Materials Engineer, Ceramics

About Us

At Antares our long-term mission is to make clean energy abundant from Earth to the Asteroid Belt. Were fueled by the belief that advanced nuclear energy can strengthen our military solve the climate crisis elevate global living standards and expand humanitys presence in outer space. To achieve our mission were building mass-producible inherently safe deployable microreactors that can be used terrestrially underwater and in space.

The Antares team hails from SpaceX the White House the Pentagon the Department of Energy MIT Rigetti Computing General Atomics Relativity Space Ursa Major and National Laboratories like Idaho Oak Ridge Los Alamos and Savannah River. Antares has raised over $600M in venture capital from top-tier investors and has hundreds of million-dollars on contract with the military services NASA and the Department of Energy.

About the Team

As the Fuels and Ceramics Engineer you will be in charge of development and qualification for all fuel and ceramics materials in the reactor. This will consist of developing experiments processes and quality control as well as working with vendors and collaborators to identify and rectify critical gaps in material behavior at our operating conditions. This position requires a deep understanding of the fundamentals of ceramic materials as well as general materials characterization methods. The ideal candidate will apply fundamental knowledge of ceramics to the practical applications of manufacturing in a fast-paced environment while also pushing innovation for the next generation of these materials driving Antares to be a recognized leader in nuclear materials.

Roles & Responsibilities:

• Lead the development and qualification for ceramic materials in the reactor including lifetime testing cross-institutional collaboration and property evaluation.

• Design and conduct physical thermal and mechanical testing of materials that replicates the reactor environment.

• Employ statistical methods to systematically evaluate effects of process variables and environmental effects on materials properties.

• Materials characterization including root cause investigations of failure modes.

• Interface with manufacturing neutronics mechanical testing and quality engineers to integrate materials into the overall system define limits to operating conditions based on material properties and optimize processes related to fuel and ceramic materials.

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering Nuclear Engineering Materials Engineering or a related physics-based field.

• 2 years of experience in materials science and engineering.

• Proficiency in optical and electron microscopy as well as mechanical property evaluation.

Preferred Skills and Experience:

• Demonstrated expertise in TRISO fuel characterization and manufacturing or related coating processes.

• Strong understanding of safety standards testing protocols and highly regulated industries.

• Expert in testing and analysis methods for fuel and ceramic materials.

• Exceptional communication skills to work effectively across teams and convey technical information to non-specialists.

Additional Requirements:

• Ability to work long hours and weekends as necessary to support critical milestones

Salary Range:

Materials Engineer Ceramics II - $115000 - $150000

Senior Materials Engineer Ceramics - $140000 - $185000

Determined based on technical assessments during the interview process.

Location:

• We are located in Torrance CA in a 322000 square foot brand new facility featuring large open spaces for team collaboration R&D and production as well as easy access to the 405 105 and 110 freeways. Our facility is in the heart of Los Angeles vibrant emerging tech ecosystem alongside many other high growth startups and enterprises.

Culture

At Antares we like to specifically tie each role to our founding documents set of valueshere are the top five cultural values we think you should believe at your core to be successful:

• Think in Systems - Energy and Defense are complex ecosystems with numerous stakeholders with competing priorities conflicting policies perverse incentives and emergent and path-dependent properties. First principles thinking alone is insufficient. Think probabilistically and then take action. If you want to be certain then you are apt to be obsolete. Over-optimizing the components often degrades the system

• Obsess over the End User - The customer and end user are often not the same. We will never build globally competitive commercial products if we lose sight of our end users and their entire interaction with the product life cycle

• Be Unconstrained by Convention - Our only limits are the laws of physics. Many even experts will say what we are working on is impossible. They said the same about SpaceX reusing rockets. Generationally impactful companies by definition must accomplish the seemingly impossible. If it were easy it would have already been done. Never shy away from a solution because it has never been tried before and never choose to do something because thats how its always been done

• Go Where the Work Is - Never miss a chance to meet a customer user or stakeholder face to face even if that means hopping on a plane. If you cant make it find a teammate who can channel your intentions and go in your place. Deep work can be done from anywhere but we believe teams are built in person and aim to maximize our time together

• Operate in the Grey - Embrace nuance in pursuit of truth. Question every fundamental assumption

Equal Opportunity

Antares is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Employment decisions are based solely on merit competence and qualifications without regard to race color religion gender national origin/ethnicity veteran status disability status age sexual orientation gender identity marital status mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.

To conform to U.S. Government export regulations applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national (ii) U.S. lawful permanent resident (aka green card holder) (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. 1157 or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. 1158 or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.

Required Experience:

IC