engineering or equivalent or higher
- 12+ years of civil/structural design and analysis and/or probabilistic risk assessment experience
Requirements
- Excellent writing and communication skills
- Ability to work independently and with minimum direction to solve challenging problems
- Candidate must have strong analytical/problem solving skills
- Candidate must be a self-starter and possess ability to coordinate with internal and external engineering and design teams with minimal direction
- Experience with new nuclear power plant design projects
- Experience with risk-informed performance based, and probabilistic methodologies for application to seismic design and analyses
- Experience in a broad range of design and integration topics throughout a product lifecycle, including conceptual design, final design, and construction
- Experience with structural design for complex external hazard loading such as seismic and aircraft impact
- Experience with commercial codes and standards such as UBC, ACI 318, AISC 360 and ASCE 7
- Experience with nuclear codes and standards such as ACI 349, ACI 359, AISC N690, ASCE 4, and ASCE 43
- Experience working projects with NRC or DOE regulations
- Ability to deliver projects that include many competing objectives and design constraints, with ability to resolve conflicts between objectives.
- Ability to work on tasks that require a multi-disciplinary approach.
- Experience working to quality standards on design activities, such as ASME NQA-1 or ISO 9001.
- The successful candidate will possess a high degree of trust and integrity, communicate openly and display respect and a desire to foster teamwork.
We thank all applicants for their interest. However, only those qualified individuals who closely meet the qualifications of the position will be contacted. The details of the position are only a summary, other duties may be assigned as necessary.
Background Check and Drug Screen may be required.
Pay range is not a guarantee of compensation or salary, as final offer amount may vary based on factors including but not limited to experience and geographic location. Talascend also offers a variety of benefits including: health and disability insurance, 401(k), EAP, paid time off, and company-paid holidays. The specific programs and options available to an employee may vary depending on date of hire, plan requirements, schedule type, and client work site mandates.
Talascend is an Equal Opportunity Employer that recruits and hires qualified candidates without regard to race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, disability, or veteran status.