Human Factors Engineer Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

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.