Fuel Coating Engineer

Position Title: Fuel Coating Engineer

Position Description: Protingent Staffing has an exciting direct hire Fuel Coating Engineer opportunity.

Job Responsibilities:

• Develop and optimize coating processes for TRISO fuel particles, including pyrocarbon and SiC layers, as applicable to the fuel design.
• Develop SiC CVD processes for fuel pellets, controlling deposition conditions, coating thickness, uniformity, interfaces, and residual stress.
• Define requirements for coating furnaces, fluidized-bed coaters, CVD reactors, gas-delivery systems, and process-monitoring equipment.
• Execute coating campaigns, troubleshoot equipment and process issues, and evaluate coating characteristics and defects.
• Investigate cracking, delamination, porosity, nonuniform coatings, and other defects to improve process performance and reliability.
• Establish process controls and scale-up strategies to achieve repeatable coating results across laboratory and production-representative batches.
• Maintain technical records, process data, and material traceability while collaborating with fuel qualification teams on characterization and qualification requirements.

Job Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in materials science, chemical engineering, ceramic engineering, mechanical engineering, nuclear engineering, applied physics, or a related technical discipline.
• Experience developing or operating CVD, CVI, pyrocarbon, SiC, ceramic coating, semiconductor deposition, or comparable high-temperature vapor-deposition processes.
• Hands-on experience operating, commissioning, modifying, or troubleshooting coating or deposition equipment in a laboratory, pilot, or demonstration facility.
• Strong understanding of deposition kinetics, gas transport, surface reactions, heat and mass transfer, coating microstructure, interfaces, and defect mechanisms.
• Experience scaling coating processes while evaluating reactor geometry, gas distribution, thermal gradients, equipment loading, uniformity, and yield.
• Strong technical evaluation, experimental planning, troubleshooting, documentation, and cross-functional communication skills.

Preferred Job Qualifications: 

• Advanced technical degree.
• Direct TRISO particle-coating experience, including fluidized-bed CVD and pyrocarbon or SiC deposition.
• Experience depositing dense SiC on ceramic components, FCM fuel forms, or ceramic-matrix composites.
• Familiarity with SiC precursor systems, reactive gases, vacuum equipment, and CVD furnace design.
• Experience with coated-particle fuels, HTGR fuel, fully ceramic microencapsulated fuel, or nuclear-grade SiC.
• Experience scaling coating technologies from R&D equipment to pilot or production manufacturing.
• Working knowledge of ASME NQA-1, nuclear material traceability, or configuration control.

Job Details:

• Job Type: Full-time
• Salary Range: $110-$255K
• Location: Oak Ridge, TN (Onsite).
• Due to government contract requirements, this position is restricted to U.S. Citizens, Permanent Residential or GC Holder only.

About Protingent: Protingent is an Award-Winning provider of top-tier Engineering and IT talent, trusted by companies at the forefront of innovation — from Software and Aerospace to AI, Clean Tech, Medical Devices, and Connected Technologies. We’re passionate about making a positive impact by connecting exceptional talent with meaningful opportunities and helping our clients build the future.