--- title: 'Human Factors Engineer at Oklo' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/human-factors-engineer-oklo-santa-clara-ca-5edgwv3gwd2t' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-14' --- # Human Factors Engineer at Oklo - **Company:** Oklo - **Location:** Santa Clara CA, OR - **Work type:** remote - **Posted:** 2026-05-26 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-14 - **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/oklo/jobs/6004599004 ## Job description Thanks for your interest in Oklo! We are searching for a Human Factors Engineer to join our team. Position Description Oklo is seeking a Human Factors Engineer to develop the human factors safety basis for a first-of-a-kind used nuclear fuel (UNF) recycling facility. This individual will own the application of Human Factors Engineering to safety-significant personnel activities. This individual will heavily impact the development of personnel activities, evaluation of personnel activities, design of human-system interfaces, and development of procedures. This individual will foster safety through facilitating correct, and inhibiting wrong, decisions by personnel and by ensuring there exist adequate means for detecting, correcting, and compensating for human error. Specific responsibilities may include: - Develop the human factors engineering (HFE) strategy, implementation plans, technical bases, and safety basis documentation, including HFE inputs to the integrated safety analysis (ISA), items relied on for safety (IROFS), management measures, and safety program commitments. - Tailor NRC HFE guidance and fuel-cycle-facility review expectations into a practical, graded HFE program appropriate for a first-of-a-kind used nuclear fuel recycling facility. - Evaluate the implementation of human factors engineering best practices in the development of safety-significant personnel activities including actions credited in safety analyses, abnormal event response, maintenance, inspections, surveillance, material handling, and recovery activities. - Lead operating experience reviews, functional requirements analyses, function allocation, task analyses, staffing and qualifications analyses, and human action evaluations across startup, normal operations, shutdown, maintenance, abnormal operations, emergency response, and degraded equipment or interface conditions. - Translate task analysis and safety analysis results into requirements for alarms, indications, controls, procedures, training objectives, staffing, qualifications, work environment, PPE, dose and contamination controls, and human error prevention, detection, and recovery features. - Define Human System Interface (HIS) requirements for control rooms, local control stations, remote handling stations, glovebox or hot-cell interfaces, material handling interfaces, alarm systems, displays, controls, automation, communications, and computer-based or paper-based procedure systems. - Plan and execute HFE verification and validation activities, including HSI task support verification, HFE design verification, integrated system validation, mockups, simulator exercises, walkdowns, tabletop exercises, human-in-the-loop evaluations, performance measures, and human engineering discrepancy resolution. - Prepare license application content, safety evaluation materials, readiness reviews, audit packages, requests for additional information, and inspection support materials. - Interface with engineering teams and vendors to ensure HFE requirements are integrated early in the design lifecycle and remain aligned with design changes, operating concepts, and safety basis assumptions. - Help establish human performance monitoring and continuous improvement approaches so that validated HFE assumptions remain effective as the facility design, procedures, training, and operations mature. Minimum Qualifications: - Bachelor's degree in human factors engineering, engineering psychology, cognitive systems engineering, systems engineering, nuclear engineering, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, or a related technical field. - 5+ years of experience applying human factors engineering to nuclear reactor or fuel cycle technology - Experience conducting or supporting HFE analyses such as operating experience review, function allocation, task analysis, human action evaluation, HSI design review, procedure and training input development, and staffing qualification analysis - Familiarity with NRC or DOE expectations for human factors, safety analysis, licensing documentation, management measures, credited human actions, or safety-significant administrative controls - Direct experience with NUREG-0711, NUREG-0700, NUREG-0800 Chapter 18, and NUREG-1520. - Strong technical writing skills, including the ability to produce auditable, licensing-quality documentation that clearly links safety basis assumptions, human actions, design requirements, procedures, training, and verification evidence. Preferred Qualifications: - Advanced degree or professional certification in human factors, ergonomics, cognitive systems engineering, systems safety, nuclear engineering, or a related field. - Experience with fuel cycle facilities, used nuclear fuel handling, reprocessing or recycling, hot cells, gloveboxes, remote handling, radiological work controls, and nuclear criticality safety. - Experience developing HFE program plans, HSI style guides, human action feasibility or reliability analyses, integrated validation plans, or responses to regulatory questions. - Experience with digital I&C, automation, alarm management, control room design, local control station design, simulator development, mockup testing, usability testing, or human reliability analysis. Competencies We are looking for a Human Factors Engineer who embodies the following qualities: - Quick to engage with novel systems and regulatory frameworks; comfortable driving clarity in undefined or evolving areas. - Thrives in a fast-paced, iterative startup culture that values execution, ownership, and agility over formality. - Focused on developing actionable HFE outputs that improve design decisions, reduce human error likelihood, support error recovery, and integrate with real-world facility operations. - Writes clear, concise, and thoughtful documentation, especially for safety basis development, design reviews, licensing submittals, regulatory interactions, and operational readiness. - Able to explain human performance, HFE methods, credited human actions, and HSI design decisions to technical and non-technical stakeholders alike. - Collaborates well with operators, engineers, safety analysts, licensing leads, and program owners while maintaining the technical rigor needed for a nuclear safety basis. Who you are: A startup person: You aren't driven by titles or hierarchy, and prefer efficiency to excess process. You don't need or expect to have a lot of guidance but you enjoy working in a fast-paced team. If you prefer the culture and feel of a large organization, that is great, but you likely won’t enjoy working with us! There is plenty of important work and plenty of good opportunities with organizations like that. Motivated: You are self-motivated. You bring an enthusiasm to the team, and imbue a sense of passion that goes beyond clocking in and clocking out. This isn’t about a fake or arbitrary “pieces of flair” mentality or lack of work-life balance! It is about being a part of the vision and feeling a part of reaching team goals. A team-player: Oklo genuinely is a team. We aren’t about taking credit for ourselves, and we aren’t about pushing blame to others. We do incredible things because we work as a team. An excellent communicator: We need a person who is not only technically competent but also a clear and upbeat communicator. Creative: Being creative means that when things fall outside clear scopes or processes or problems arise without clear solutions, you are able to identify it as well as invent ways to solve a problem or fill a need without micromanagement. The successful person in this job will not only be creative, but also enjoy being creative and solving open-ended problems which may change day-by-day. Detail-oriented: This focus is a big part of excellence, consistency, and quality. Excellent grammar and spelling matter for both good communication as well as the image of the company that we put forward. About Oklo travel requirements: Oklo requires remote employees to travel to headquarters (Santa Clara, CA) twice a quarter annually, based on business or team needs, including attendance at team meetings, off-sites, and other company events or gatherings. For the first two weeks of onboarding, employees are required to be in person at headquarters in Santa Clara, CA. About Oklo compensation: $135,000-$175,000 Oklo offers flexible time off, equity, competitive pay, 401k, health insurance, FSA, flexible work hours, and other benefits. About Oklo Inc.: Oklo Inc. is developing fast fission power plants to deliver clean, reliable, and affordable energy at scale; establishing a domestic supply chain for critical radioisotopes; and advancing nuclear fuel recycling to convert nuclear waste into clean energy. Oklo was the first to receive a site use permit from the U.S. Department of Energy for a commercial advanced fission plant, was awarded fuel material from Idaho National Laboratory, and submitted the first custom combined license application for an advanced reactor to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Oklo is also developing advanced fuel recycling technologies in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. National Laboratories. #CHOP: Oklo’s Values Collaboration: We go further, together. We bring diverse perspectives, listen actively, and build trust through transparency and respect. We work across disciplines, sharing ownership to turn complex challenges into shared successes. Humility: We are team players who act for the good of the company and for the world. We are focused on our mission, not personal recognition. Ownership: We take pride in what we do and how we do it. We are proactive in finding solutions and see tasks through  to completion. We are committed to delivering on our promises to provide clean, reliable, and affordable energy. Pathfinding: We chart new ground where no path exists by approaching challenges with curiosity, courage, and creativity while navigating ambiguity. Candidates should be aware that employment may be contingent upon successful completion of a drug screening, and employees may be subject to drug testing at any time in accordance with company policy and applicable laws. Recruitment Fraud Disclaimer Oklo is aware of recent recruitment fraud attempts targeting job seekers. Please be cautious of anyone claiming to represent Oklo who does not contact you from an official Oklo email address. All legitimate communications from our recruiting team— including application updates, interview requests, and job offers — will come exclusively from an @oklo.com email. Oklo will never ask for sensitive personal information, payments, or account credentials during the hiring process. If you receive suspicious outreach or have concerns about the authenticity of any communication claiming to be from Oklo, please contact us through the official channels listed on our website. ## About Oklo ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Oklo is developing next-generation fast fission power plants to produce clean, reliable, and affordable energy at scale, starting with the Aurora reactor. - **Entity Type**: Public (NYSE: OKLO) – completed SPAC merger with AltC Acquisition Corp. in May 2024. - **Headquarters**: Santa Clara, California, USA - **Founded**: 2013 - **Founders**: Jacob DeWitte (CEO) and Caroline Cochran ## Core Business - **Industry**: Advanced nuclear energy / clean energy generation - **Target Customers**: Utilities, large-scale energy consumers (data centers, industrial facilities), government (DOE, national labs), and communities seeking carbon-free baseload power. - **Mission**: To deliver clean, reliable, and affordable advanced nuclear power to meet one of the planet’s most urgent challenges – abundant clean energy at a global scale. ## Products & Services - **Aurora Powerhouse**: A compact fast fission reactor capable of producing up to 75 MWe of electrical power. Features inherent safety (walk-away safe, self-stabilizing), can run on fresh fuel or recycled nuclear waste, and is designed for cost-competitive deployment. Targets operation at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) from late 2027 to early 2028. - **Advanced Nuclear Fuel Supply**: Oklo is developing fuel fabrication facilities under the DOE’s Fuel Line Pilot Projects to support its own reactors and the broader advanced reactor industry. - **Critical Radioisotopes (via subsidiary Atomic Alchemy)**: Oklo’s fast reactors can produce life-saving medical and industrial radioisotopes as a co-product of fission. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: As of early 2025, market capitalization approximately ~$1.5–2.0 billion (fluctuating with public markets; latest SEC filings provide exact figures). - **Key Metric**: Total funding raised prior to going public exceeded $50 million from private rounds. Post-SPAC, the company raised ~$300+ million from the merger trust and a PIPE. Annual revenue is not yet material (pre-revenue, pre-deployment). - **Notable Investors/Partners**: DOE (Idaho National Laboratory site use permit, Reactor Pilot Program, fuel fabrication projects), AltC Acquisition Corp. (sponsor led by Sam Altman who also joined Oklo’s board), and institutional investors participating in the SPAC PIPE. - **Growth Signals**: Secured DOE site use permit at INL (2019) and awarded EBR-II fuel for first Aurora core; completed NRC Phase 1 pre-application readiness assessment; selected for two DOE Reactor Pilot Projects; building three fuel-fabrication facilities; targeting first reactor operation 2027–2028. Team has grown significantly, with 52+ open roles as of mid-2025. ## Competitive Advantages - **Proven Fast Reactor Heritage**: Liquid-metal-cooled, metal-fueled fast reactors have over 400 reactor-years of operating experience worldwide, including the EBR-II which demonstrated inherent safety and waste recycling for 30 years. - **Waste-as-Fuel Capability**: Aurora can run on recycled nuclear waste (including from EBR-II), solving a major environmental challenge while reducing fuel costs – a capability only fast reactors offer. - **Inherent Safety**: The reactor is self-stabilizing and self-controlling using passive natural forces, making it walk-away safe without need for active safety systems or backup power. - **Cost Competitiveness**: Designed to achieve cost-competitive power across all generation technologies through compact design, simplified operations, and fuel flexibility. ## Strategic Focus - **Deploy First Reactor**: Primary near-term goal is constructing and operating Aurora-INL at Idaho National Laboratory by late 2027–2028. - **Licensing and Regulatory Pathway**: Continue NRC pre-application and formal licensing process for advanced reactor design; build regulatory precedent for fast reactors. - **Fuel Supply Chain**: Establish advanced fuel fabrication capacity via DOE Fuel Line projects to secure fuel supply for Aurora and future customers. - **Commercial Expansion**: Develop pipeline of additional Aurora deployments across the U.S. for utilities, data centers, and industrial customers seeking 24/7 carbon-free power. - **Radioisotope Production**: Scale subsidiary Atomic Alchemy’s capability to produce critical medical isotopes as an additional revenue stream. ## Why Work Here - **Mission-Driven Impact**: Directly work on solving one of the world’s most urgent challenges – providing clean, reliable, and affordable energy at scale. - **Top‑5% Employee Satisfaction**: Oklo ranks in the top 5% of companies for employee satisfaction (Lattice Pulse survey). - **Remote‑Friendly Culture**: Many roles are open to remote work (within the U.S.), with headquarters in Santa Clara, CA. Physical presence may be required for certain lab/field roles (Idaho Falls, ID and other sites). - **Elite Benefits**: Comprehensive financial benefits (including equity ownership), encouraged work-life balance and flexibility, robust health & wellness programs, and long-term financial stability support. - **Engineering Culture**: World-class team with backgrounds from aerospace, automotive, nuclear power, and tech; emphasis on collaboration, humility, pathfinding, innovation, and ownership. Values-driven environment focuses on doing what’s right for the mission and the team. - **Growth Opportunities**: Rapidly growing company with 52+ open roles across engineering (mechanical, nuclear, software, hardware, test), fuel recycling, legal, finance, and operations. Opportunity to shape the future of energy. ## Sources 1. [oklo.com - About](https://www.oklo.com/about/default.aspx) 2. [oklo.com - Careers](https://oklo.com/careers/) 3. [oklo.com - Technology](https://oklo.com/technology/) 4. [job-boards.greenhouse.io - Oklo jobs](http://job-boards.greenhouse.io/oklo) 5. 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