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Senior Test Engineer

Aalo· Engineering
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Austin, TXfull-timePosted 5mo ago

About the role

Senior Test Engineer to design, build, and run experimental systems for prototype development of nuclear microreactors, focusing on physical prototyping, instrumentation, and data-driven design decisions; role emphasizes hands-on hardware, cross-functional collaboration, and rapid, rigorous testing to accelerate safe reactor development.

Responsibilities

  • - Spend time with design engineers and technical teams to understand the real engineering questions behind prototype and test needs before building the hardware or procedure around them
  • - Design, assemble, and iterate physical test setups ranging from simple benchtop experiments to more complex integrated mechanical and chemical development systems
  • - Own test execution from first concept through fixture design, procurement, assembly, instrumentation, shakedown, debugging, operation, data capture, and post-test analysis
  • - Build practical, reliable prototyping infrastructure that helps engineering teams learn quickly while maintaining appropriate safety, traceability, and technical rigor
  • - Develop and run tests for mechanical, thermal, fluid, and chemical systems, including experiments that involve temperature, pressure, flow, materials compatibility, corrosion, contamination, cycling, or failure investigation
  • - Create test procedures, operating instructions, safety controls, and execution plans that allow experiments to be run consistently and interpreted credibly
  • - Instrument prototypes and test rigs with the sensors, controls, and data logging needed to generate useful engineering evidence rather than anecdotal observations
  • - Troubleshoot hardware, plumbing, controls, leaks, contamination issues, assembly errors, unexpected behaviors, and test anomalies without losing momentum
  • - Work closely with design engineers to translate test results into design changes, prototype improvements, follow-on experiments, and updated engineering priorities
  • - Support rapid prototyping by identifying where speed matters most, where rigor matters most, and how to move development work forward efficiently in both cases
  • - Help define how Aalo builds an internal testing capability that supports fast hardware iteration, disciplined engineering learning, and eventual qualification-grade evidence

Qualifications

  • - Strong engineering fundamentals
  • - You can reason clearly about physical systems and understand how to turn a technical question into a credible experiment
  • - You are comfortable designing test setups involving mechanical hardware, thermal systems, fluid systems, pressure systems, and chemically relevant processes or environments
  • - You understand how instrumentation, operating conditions, boundary conditions, failure modes, and measurement quality affect what a test result actually means
  • - You can distinguish between a quick prototype used to answer a directional question and a more controlled setup used to support major design decisions
  • - You write clear technical documentation and can communicate test intent, setup details, observed behavior, conclusions, and limitations
  • - Physical prototyping and hands-on execution mindset
  • - You like building real things, not only analyzing them
  • - You are comfortable working with tools, fixtures, tubing, fittings, valves, pumps, heaters, chillers, sensors, enclosures, mechanical assemblies, and improvised development hardware when needed
  • - You can move from CAD, sketches, and engineering discussions into assembled hardware that actually runs
  • - You are motivated by learning from real systems, not just clean theoretical models
  • - You are willing to work through leaks, fit-up issues, instrument problems, unstable conditions, failed parts, and messy physical realities to get to useful answers
  • Mechanical and chemical system intuition
  • - You have practical experience with physical systems where mechanical behavior and chemical behavior both matter
  • - You are comfortable thinking about material compatibility, corrosion, cleanliness, contamination, thermal effects, fluid behavior, sealing, pressure integrity, and operating hazards
  • - You understand that many important engineering failures happen at interfaces: between materials, environments, operating conditions, and real-world use
  • - You can help design tests that expose those issues early rather than discovering them late
  • - High output and follow-through
  • - You are comfortable taking incomplete requirements, partially defined concepts, or urgent technical questions and turning them into useful hardware and data
  • - You handle procurement constraints, fabrication delays, setup revisions, test failures, and changing engineering priorities without losing ownership
  • - You care about getting to trustworthy answers, not just getting through a test plan
  • - You can balance rapid iteration with disciplined execution and documentation
  • - Team-first mindset
  • - You work well with design engineers, analysts, technicians, machinists, manufacturing teams, and operations partners
  • - You communicate clearly with both deeply technical and more execution-focused stakeholders
  • - You are willing to ask practical questions, challenge assumptions, and improve experimental plans based on what the hardware is actually telling the team
  • - You optimize for company learning and engineering progress, not narrow ownership boundaries
  • Interest in where this is going
  • - You are excited by the idea that fast, disciplined physical prototyping can materially accelerate reactor development
  • - You want to help build the internal test infrastructure and engineering habits that allow Aalo to learn quickly and scale responsibly
  • - You are comfortable working in a role that will evolve as Aalo’s hardware programs, test systems, facilities, and organizational needs become more capable

Skills

Required:Engineering fundamentalsTest hardware designInstrumentation and data loggingExperiment design and interpretationDocumentation

Benefits

  • Competitive salary based on technical level
  • Health, Dental, and Vision Insurance
  • Paid Time Off
  • Corporate Gym Membership
Last updated Sep 10, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

About Aalo

Welcome to the dawn of a Second Atomic Age

Creating abundant and dependable clean energy to power humanity for generations.

nuclearclean energyreactorspower plants
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